Learn to tackle

A grappling based approach to safer, more effective rugby tackling

Learn to tackle is a complete tackling system for rugby coaches who want to win games, enhance performance and reduce injuries.

Devised by international rugby strength coach, coach educator and grappler, Keir Wenham-Flatt, Learn to tackle contains 10+ hours of video education that combines both theory and practice with an intimate knowledge of the constraints and practical considerations of the modern rugby coaching environment.

Buy Learn to tackle risk free today. If the course is not the most comprehensive tackle resource you've ever consumed, you're entitled a full refund in the first 72 hours after purchase, no questions asked.

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Immediate access to 10hrs of coaching materials

Rugby is at a crossroads

We must acknowledge as a sport that the approach to rugby tackling that got us this far is no longer fit for purpose. At the time of writing, the governing bodies of rugby union are being sued for several hundred million dollars by former players suffering from CTE, dementia and MND as a result of head impacts suffered during their careers.

In addition to having a potentially ruinous financial impact on the game, it is already hurting youth rugby participation as concerned parents push their kids towards other sports.

If not for financial reasons or the future of the sport, we as coaches have a duty to protect our athletes. We can leave no stone unturned in our efforts to ensure they lead safer, more productive careers on the field, and healthier, longer, higher quality lives in retirement.

Tackling wins games, tackling wins championships

Despite the seriousness of the concussion crisis in rugby, we can't forget the obvious performance implications of more effective tackling. The data is clear and it confirms what common sense told us all along: winning teams make more tackles, have a higher percentage of tackle dominance, permit fewer line breaks, and miss fewer tackles than teams that lose. The best tacklers enter the game with the most confidence in defence. They expend the least energy in contact.

Few coaches would argue the importance of the tackle to player and team performance. But how many coaches plan our their annual tackle teaching curriculum? How many can articulate exactly what they teach, when and why? How many create drills and training scenarios that actually reflect the physical, tactical, technical and psychological demands of rugby? How many can even define those demands? Very few, and this is why Learn to tackle was created.

If your tackle program consists of a few weeks of bag and shield hits thrown in at the beginning of pre-season, or a randomly selected mix of wrestling drills pulled from social media, this course is for you.

Why should we listen to you?

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. I really couldn't, so I really coached. Although I played rugby myself, I am best known as career strength and conditioning coach who has worked for a decade at the highest levels of rugby union (including a few more in American college football). I've worked with Los Pumas Argentina, Sydney Roosters, and London Wasps among other teams.

Since retiring from rugby, I've been obsessed with grappling. I'm a purple belt with a few thousand hours of mat time, and many more hours spent studying the best takedown athletes on earth.

I'm also a coach educator. Since I stepped away from full time coaching in 2020 to look after my son, I built and sold one of the largest strength coach education platforms on the internet. For a long time, I made my living by being able to take large amounts of information and complex ideas, then condense them down into an easy to consume format.

Lastly, I have all the usual alphabet soup degrees and qualifications to my name.

Combined, I have a fairly unique perspective on the problem of tackling in rugby: player, grappler, coach, academic and educator. Now, after first picking up a rugby ball almost 30 years ago, 20 years after beginning my coaching journey, 10 years after first stepping on a jiu jitsu mat, I finally feel ready to draw on all these experiences in Learn to tackle.

Who is this course for and who is it NOT for?

This is for rugby union coaches who want to take their athletes' tackling performance, health and career longevity to the next level. If you coach adults or adolescents, male or female, at any level of the game, this is for you.

Note that if you are from a rugby league background, although there is crossover between the two codes, important parts of the sport have been omitted from this course, namely the post tackle/ruck. Similarly, all research and game demand data discussed in this course applies to rugby union only (sorry, no rugby sevens).

If you are short on time or looking to be spoon fed, this course is not for you. It takes at least 10 hours to just consume the course, and you will need to do a lot more studying and thinking in addition to this, but the results are worth it. We are not feeding you a fish on this course, but teaching you how to fish.

If you're still interested, let me tell you all about Learn to tackle...

Learn to tackle

"Textbook tackle technique" is a fairy tale. Rugby is a complex, dynamic problem solving environment that requires athletes to process information and make decisions under high time pressure and physical and mental stress.

Athletes need access to a broad set of proven tackle techniques and training progressions to be adequately prepared for this environment- all types of tackles, all angles, all variations, performed in progressively more intense environments.

And coaches need access to concrete, step by step plans that work in the real world, that reflect the realities and constraints of working in a rugby environment. Not only this, but they need a system to monitor and adjust long term tackle performance.

You will find all the above in Learn to tackle. This course is divided into ten, approximately one hour modules that combine tackle research, study of both elite level grapplers and rugby players, coaching science, detailed teaching progressions, live coaching footage, load management and analysis.

