Integrating rugby specific skills into the warm-up

There is no reason why a warm-up should not include some very rugby specific skills work. If we look at the RAMP protocol the two main sections where rugby specific work would fit would be in the Raise and the Potentiate sections. The Activate and Mobilise sections will still be rugby specific but will focus more on preparing the muscles and joints for activity. As mentioned previously, the method of raising the body temperature is only limited by the coach’s imagination. This is a perfect stage for skills development as the activities involve movement or physicality therefore the body temperature will rise. Passing, moving, or evasion activities should be incorporated.

In the potentiation stage, we could include some more physically intense activities to help achieve a high level of preparedness for the upcoming activity. Contact bag work or position-specific work such as scrummaging activities could be very useful here.