How to Play Fly-Half in Rugby

The position of fly-half is one of the most crucial in rugby. A fly-half must have excellent handling skills to receive the ball from the scrum-half, good vision and thinking to see the gaps and speed and acceleration to advance the play. He must also have excellent kicking abilities for advancing the ball down the pitch and for point scoring. Playing fly-half takes practice to perfect these essential techniques.

Instructions

    • 1

      Position yourself deep enough and wide enough to make it difficult for the opposition tacklers to get you but close enough to receive a flat accurate pass from the scrum-half. Run onto the passes from the scrum-half to gain momentum and ground.

    • 2

      Read the game. Know what the best option to take is when you receive the ball. Decide whether you have space to run the ball, whether you should pass the ball down the line to the centers or whether you should kick the ball to gain ground or attempt a drop-goal for points, when in range of the posts.

    • 3

      Use the correct kicks. Kicks are often vital to gaining ground for a rugby team. Use the grubber kick along the ground to gain ground or a big up-and-under kick for you or another back to run onto and catch. Kicking for touch farther up the field can be a good way to advance play and gain ground for your side.

    • 4

      Practice your point-scoring kicking. Fly-halves are the placekickers for many rugby sides, taking penalty and conversion kicks. Practice your kicking from all angles within range on the field. Practice your drop kick for scoring drop-goals from open play.

    • 5

      Cover the opposition during a scrum. As the fly-half, you are in a position to push the other side the moment the ball comes out of the scrum, making you one of the team's principle main tacklers. Tackling is an important part of defense, so keep yourself fit and go in low to ensure you can bring down the opposition player.

    • 6

      Learn additional ball-handling tricks. Dummy passes, looping around to the end of the line after passing and other moves are vital to gaining the advantage over the opposition. As the fly-half, you should get as many tricks and moves in your repertoire to put your team in more try-scoring positions.