Rugby: Passing By Numbers

Tell your players the following: One group of two players will be defenders, you might want to give them bibs. The attackers just need to keep the ball moving without getting touched while holding the ball. The passes can be forward. Attackers can move around the training area. If a player gets touched while holding the ball they and their partner become the defenders - the old defenders become attackers. If the ball is dropped, the pass is bad, or goes outside the training area - the player that made the mistake and their partner become the new defenders, replacing the old defence. This should be fun, but players should strive to control the ball, moving it into space and away from the defence.

3 grids: 10x30 Number of players: (up to 14) Number of balls: start with 2 (add balls depending on age and ability of players). Each team in a 10x10 grid with a grid in between them. Punt ball into other teams area. Ball must aim to land inside area. If team defending kick drop the ball - other team get a point.

Keep your player briefing, brief! It's important to get your players working as quickly as possible. 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 be with any of most players. Tell players to move forward, passing the ball down the line - they do not need to wait on any call by you. When the ball gets to the last receiver, that player will pass it to the first receiver in the next line - they should advance without delay. Allow the players to moving the ball along the lines. After you feel the players are comfortable, tell them that they can be as creative as they like with respect to passing e.g. miss passes, switches etc. Introduce one defender, let the defender drift - but they must start from around 10 meters back. When you are happy with one defender, add two, and finally three defenders. Keep the same defenders in place for a about 10 attacks, then rotate. Allow the players to discover, though questioning, the best possible way to respond to what they see in terms of moving the ball. Players should change positions in the line after each run. Don't forget to change out the defenders.

Using cones, mark out a training area 15 meters x 10 meters. Split your players into groups of 2. Allocate 4 groups of 2 to each training area. If you can, give each group of two their own ball. Have enough training areas to keep all of your players as busy and active as possible. Tell your players the following...... Players in pairs with a ball between them. The player on the left starts with the ball and passes the ball to the player to the right. The player with the ball then runs diagonally across the grid, while the player without the ball crosses/switches over behind the ball carrier, ready to receive the ball at the next cone. They continue passing left to right and crossing over in each grid until they reach the end. Once at the end they run back to the start to the right of the grid, practicing the same skill on the way back but without cones to guide them. Progression : Add in a defender with a ruck shield, just to add a little pressure.

Tell your players the following..... Players in pairs with a ball between them. The player on the left starts with the ball and passes the ball to the player to the right. The player with the ball then runs diagonally across the grid, while the player without the ball crosses over behind the ball carrier, ready to receive the ball at the next cone. They continue passing left to right and crossing over in each grid until they reach the end. Once at the end they run back to the start to the right of the grid, practicing the same skill on the way back but without cones to guide them.

Drill to practice passing laterally. Set up a diamond roughly 10m wide and 5m long (see diagram). Two players position themselves at either end and one player is in the middle. The player in the middle is running shuttles across the diamond, each time he runs a shuttle he must catch a pass from one feeder, and pass it to the other one before completing the shuttle. Players should do twenty repetitions each and then swap positions.

Players line up single fine in two lines. Two coaches stand at the front and just off the side of both lines. One coach begins with the ball. The coach pops the ball to an oncoming player, who takes the ball in their stride and passes across to the coach on the other side. The passing player then runs through the cones at the end of the line and curves back round to join the opposite group. The coach receiving the pass then pops the ball off to the incoming player on the other side, who receives the ball and passes across to the first coach. The passing player runs through the gates and rejoins the opposite group. The game continues and flows until all players have completed a pass on both sides.

Keep your player briefing, brief! It's important to get your players working as quickly as possible. 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 lines, don't mention the Miss Pass. After you feel the players are comfortable, tell them...... Any player can now call an L1,L2,L3,L4 - depending on their position in the attacking line. This means that they can pass and loop round the back of the rest of the attack to collect the ball and continue the attack. An example of this would be: L2, player passes, loops around two other players, and collects the ball in attack. Allow the players to discover, though questioning, the best possible way of executing and calling the (L) move. Players should change position in the line after each run.

Keep your player briefing, brief! It's important to get your players working as quickly as possible. 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 be any of the two players at the outer most cones. 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 player should be waiting to go. Players should advance right away, they don't need to wait for your call. Allow the players to move the ball down the lines, just to get them used to handling the ball within the L. When you feel the players are comfortable, tell the players that the first ball carrier will miss pass the ball to the third player in the line, who will miss pass to the last player in the line, who will give an inside ball to the forth player in the line, who will then pass the ball to the second player in the line. When each line has completed the above pattern, they should give the ball to the next attacking line. The last pass to the next attacking line will be a long pass and should be completed correctly within the laws of the game. Allow the players to discover, though questioning, the best possible way of executing the M1 while maintaining or creating depth in advance of changing the pattern of attack. Players should change position in the line after each run.

