{"id":482582,"date":"2026-05-13T12:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/482582\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:56:14","slug":"the-tee-debate-at-the-heart-of-rugby-placekicking-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/482582\/","title":{"rendered":"The tee debate at the heart of rugby placekicking \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Leinster<\/a> played Ulster<\/a> in Belfast last month, something was new in Sam Prendergast<\/a>\u2019s kicking routine.<\/p>\n

He changed his tee and by doing so, broke with a strong tradition in Irish placekicking. It\u2019s not quite Dylan going electric, but Prendergast moved away from a style similar to that of a line of Ireland kickers: Ronan O\u2019Gara<\/a>, Johnny Sexton<\/a> and more recently Jack Crowley<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Think of a pronged kicking tee, one that places the ball low to the ground and in a reasonably upright position. You\u2019re probably picturing the old green Gilbert. That style has been the dominant choice.<\/p>\n

Against Ulster, Prendergast used a telescopic tee, one that elevates the ball off the ground with a forward tilt. He\u2019s not the first Irishman to use it \u2013 see Ian Madigan and John Cooney. <\/p>\n

Why did he change? Well, that opens up a can of worms, a wider debate within the world of kicking. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe telescopic tee (top) elevates the ball and tilts it forward. The pronged tee (bottom) keeps it lower to the ground and at a more upright angle. <\/p>\n

Against Ulster, Prendergast used a tee made by RugbyBricks, a New Zealand-based brand. Peter Breen, the founder, first heard from Prendergast when he was still at school. He explains what he sees as the advantage of moving from an upright to an elevated tee. Like many, Breen turns to golf (rugby players really, really like golf). <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first benefit is by elevating the ball and leaning forward, it creates less spin,\u201d explains Breen. \u201cDo you play golf? With your driver, if you\u2019re getting high spin, the ball\u2019s going nowhere. With those kickers that have tried the low tees, when they have their shockers, it\u2019s rotating so fast and falls out of the air so fast, exactly the same as golf. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lean that forward and elevate it, your foot is more at the back of the ball, so you\u2019re getting more of the laces, a punt strike on that inside of the foot. You\u2019re getting a nicer, slower rotation, your misses are grazing uprights rather than ugly duck hooks or slices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GarethGareth Steenson in action for Exeter against Worcester at Sandy Park. Photograph: Dan Mullan\/Getty <\/p>\n

Gareth Steenson, the former Exeter outhalf, is the current Ireland women\u2019s kicking coach. He used an elevated ball but with less tilt. \u201cIf you play golf, if you want more distance you take the driver out and tee it up a bit,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s because of the elevated height of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross Byrne used a pronged Gilbert tee before moving to a telescopic one, lifting the ball off the ground. \u201cOne of the reasons I changed was power,\u201d he says. \u201cI had to dig the ball out, it was putting a bit of strain on my groin and my quad when the ball was lower to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

In theory, swapping tee mid-season is a drastic move given the way you strike the ball has now changed. \u201cCompletely different,\u201d agrees Breen. \u201cThe lower the tee gets, the lower your foot gets side on. The way to visually think about it is if you\u2019re doing a push pass along the ground with the soccer ball, it\u2019s a very pushy, instep part of your foot. The higher the tee, the more out the back of the ball you get with your laces strike. Like a volley in football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrne, for what it\u2019s worth, saw his elevation of the ball as much of a muchness. \u201cI just changed the week before the game. It wasn\u2019t a big thing. I wouldn\u2019t do it if I was worried about looking at a tee in the game and thinking it was weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DaveDave Alred watches Ronan O\u2019Gara kick during the 2005 Lions tour in New Zealand. Photograph: Phil Walter\/Getty <\/p>\n

