This week our Rugby TacticsÂ*series is looking at England’s use of Exit Strategies in their opening Six Nations game against Scotland. While England got off to a winning start everything was far from, Rosy (pun intended). They struggled to control the flow of the game, being placed under a lot of pressure by a valiant Scotland who sadly once again came up short. Part of England’s problems was their poor kicking game, especially their ability to exit their own 22, or Red zone. In other words their Exit Strategy. Exit Strategy might sound like a clever way of saying “clearing your lines” but as you’ll see in the video a team with a good well practiced Exit Strategy has an understanding of all potential outcomes. What to do when things don’t work quite how they want and how to construct a situation that allows them to both leave their 22 and put pressure on the opposition. In contrast we also see what happens when a team doesn’t effectively leave their own 22. Anyone who’s played Rugby has experienced it. Stuck in your own 22, unable to get out, the relentless pressure of constantly defending. It usually ends when you concede a penalty or worse a try. Even if your defence is great and you get that small win and turn over the ball, the clearing kick doesn’t find touch and a couple of phases later you end up back where you started, under pressure and defending your lines. This is why knowing how to leave the 22 safely is so important in the modern game. Of course not everyone has to have contingency planning to the level of England and Scotland, but a cohesive team will at the very least know the relative strengths of their kicker and what to do when Boot goes to ball. Being able to manipulate the situation to their own advantage is an excellent skill for any team to have. View Scotland vs England Match Highlights >> As always please feel free to leave feedback and comments in the section below. Let us know what you think of the videos and if there is anything you are keen for us to look at in more detail.

About The DeadballareaAn Englishman living in France, Graeme Forbes runs Rugby Analysis website, thedeadballarea.com. An IRB qualified coach, in his spare time he helps coach a junior men's team in Paris. You can catch him on twitter lazily re-tweeting other peoples comments and the Green and Gold Rugby website where he contributes Super 15 and Wallabies based analysis articles.

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