Tell your players the following...... Each group of two players should have their own ball. While they have a partner, they can pass to anyone. They just need to move the ball, pass and catch. They also need to move around the training area. They can pass in any direction. Go - lets just get moving. After a little time, tell the players that their pass must be legal.

We will begin with laterial passing down the line, just to get going. On your call we will start to miss the player in the middle, and pass to the next player instead (a miss-pass). The player who is being missed should still come forward at speed and should still look as if they are going to take a ball. When finished the players rejoin the back of the lines on the grid, but they move down one. So the first ball carrier now becomes the player to be missed, the missed player now becomes the reciever, and the reciever now moves to the first position to carry the ball. Simple - lets get moving.

Keep your player briefing, brief! It's important to get your players working as quickly as possible. 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 lines, don't mention the Miss Pass. After you feel the players are comfortable, tell them that on their call they can miss pass (M1) a player in the line. So the first ball carrier might decide to Miss Pass (M1) the first receiver in the line, and move the ball directly to the second receiver. Any player, if they have the option open to them, can call a miss pass. Allow the players to discover, though questioning, the best possible way of executing and calling the (M1) move. Players should change position in the line after each run.

Tell your players the following...... The ball carrier (A) runs straight in a line and makes a normal lateral pass to the supporting player (B) After passing the ball A runs towards and behind B After B catches the pass they angle their run towards the direction the pass has come from and so create space A runs around B and straightens as they receive the pass In effect you want the players to loop around the new ball carrier after they make their pass.

Passing warm up game Two teams No moving with the ball (similar to netball) Aim is to complete 10 passes If a team completes 10 passes, the other team does 10 push ups.

Drill to practice attacking in a small channel. Set up a channel roughly 20m wide and 5m long. Position three defenders on the try-line and four attackers opposite them. The attack are trying to score tries over the try line while the defence try to stop them with a two handed touch. The defence can only move laterally. The attack must take the ball back over the white line of cones after every score/touch before they can attack again.

Keep your player briefing, brief! If necessary you might considering having one group quickly demonstrate the exercise to the other players. Tell the players the following....... This exercise is nice and simple. They should stand at a cones in the circle, but their order in number should be random as in the diagram above. They have to pass to the next number up. So 1 passes to 2, who passes to 3 - and so on. That's get - lets get the ball moving!

Tell your players the following...... There will be two static players, passers, on the mid sections cones. One on each side. One of which will have a ball. There will be one runner who will start with one ball in their left hand. The ball carrier should start running towards the other side of the grid. The static player with the additional ball feeds that ball to the runner who has to catches the ball with their right hand only - and underloads the ball to player the opposite side. Repeat 5 times and then change over.

Give each training area one ball and tell the players the following...... Lets just get the ball moving down the line. Give the player at the start of one of the lines a ball, tell the line to advnce using laterial passing - with the last player in each line passing the ball to the first player in the opposite line. This should include all of the players, including the players that will be working in defence. After some time (your call on how long this should be). Tell the players that....... You will have three defenders, 10 meters back from the attack. The attack will start by laying on the ground facing the opposite direction. The defence will leave one channel open, they should vary this each time. The attack should get to their feet when the defence says ATTACK (this give the defence a chance to get ready). The attack should move the ball to the open channel, attacking that channel with more that one player - if possible. The defence can defend their own channel, they can move forward and back, and side to side - but they cannot enter the channel they initally left open. Players should change positions in the line following each attack. Change the defenders after some time.

Keep you player briefing, brief. Get the players moving and training as soon as possible. If you feel it would help, have one group demonstrate. Tell your players the following: They work as pairs, passing the ball back and forth between one another. They can move anywhere in the grid, be as close or as far apart as they like. Passes may not be forward. The temp should be high, and ball carriers should not hold onto the ball for more than 3 seconds. When they hear the first whistle they keep working but listen to the instruction. On the second whistle the ball carrier executes that instruction. Instructions can include: Pass the ball between your legs, pass the ball around your back, pass the ball around your neck, roll the ball down your back and catch it, flick the ball over your head and catch it etc. These can be as simple or as complex as you like. This is about getting your players to control the ball, to be more comfortable handling the ball. This should be fun, but players should strive to control the ball and may even end up impressing themselves and others.