The hooker, #2 or Rake is one of the most complex and challenging positions in Rugby. In the set-piece, they play a huge role in the scrum and are responsible for throwing the ball into the lineout.
The most recognizable responsibility of the hooker is throwing the ball into the lineout. Lineout throwing is very difficult and pressure-filled. Firstly, there are a bunch of infringements that the hooker could commit such as not throwing straight or “dummying the throw”, both infringements result in a scrum to the opposition. Those infringements especially not throwing straight are very common. This is due to both the technical difficulty in lineout throwing and wanting to give their jumpers an easier time. All of that is before we even get to what the opposition can do to disrupt the lineout. One trick is to have a tall player jump at the front of the lineout forcing the hooker to arc their throw more. The opposition can also steal the ball by contesting the jumper or taking advantage of the hooker’s mistake. To prevent the opposition from stealing the ball, the hooker must have clear communication with his jumpers so everyone knows where the ball is going. Timing is also important if you know where the ball is going but don’t know when the throw is expected that’s a recipe for a turnover. Practicing the different lineout plays and the timing needed for them is exceptionally boring and repetitive but crucial to have down.
The hooker also has an important role in lineout defense. Where the hooker defends in the lineout varies by team and situation. For example, ASU defends with the hooker at the front of the lineout to prevent a size mismatch on a front peel. While USD, another team in the same division, defense with their hooker at the receiver position slightly towards the tail and helps defend the midfield. Those are also the main two ways that international teams defend lineouts. Things get more complicated when the lineout numbers change. Lots of teams use four, five, and six-man lineouts during a game to limit the number of jumpers or allow them to use their forwards as a crash-ball option. So the hooker is sometimes asked to defend in midfield, this does depend on the exact strengths and weaknesses of the player though.
One of the more unique areas that the Hooker is responsible for is the maul. The Hooker receives the ball at the back of the maul. From there they decide to break from the maul or keep the ball in the maul. The decision is mostly made of skill if the maul is still going forward then keep the ball in the maul, if the maul slows down or stops then break. Like the lineout, there are a lot of laws specific to the maul. Most of them however apply to the players forming the maul and what they are doing rather than the hooker. However, the referee still influences what the hooker does. For example, the referee can tell the hooker to “use it (the ball)” if the maul stops moving. Despite this Hookers frequently score tries from the back of lineout mauls.
More recently hookers have been asked to distribute the ball from the back of mauls or dummy mauls. Leaving the first pass of a set play to the hooker frees up the scrum-half to attack wider from mauls. This has forced hookers to adapt their skillset to the modern demands of set-piece attacks.
Hookers also have to help defend the maul. Most of the time the hooker is not helping stop the maul unless the maul is forcing the defense back very quickly. They are often found defending the fringes of the maul on the open side so that when the opposing breaks off the maul they don’t run into a back.
In open play, they are often found on the wing as an edge forward where they need to combine their size and power with pace and ball skills reminiscent of an inside back. The reason hookers are placed on the edge is to get a good breakdown operator in an area of the field where a break might be made, it also provides a size mismatch with a back trying to tackle a forward. The other place the hooker can be found is in the midfield 3 pods as a heavy traffic carrier. At the top level of rugby, it’s more common to see the hooker on an edge but at lower levels given the lower skill level they tend to be in three pods in the midfield. Moreover, hookers are often the spare player that isn’t doing anything in an attack. So hookers are often asked to fill in gaps, like being the scrum-half if the scrum-half is in a ruck or being a spare cleaner when the opposition has a good defensive ruck.
In defense, they are expected to function as fourth loose-forward who is comparable in size to a front rower. So they are expected to be dominant in head-on collisions tight to the ruck while also being to make chop tackles wider from the ruck. Of the three front rowers, the hooker is expected to be the most dynamic and have the highest work rate in defense.
The final area that the Hooker is important is the scrum. While they do not get as much credit as a prop, they are very important in the setup of the scrum. The hooker’s foot is supposed to be on the mark where the scrum is going to occur. They are also in charge of calling the 2nd rows into the scrum and keeping the balance on all the cadence calls. In attacking scrums the hooker has to “hook” the ball back when it is put into the scrum. Hooking the ball means that during an attacking scrum, the hooker is scrummaging with one leg. So at best the attacking team is scrummaging with 7 to 7.5 players. Getting a clean strike on the ball is very important the faster you can get the ball out of the scrum the better so if the ball gets to the feet of the no.8 quickly the ball can get out of the scum quickly. Getting a clean strike requires communication with the scrum-half, who puts the ball into the scrum. The scrum-half usually taps the ball on the arm of the hooker to signal they are about to put the ball in. That way the hooker has their foot up and the scrum-half can just feed the ball onto the back of the hooker’s foot. Hooker is also the most dangerous position in the scrum, if the scrum collapses all the weight of the scrum lands on the hooker’s neck and their arms are bound over the top of both props so their arms aren’t able to support them.
The hooker is often underappreciated while there are more flashy difficult positions there are few players on a rugby field who have as complete a skillset or as crucial to the outcome of a game.
Alexander MacDonald:
Journalism student at Arizona State’s Cronkite School, 3rd-year scrum-half and social manager for ASU Rugby.
