Rugby | Passing Drills

Offensive players (blue), line out in one deep line while the defence (red) line up opposite in a straight line, slightly inside player from the player that they are marking. The offence will attempt to pass the ball across the line at speed. Defenders will move up to stop them but do not tackle, simply press. This teachers the attackers to pass under pressure, as they try to pass across the line without making any mistakes.

Keep your player briefing short. Tell your players the following.... Pass the ball left, clockwise for 2 passes. Then right (anti-clockwise) for 1 passes. Retain the ball and flick it to the player behind you. Attack, at speed, across the grid. You will take a pass from the ball carrier on your left before finishing with a pop to the player in front of you. The pattern of this exercise can be a little confusing at the start, but when your players get the pattern there will be no problem. Start off slow and build from there.

The speed of the pass should be reasonable and provide the interceptors with a chance of success. Tell the players the following.... The rest of the players will start one cone back from the passers, each standing one behind the other. The first player will go, aiming to intercept the flat pass. Then the next, until all players have intercepted the pass. They then move another cone back - to do the same. They keep moving back until they don't have enough speed to get onto the ball. Don't forget to give the passers a chance, they could be injured players who you might want to keep busy with simple passing.

Tell your players the following..... One group of 4 players will be in defence. The other two groups of 4 will be in attack, they will attack one group at a time. There will be two attackerss and two defenders in the first two channels, the third channel will be open and free of attackers and defenders. The fourth channel will have an attacker and defender, the fifth channel will be free of attackers and defenders, the sixth channel will have an attacker and defender, and the last channel will be free of attackers or defenders. Defenders can move forward and side to side within their own channel, but they cannot leave their channel. Attackers attack their own channels, but can call a loop (L1,L2,L3 etc.) in order to attack the open channels. Allow players to discover solutions, question - try not to tell. Change the defenders.

Tell your players the following...... One player will be a ball carrier. The player directly opposite will make a half tackle, lifting the ball carrier onto their shoulder. The ball carrier will look for an off-load to a supporting player on the left or right. The support players will be the first player on the other two cones, to the right and left of the ball carrier. The ball is off-loaded and the catching player becomes the new ball carrier, while the remaining support player becomes the new defender. The other two players clear the traffic and the above happens again - with the new support players coming from the other two cones. This can take a minute or two to get going, but stay with it.

Keep your player briefing short and tell your players the following.... 3 attackers line up on the first three cones, the rest fall in behind. One attacking line will go at a time. The SH will work from near the top of the grid - off to the left. The first attacking line goes. The SH passes to the first receiver in the attacking line.. The ball carrier and the second receiver switch - using the top to cones as targets. They can..... Switch, dummy, pass to the 3rd receiver. That's it - let the players play.

8+ players  Ball  Players stand at equal distance away at differnt points along the grid. One working player runs in the middle of the channel.  The players on the outside pass the ball into the running player. The Working player must complete 2 sets of passing - 1 run off each hand. 

Passing in partners. One player brings their hands up to in front of their face. The other player passes hard to their hands. This is to catch straight, hard passes at an upward angle. Continue passing like this. Passing in this way puts pressure on the catcher to focus on the catch to prevent the ball from hitting them in the face.

Groups 5  Balls  Cones  Sausages. 1. Chanel Fix  Attack sausages lined up one behind eachother.  they must use footwork to step to a side of the sausage and then give a pass before running into/past it. Attack inside shoulder of the bag to fix defender. 

Keep your player briefing short, and get the ball moving around the circle as quickly as possible. First have the players move the ball - clockwise around the circle, passing off their right hand. Then switch it, and have the ball move anti-clockwise around the circle, with the players passing off their left hand. Once the players have gotten into a rhythm of passing the ball, tell the players the following. The player holding the ball will become a runner, their job is to pass the ball and then to set-off in the direction the ball will be traveling, trying to get to their starting position before the ball does. They win if they make it back before the ball. The players win if they can get the ball back before the runner. The passers cannot miss-pass, the ball must travel through every set of hands. Each player in the group should have the chance to become a runner. Change the direction of the runner and the ball half way through. You might decide that the runner has to do a press-up or two, if they don't make it back ahead of the ball. And you may also decide that all the other players need to do the same if they do not get the ball back before the runner. You can further develop this game by making the circle bigger. This will push the runner and will increase the length of the pass required between each player. Just ask all of the players to take one or two steps back.

Tell your players the following. Lets just get the ball moving clockwise for a while, just to get the ball moving through the hands. After a minute or two, lets switch the direction of the ball. After another minute, tell them the ball can go in any direction, but...... The receiver must clap once before catching the ball - and the passing player must move the ball within 5 seconds. The passer can dummy, and if a receiver claps they must do one or more press-ups. If the receiver doesn't clap and receives a ball - they must do one or more press-ups following their pass. You can also play this game using a word like RUGBY. Each time a play makes a mistake they get a letter. The loser is the first player to get all the letters that spell RUGBY. Some teams and coaches have more interesting and colorful words to spell - I'll leave this to you. Have fun with this!

The aim of the exercise is to develop 1 Step Closed leg pass to encourage the attacker to keep square.

3 players work together, the middle player working the hardest out of the 3. The 3 players stand in a line, the middle player doing a side on pass, catching and passing with two hands, same body position as the side on pendulum pass drill. The other 2 players using the pendulum front pass. The player in the middle is working on his fluidity of movement as well as his technique.

