Contact is coached in person, on a pitch, by someone watching you. This page is here to make that coaching land faster, not to replace it. Rugby AI does not score tackles and never will. We cannot see legality, head contact, or force from a phone, so we do not guess at them. Do not practise contact alone or with a friend who has not been coached.
Guides / Contact / Ground position and getting up
Contact
Guide
Ground position and getting up
Being on the floor is normal in rugby. Getting up slowly is what costs you. This is how to land in a strong position and get back to your feet facing the way you meant to.
What good looks like
- You land on your side, not flat on your back and not flat on your front
- Your chin stays tucked towards your chest the whole way down
- Your knees come under you before your hands leave the ground
- You come up already facing the direction you want to go
The drill
- Start on your knees on soft, flat grass.
- Lower yourself onto one side under control. Chin tucked, arms in front of you.
- Pause on the ground for a beat and check your position: on your side, knees bent.
- Roll onto your knees, drive one foot underneath you, and stand up.
- As you stand, turn to face back the way you came.
- Five each side, then rest. Slow and deliberate every rep.
Space
Two metres of soft, flat grass. No ball, no partner, nothing to land on.
Make it harder / make it easier
Harder. Add a ball, and place it back on the ground behind you before you stand, so your hands have a job on the way up.
Easier. Stay on your knees the whole time and practise only the roll to your feet.
One thing this drill is not
This is not preparation for being tackled and it does not make you ready for contact. Nothing on a web page can tell you that. It is a movement pattern, practised alone, that a coach can then build on.
Contact is taught, not scored.
Solo and contactless. Contact itself belongs in coached training.