Module 1: Tackle Research

Module 2: Effective Grappling

To begin the course, we'll define the end goal that we need to work backwards from? What is a tackle? What does the elite level of game demand in terms of tackling? What can the research tell us about tackle performance variables, risk factors and trainability?

If you want to learn a skill, learn it from the experts. The best grapplers on earth are the experts at taking resisting human beings down to the ground. What are the mechanical underpinnings of effective tackling? What unites all effective takedown skills? How can we apply these to rugby?

Module 3: The P Framework

Module 4: Coaching Science

Bridging the the gap between the mats and the field. We’ll analyze rugby film to show how the principles of effective grappling are displayed by elite level rugby athletes, and we’ll introduce The P Framework, which provides us with the language to precisely define and describe tackle performance.

How do athletes learn and control movement? What variables affect skill performance? How can coaches manipulate these to accelerate learning? How should training progress over time as athletes increase their mastery of tackle technique?

Module 5: Pre-contact

Module 6: Lower, Middle, Upper Tackling

Laying the physical foundation to earn the right to tackle. Explores lower intensity, more general training activities like callisthenics, locomotion, tumbling, partner carries and strength, and contact games.

The core rugby tackling skills. Includes discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each technique, in addition to detailed part to whole teaching progressions and coaching guidelines.

Module 7: Snapdowns & Hand Fighting

Module 8: Small Sided Practices

Rounding out the Learn to tackle skillset with two underutilised but still important techniques. This module again includes discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each technique, in addition to detailed part to whole teaching progressions and coaching guidelines.

Learn how to express tackle technique in progressively more intense and realistic rugby scenarios (1v1, 2v1, 3v2 etc.) to seamlessly integrate new skills into 15 on 15 rugby. Contains recommendations for practice design and live coaching footage of actual rugby players.

Module 9: Periodisation

Module 10: Analysis

What tackle training should be done throughout distinct phases of the calendar and why. What are the worst case scenario demands that players must be prepared for? What is the appropriate load progression to get there quickly and safely?

What to do once your plan makes contact with the real world. How to detect errors in missed tackles and identify weak points, then use this information to devise targeted training interventions, then monitor their effectiveness over time. Contains recommendations for further, more detailed analysis at the team and individual levels.

Module 1: Tackle Research

Module 2: Effective Grappling

Module 3: The P Framework

Module 4: Coaching Science

Module 5: Pre-contact

Module 6: Lower, Middle, Upper Tackling

The core rugby tackling skills. Includes discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each technique, in addition to detailed part to whole teaching progressions and coaching guidelines.

Module 7: Snapdowns & Hand Fighting

Module 8: Small Sided Practices

Module 9: Periodisation

Module 10: Analysis

After you sign up

After signing up, you'll receive immediate access to the course. Once you've registered for the site and set up a login for yourself, you are welcome to consume the materials at whatever pace is comfortable for you. You'll receive indefinite access so there is no rush. All of our modules are mixed media- narrated video presentations, walkthroughs of all the exercises and drills discussed, diagrams to illustrate more abstract concepts, and written text including PDFs of all slides. Whatever your style of learning, you should find something that is a good fit for you inside of Learn to tackle. If at any point you have a question about any of the materials, simply reach out via email and we'll get right back to you.

"Okay, I'm in. How much?"

Learn to tackle is priced at $299.99. Is this more expensive than a cookie cutter program or thrown together set of drills from your favourite random internet coach? Sure. But cookie cutters just teach you to follow the program, not to think for yourself. What should you do when the program ends or the reality you find yourself doesn't fit the constraints of the program?!

Random collections of drills are just that- random. They don't teach the principles of effective tackling, work backwards from game demands, or show you how focus training at skill's point of failure. Learn to tackle isn't a program but a tackle system. It'll teach you how to think for yourself, how to create targeted coaching interventions that train athletes' tackle skills exactly where they need them, and how to work backwards from precisely defined worst case game demands. No guess work involved.

Averaged out of the next ten, twenty or even thirty years or more or your coaching career, our expectation is that Learn to tackle will be one of the best investments you've ever made in your coaching education.

In isolation, the ability better protect your athletes, to win games, or to more coherently organise, plan and deliver your coaching sessions is worth $299. Together? Even more value for money. Still not sure? Take advantage of our risk free guarantee.

Try Learn to tackle risk free

If you're still on the fence and you're not sure if Learn to tackle is right for you, try the course risk free. If at any time in the first 72 hours after signing up, you don't think the course is worth every penny you paid, simply get in touch with us and we'll refund 100% of every penny you paid, no questions asked.

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Includes risk free 72 hour guarantee