Set up a square with cones, making one side of the square with two gates of cones.  Get the players to line up evenly behind the two individual cones (See diagram - 1 and 2) The player with the ball runs out and puts the ball down between the green cones, once he has put the ball down he runs and joins the back of his line. The player behind him in the queue follows him and passes the ball off the floor to a player running onto the ball from the next line (2), once he passes the ball he runs and joins the back of his line. The receiver of the pass also has a partner running behind him so when he puts the ball down between the green cones his partner can pass it to the next person in the opposite line. Both run and join the back of their line and the drill continues... After a period of time swap over the lines so players practice passing in both directions Progressions: Instead of placing the ball on the floor, go to ground and present it Instead of working in partners, work in threes - the ball carrier goes to ground, the second player gets in a position to clear our any defenders, and the third person passes the ball off the floor. Add in a defender with a hit shield or a live defender to make a tackle but then be passive in the ruck.

Set up a rectangle of cones (10x5) with two gates of cones of a different colour 2m in front of cones on opposite sides of the rectangle (See diagram). Get the players to line up in equal numbers behind the 4 cones of the rectangle (1, 2, 3, 4). The ball starts on the floor between one of the gates of cones, a player approaches from behind a cone (1) and passes the ball off the floor to a player running onto the ball from behind a cone (2). The player who passed the ball continues his run and joins the back of the queue infront of him (4). The receiver catches the ball and continues his run, putting the ball on the ground between the cones in front of him, before joining the back of the queue (3). The player at the front of the queue (3) runs forward, and passes the ball off the floor to a player running onto the ball from behind a cone (4). The player who passed the ball continues his run and joins the back of the queue infront of him (2). The receiver catches the ball and continues his run, putting the ball on the ground between the cones in front of him, before joining the back of the queue (1). The player at the front of the queue (1) runs forwards, and passes the ball off the floor to a player running onto the ball from behind a cone (2), and the drill continues... Change the direction by moving the gates of cones forward to be in front of the opposite cones (4 and 2, instead of 1 and 3) Progressions: Instead of putting the ball on the ground, have to go to ground, present the ball, then get up and out of the way. As a group must complete 10 successful passes before the session can move on, every time a ball is dropped the whole group does an exercise (e.g. 10 press ups).

Players line up at least 2 or 3 behind a cone. The ball starts at one end with the player running up to the cone in front of him and passing to the next player waiting on the cone. As a player has passed he must quickly run around the grid and fall back into position. The Ball is constantly within the grid moving from right to left.

Set up 4 cones in a square, and get the players to form equal lines behind each cone. The ball starts with a player on one cone who runs towards the cone to his right and passes the ball across the square to a player from the next cone running onto the ball. He catches the ball and continues his run, passing the ball to someone from the next cone running onto the ball. Change the direction which the ball is going Progressions: Get the players to change direction on your command (shout/whistle) Multiple balls at a time As a group must complete 10 successful passes before the session can move on, every time a ball is dropped the whole group does an exercise (e.g. 10 press ups).

Set up a square of cones, and get the players to form equal lines behind each cone. The ball starts in the hands of a player behind cone 1, who runs (black running line) towards cone 2, passes the ball to the player behind cone 2 who passes the ball back to the first player. The first player then runs towards cone 3 and passes the ball to the player standing behind cone 3. The player who passed the ball from behind cone 2 runs (blue running line) following the run of the first player and receives a pass from the player behind cone 3 before running towards cone 4 and passing the ball to the player behind cone 4. The player who passed the ball from behind cone 3 runs (yellow running line) following the run of the second player and receives a pass from the player behind cone 4 before running towards cone 1 and passing the ball to the player behind cone 1. The player who passed the ball from behind cone 4 runs (red running line) following the run and receives a pass from the player behind cone 1 before running towards cone 2 and passing the ball to the player behind cone 2. The player who passed the ball from behind cone 1 runs (black running line) following the run and receives a pass from the player behind cone 2 before running towards cone 3 and passing the ball to the player behind cone 3, and the drill continues. Change the direction which the ball is going. Progressions: Get the players to change direction on your command (shout/whistle etc) Multiple balls As a group must complete 10 successful passes before the session can move on, every time a ball is dropped the whole group does an exercise (e.g. 10 press ups).

This drill is designed to work on the loop; one of the simplest and most effective ways to create your own overlap/space out wide.  Start with three attackers and three defenders using tackle bags in front of them. Attacker 1 passes to attacker 2 and begins to loop around. Player 1 should then receive the ball back and his next aim is to fix the third defender. Attacker three should make his way out to the edge where the space has been created. Attacker 1 then passes to attacker 3 who has space to get around the defence. Using this drill will help your players handling under pressure, vision and ability to create space.  

Keep your player briefing short. You may consider having a demonstration group. Give two players opposite each other, one ball each. On your call they will come forward, towards each other, sidestepping to avoid contact before passing the ball either left or right. There should be no forward passes and the players need to communicate to avoid both balls going in the same direction. When the receivers collect their pass - they do the same as the first set of ball carriers. Players that have completed their run and pass within the grid should join the end of the opposite line. Players should seek opportunity to pass off both their left and right hands.