On the other side of this debate is one of the world\u2019s better known kicking coaches, Dave Alred. He has worked with Jonny Wilkinson, O\u2019Gara, Sexton and Crowley, kickers who all used a lower tee. Alred sells his own version with Rhino. He also points to injury and consistency concerns when explaining his preference. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook at young kids on social media, it\u2019s all about kicking it a long way,\u201d says Alred. \u201cThey wreck their bodies. There\u2019s no mechanical efficiency about what they do, they smash it. If it goes over one in 10, it\u2019s like the amateur golfer, that one shot makes you come back. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can get the impact on the ball as near as possible to under your centre of gravity, you will be able to use your body weight as a power source. There\u2019s less reliance on your leg. You usually find that the ones that are the most consistent have the centre of gravity under their naval. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe lower the tee, the easier it is to hit it under your body weight. If the tee is high, you\u2019ve already passed the lowest point and are on the way up. If you look at Sexton, he was brilliant at getting his body weight over the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Conor Murray: Leinster Rugby deserves more than social media cynicismOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Alred also notes the point of contact. He believes that by striking the belly of the ball, rather than towards the pointed end, the margin for error is smaller. <\/p>\n

Other sports can be an influence, not just golf. In soccer, and to a certain extent Gaelic football, players are more used to a lower sweet spot \u2013 the ball is on the ground after all. Steenson works with current Ireland kicker Dannah O\u2019Brien who uses an upright, low tee. <\/p>\n

\"DannahDannah O’Brien uses a pronged tee with the ball low to the ground. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at Dannah, she\u2019s back to the tee she started with,\u201d says Steenson. \u201cWhen we went to the World Cup last year, she changed to a higher one. Now, she feels it gets more purchase with a slightly lower tee. She\u2019s got the Gaelic background, she likes to feel the ball lower on her foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kicking is one of the few parts of rugby that has some sort of cultural cut-through. Anyone who kicks a ball in anger at some point copies Wilkinson\u2019s cupped hands. Same for tees. <\/p>\n

Steenson mimicked Wilkinson and David Humphreys, his fellow Ulsterman. One former international points to O\u2019Gara as inspiration. Now, plenty of young kickers see RugbyBricks tees on Instagram. <\/p>\n

\"SamSam Prendergast used a lower, tilted tee at under-20 level (bottom right) before using an upright, lower tee as a professional (bottom left). Last month, he returned to a elevated, telescopic tee (top). Photographs: Inpho <\/p>\n

When they get to the pros, things can change depending on coaches, kicking styles and personal experimentation. Prendergast first used an elevated tee at under-20s level before moving to the upright prongs. Now he\u2019s using a high tee again. <\/p>\n

\"JackJack Crowley used an elevated, tilted tee early in his career (bottom right), before moving to a lower tee (bottom left) and ultimately a pronged, more upright version in recent years (top). Photographs: Inpho <\/p>\n

Towards the start of his career Crowley kicked a higher, tilted ball. Now he\u2019s on the lower tee.<\/p>\n

Even Sexton, for so long a proponent of the upright, low option, was pictured using a telescopic tee in the early days. <\/p>\n

\"JohnnyJohnny Sexton used a low, upright tee for the majority of his career (top) but was pictured in 2007 using an elevated telescopic tee (bottom). Photographs: Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cSome of it would be just messing around after training,\u201d says Ross Byrne of kicking\u2019s sharing culture. \u201cYou might just put the ball on one of the lads\u2019 tees and kick it, \u2018Oh, that felt nice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, this part of the game is awash with different opinion. There is, though, somewhat of a consensus on the value of mixing things up. \u201cIt keeps the brain fresh, stops you making assumptions,\u201d says Alred. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is everyone\u2019s different, everyone finds out what works for them,\u201d explains Steenson. \u201cWhat makes me feel good?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many golfers swing the golf club the same way? There are different outcomes and equipment, but they\u2019re all scratch golfers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith kicking, there\u2019s no right or wrong way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Leinster played Ulster in Belfast last month, something was new in Sam Prendergast\u2019s kicking routine. He changed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[65159,18,19,17,73724,76417,12861,2525,40692,132,23200],"class_list":{"0":"post-482582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ronan-ogara","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-jack-crowley","13":"tag-johnny-sexton","14":"tag-leinster-rugby","15":"tag-rugby","16":"tag-sam-prendergast","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-ulster-rugby"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116567381671697971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}