1. The role of the Inside Centre
Crewe & Nantwich RUFC Under 15’s

2. Basic Roles Tight hard defender
Decoy runner for the fly half (10) and/or releasing the outside backs (13 to 15)
Attacking the gain line
Recovery player for the fly half
Strike kicker or back up kicker

3. Secondary Roles
The extra roles that inside centres may be asked to perform, enhancing their role in the team
Tactical Kicker
Second fly half
The pivot player
Move caller
Crewe & Nantwich RUFC Under 15’s

4. Tight, hard defender
Hard defence: Inside centres make more of their tackles head on. Most good tacklers have a preferred shoulder for a hard tackle, but the best inside centres will need to be able to make an aggressive tackle with either shoulder.
Tight defence: As a defender, the inside centre needs to come up level with the fly half (10) and outside centre (13). Obvious though this may seem, it is more likely that the inside centre needs to "glue" the fly half and outside centre together. The focus is on going up with the fly half until the ball moves beyond the inside centre channel and then covering the inside of the outside centre.
The outside centre needs absolute confidence in the inside centre because they are in the hardest tackling position, with pace, angles and space to contend with. Therefore the inside centre needs to keep communicating with the outside centre all the time.

5. Attack - In attack the inside centre has three main roles
1. Decoy: As part of a set move to release a strike move which intends to break the defensive line first time. For instance run as a dummy runner on a switch or miss move. Of course they could be passing the ball to release a strike runner, which can be more effective since the focus of creativity has moved one out, perhaps confusing the defence
2. Attacking the gain line: To deliberately set up a second phase ball and tie in defenders. As part of a strategy to disorganise a defence, the inside centre might be involved in a move which requires them to hit contact.
This will require the player to be comfortable in contact, being able to release the ball either in an offload to a flanker, or present the ball effectively for the support players. It might be that they are required to be the first player to the breakdown for a second phase move.
3. Recovery attacker: Here the inside centre is likely to be needed to take the ball from the fly half if there has been a breakdown of the original move, or the fly half has received poor ball. The inside centre needs to go forward, "stay strong" and give his side every chance of recovery, so the team can reset for another attack.

6. The greatest inside centre…
Jean De Villiers