Rugby: Speed Handling Race

Early catch, look, perfect pass. Improve your players' passing precision and speed to play with a free flowing attack.

• Set a cone 2 meters from the defensive line. This will mark where the ball will passed from (feed) preferably from a scrum half.
• Set a cone 0.5 meters each side from the mid point of the passing cone to simulate the sides of the ruck.
• Set a cone a cone 5 meters from the ruck on the defensive line. 
• 4 players start as attackers
• 3 defenders start on their stomaches on the other side of the defensive cone (ruck) and 1 player on the defensive cone 5 metres from the ruck
• The player on the 5 meter cone (defence) starts the drill by shouting ‘FOLD’ (or whatever call your team may use).
• Defenders on their stomachs get up and fold around the ruck to take up a defence position. Players fold wide first, and ensure that 2 players are close to the ruck (Guard and Body Guard).
• The player on the defensive cone bounces out (takes space in the defence line), the first player who folds takes up a position on the 5 meter defence cone (or inside the first attacking player)
• Once the defence line is set the scrum half can pass the ball.
• The attackers work to beat the defence, setting up a 'tip' (running a hard line) and 'pull back' option. They should read the defensive movements and make a decision to hit the tip option or pull out the back

Lets get the ball and the players moving with lateral passing through the hands. Each training area only needs one ball, and that ball should start with the any of the two players at the very ends of the L.

• Tell players to move forward, passing the ball down the line. When the ball gets to the last receiver, that player will pass it to the first receiver in the next line that is waiting to go.
• They should advance right away. Allow the players to simply move the ball down the line.

This drill will develop your players ability to regather difficult balls and make offloads. 

• Working in groups of three, one player is practicing the skill at a time. 

• The practicing player throws the ball to two other players who are holding balls.
• These two players bounce the ball back and the practicing player has to gather the ball without knocking it on.

Progression 

• Now the practicing player holds two balls. He has to offload and then regather the ball with one hand.

• Set up a 8 channels of cones 5 metres apart
• A group of 4 players start on the side line, and all players need to work around the nearest/corner cone.
• The first player with the ball will run into the nearest channel of cones (lane 1) and all the other players will work around the corner cone and filter into the proceeding channels
• The 1st player passes the ball as soon as the 2nd player gets into the 2nd channel. The ball is passed down the line of 4 players until the 4th players receives the ball.
• Once the 4th player receives the ball, the ball is placed down and all the players work around to get into their respective channel to repeat the process.