how to become a better flanker, what you sould be doing.

flankers in the scrum
the two flankers are on either side of the scrum and are loosely bound on to the props and second row in the scrum.

in the scrum although your not as responsible for pushing as the rest you still should be pushing and basically being a stabiliser for the prop, but you do have other responsibility's in the scrum.

firstly if the ball is being put in your side you should be calling when the ball comes in for the push with just a simple call "ball in", probabily the main thing you could do in the scrum is to mark the scrumhalf, he should be your man to take and you should make it as hard as you can for him to get the ball out without pressure.

so flankers should have good off the mark acceleration and a certain amount of speed, also if the scrumhalf passes the ball out cleanly you should then be putting loads of pressure on the flyhalf as well as your own flyhalf doing the same so inless he passes the ball out straight away you can trap the ball and it can be a good chance for you to turn the ball over! don't think if the flyhalf passes it before you get there stop running, keep chasing the ball!

also one more very important job for the flanker is to watch the number 8 because they love to play this trick where they take the ball at the back of he scrum and run and when this happens this can be a very dangerous for your defence inless you tackle him straight away! so always watch out for him especially when the opposition are near you line, the scrumhalf may also try this so mark him aswell. when your number 8 does this you should be supporting him for the offload.

in open play
so in open play a good flanker should be all around the pitch, getting to the rucks mauls, and when its the oppositions ball turning it over or disrupting the ball.
a good way to turn over the ball is when either you or one of your teammates tackles the ball carrier before anyone gets to ruck, if your the tackler get on your feet and take the ball as quickly as you can, or if your behind the tackler do the same but remember your only aloud to do this if your the first player in and you have to be on your feet.

also a flanker should sometimes join the backs line so don't try to commit to every ruck! if you can see your teams not going to win it either get into the backs line to defend or if you can see you've already won the ruck either do the same (join the line) or get behind it and wait for one of the player to get tackled and be there for the ruck, although generally for forward i would suggest the latter but for a flanker i suggest the first because your usually faster and have better handling skills than the other forwards!
and adding an extra player to a line makes it more likely to create an overlap or a break in the oppositions line.

be a support player, this is vital if you wanna be good!
and the last thing, when the other team has the ball you should be doing tackle after tackle after tackle and trying to win the ball, try to knock the ball out of the oppositions hands when tackling them and make there hard tackles.

flanker in the lineout
flankers are generally at the back of the line out and can be used to lift the ball catcher.

like in the scrum if the opposition get the ball and pass it to the scrumhalf quickly you should be straight on the scrumhalf and disrupting the ball, also lineout are always very prone to fumbling of the ball so you should be the player diving on the ball straight away and then securing it.

when its your ball you can have differing roles depending who it goes to but generally a flanker will just be contributing to the drive after the scrum but you have to work out where you go with your team mates and coaches.

one last thing is if the ball is going straight out down the line, the flankers are at the back of the line and so should be the first one's to the ruck and you can make sure your the the first one there (before the other team) by knowing what the back line call is, so basically knowing who the ball is going to.

extra tips
learn to play with and grow a bond with your other 2 loose forwards, so your number 7 and 8.
you should always be supporting each other for the offload or to ruck over when they go down.

if you look at the arguable best flanker in the world at the moment, richie mccaw, you can see one of the reasons hes the best is because he plays on the edge of the rules and most of the time gets away with it!
so know the rules and when you play on the edge of them you'll suprised it makes a difference, don't worry if you give away a penalty or two either.

also i've partially already mentioned this but its important, you should be everywhere on the pitch! this will come in time but its good to think about!

 skills a flanker should have are:
- you should have good handling skills, try and learn to pass off both hands as well!
- you should be extremely fit and have very good endurance.
- you should be strong and physical for competing for the ball.
- you should be reasonably fast, but obviously you don't have to be as fast as the backs!
- you should learn to read the game, for example making quick desisions.
- be the first to pick up or dive on every peice of loose ball.
- know what you can get away with.
- you should perfect your tackling
- you should be always to give the option as a support player.