The hand-off is not something that you really see in South African rugby. At least to the extent that you see it here in New Zealand. No Springbok rugby player –as an example of an exponent of the hand-off- spring to mind when you think of the hand-off. 

My fascination with the hand-off started after an incident involving my son during a rugby match. The little guy had a clean break away during one of his matches and was burning on all silinders down the left hand side line. He had one opponent to beat who was coming in from his right on an angle slightly from the front. The meeting or collision point about 10 meters from the goal line and I was watching with interest wondering how my 10 year old is going to handle the situation. Being a No8 he handled the situation totally different that I would have as an ex-inside centre. I was an on-the-toes type of player and stepping was my thing; my approach would have been to go in the defender then out to draw or extend him to the outside and then step off my left to pass on his inside. 

My boy runs with long strides and stepping from the toes is not a natural thing for him. As a number 8 it has been ingrained in him to run straight at the defender and set the ball-up by going to ground or to hit the defender and swivel out of the tackle. I could literally see his mind ticking over as he got himself ready for the collision but it all happened just to quickly and he got caught between his two ingrained options (go to ground set it up or swivel) and did neither of the two ending up being tackled 10 meters from the goal line. 

On the way home we talked about this incident and what he could have done. His response on my question, why didn’t you use the hand-off, was what do you mean? It was at that moment while contemplating the best answer that I become aware of the various variations/possibilities that exist with the hand-off. 

So the next Saturday morning -before the match- we started doing some drills and explored the hand-off; having a great amount of fun and I am happy to report with some excellent results on the field. Here are some hand-off variations we explored and practiced as part of our Saturday pre-match training repertoire. 

Riding on the defenders shoulder 

This is mostly used by wingers when the defender goes in for a tackle at hip height. The attacker does an inside-outside as the defender come in on a 45 degree angle from the front. Timing is crucial. You in-and-out and then put your hand on the defenders shoulder and ride the tackle by straightening your arm. 

This was the first one we started practicing and the hardest part was to get the timing for the inside-outside exactly right. If you start to soon with the inside swerve it becomes a front-on tackle and then it is very hard to ride on the shoulder. If you swerve too late it becomes a side-step to the inside. 

If you get the timing right the push-off on the defender is almost like surfing on a wave. It is exhilarating and the little guy just loved it once he got it. The stronger and faster your opponent the more exhilarating the push-off so practicing on me gave him a real blast-off which he thoroughly enjoyed. We had to practice it on both sides of the field (left and right) because he was not playing on the wing where you will normally do it only to one side depending which side you play. It is definitely the hardest of the hand-off techniques to master but once you get it right the other versions is a lot easier to do. 

About two Saturdays after starting with the drills McLook junior had an opportunity to use it. He took the ball from a ruck and went blindside, swiveled out of the first tackle and was away with only the fullback to beat. I was waiting for it; he knew exactly what to do but it was on the left hand side line which made it harder as you have to inside off the left foot. He started the inside swerve too late and had his left foot still in front -still going 45 degree to the inside of the opponent- when the tackle came in but he innovated and produced a version I haven’t thought about. He two-stepped of his back foot (right foot) pulling the tackler -coming in at hip height- past him with his left hand. I was impressed as he had to transfer the ball (his original plan was to push off with his right hand) from left to his right hand at the moment or just before he did the two-step. It worked because he went into it with a positive frame of mind and because the defender was hesitant (not being a particular good tackler). 

I can’t really think of any wingers or outside centers in South Africa that use this riding-on-the-defenders-shoulder-hand-off-technique. 

The chest punch 

This is used when the tackler comes in high trying to smother you. It is a fast open hand palm “punch” right on the sternum (chest) of the tackler. Daniel Carter uses it a lot. You can use it on any place on the field. It leaves the opponent grasping air as you would push yourself away from the defender and stop him in his tracks. See Dan Carter using this hand-off in the clip below. The best examples can be found towards the end of the clip.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxwKeQZppc0&feature=related[/youtube] 

It is normally done fast to prevent the tackler from getting hold of your arm and hanging on. Watch this powerful Sonny Bill Williams hand-off aginst Southland.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l2JTcLNNco[/youtube] 

The graph and push 

The graph and push is the slower version of the chest punch and is normally used by bigger players on smaller players. You graph the tackler’s jersey and hold him of and push the moment he tries to dive forward. I saw a Samoan player using this with a double push. Check out the hand-off in this sevens match between Samoa and Malaysia. Watch the fourth try in particular where the Samoan use the hand of three times in a row against the same defender.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It3cqKAKXeo[/youtube] 

The karate chop 

Most effective when used on a tackler coming from the side (slightly from behind) and reaching to grasp your pants or jersey at hip height. You just chop his hand down at the moment he tries to grasp. Frank Bunce used this while two-stepping off his back foot either to the defenders inside or outside. 

The Shoulder push down with a two-step 

This is a version used by Sonny Bill Williams and most effective when the defender comes in low and from the front. It helps if the ball carrier is taller than the defender. SBW would push down on the defenders shoulder while two-stepping and carrying the ball in his outside hand. He runs straight up to the defender with the ball in one hand moving the ball around waiting for the tackler to commit and then push down on his arm/shoulder to either step out of the tackle or to off-load. 

Watch this SBW try for an example of two hand-off variations in one move. The second hand-off is sort off the one I am describing here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6YBA_mnfJY&feature=related[/youtube] 

The straight arm frontal push 

Used when the defender comes in crouching low for a frontal tackle. South African players –mostly the forwards- use this quite a lot to push the defender backward while running into him. You see it quite a lot when the pods goes into contact. 

Apart from the last version it is actually surprising to see how few of the South African players use the hand-off. It wasn’t something that was practiced while I was playing and I wonder if it is at all practiced today. 

I have difficulty remembering any South African player using the hand-off during the S14 and the tri-nations this year or over the last 5 years for that matter.