Rugby: Contact Zones

4 players (2 players in Tackle Suits, one ball carrier and one support player) and one ball. Ball carrier attacks suited player and takes 'leg' tackle – 2nd suited player quickly moves in to compete for ball – support player clears.  

3 players (One player in Tackle Suit, one ball carrier and one support player) and one ball. Ball carrier attacks suited player and takes leg tackle. The suited player returns to feet an competes for ball before the support player clears.

Have a line of two or more ruck shields, a safe distance apart, five meters from the players that will make the hits. Make sure that the pad holders are holding their pads safely. You should also make sure that you have as many stations as you need in order to keep as many of your players as busy as possible. The player facing the pad should do the following... Approach the pad high. Hit low and hard with the shoulder. Take the pad holders leading leg, raising they legs off the ground. Drive through the hit, placing their non leg holding hand rightly around the body of the pad holder. They should pump with their legs, beyond the contact.

Ball. Groups of 3+ 2 attackers line up infront of a defender.  The 1st attackers takes the ball into contact  The defender makes a low chop tackle. The 2nd attacker resposibility is to clear away the tackler from the contact area and look after the ball. Progression : Add second defedner with a tack;e nag to test the stability of the clearer. 

2 on 2 tackling and clear out game. Players line up in two lines, adjacent to the coned gameplay area. The coach stands opposite the two lines with the ball and passes to the front player of either team. The front two players of each team run round the back of their cones and the ball carrier takes the ball into contact. The two secondary players then ruck over and attempt to clear each other out. One team comes away with the ball.

tackle sausage  Place 2 sausages perpendicular from eachother in a T shape.  Have one player line up a couple meters away from the bag.  Conditioning drill, the player does reps of clearing the bag, running back to the line, doing a down up and going again. 

Set Up 3 players - One player in Tackle Suit - one ball carrier -one support player - one ball Ball carrier attacks suited player and takes leg tackle- suited player returns to feet an competes for ball -support player clears.

Ball  Tackle Suits  Players around the outside pass the ball around with eachtoher until coach blows his whistle.  Whoever has ball in hand then attacks the defender in the middle.  The two players closest (1,2) become the clear out players with the attacking player with the ball.  The 3rd layer on the outside becomes the Jackler, after the player in the middle has made a low chop tackle. 

Groups of 3+  Bag  Sausage 2 player starts on his chest infront of the sausage, another player lines up opposite. When whistle is blown, the first player makes a chop tackle on the bag and rolls out the way.  The second defender then then spider carwls over the sausage and clears the incoming bag holder. 

1 player stands crouched down 1 foot either side of a tackle bag holding a ball at the end of the bag 2 players run around the wide cones to then come in towards the player with the ball and clear out the ball . Repeat the practice going the other way.

Groups of 2 Bags Balls Contact conditioning  1. Body height clear out work In there groups, do contact hits on each shoulder. Stand 2m apart and take turns doing hits against bag 2. Crocodile role One player lies on top of a tackle sausage (long way round), the group of 4 take turns swapping roles of being tackled and tackler. Focus is the crocodile role. 3. Clear out. One player stands over the top of tackle bag competing for the ball. Other player arrives from 2m away to clear out the player, to prevent the threat of stealing the ball. 3. Bounce and compete Players lay either side of the a ball. When whistle goes, both players bounce off the floor, one competes for the ball while the other focuses on clear out or crocodile role. Do 3 sets of 2mins. Repetitive drill.

Set up a 5mx5m grid Work in fours - two attacker and two defender The ball is fed from a player from the 1st defending player who also holds the tackle pad and will simulate the ‘jackal’ threat player in the 2v2 The first attacking player receives the ball and engages the pad holder and passes to the second attacking player The second attacking player engages the second defender (tackler) and bounces out to a weak shoulder The first attacking player (inside clear out) and the 1st defending player (jackler) then try and race to support The inside clear looks to support the attacker and clear out the jackler

Set up: 8 defending players Tackle Suits,  one ball carrier and four support players. The drill: Ball carrier enters grid 1 via gate followed by support players. Defenders tackle ball carrier and the ball carrier presents ball. All support players work to clear defenders and free up the ball. Ball is picked by remaining support and carried out of grid 1 into middle grid via gate repeat through middle grid into grid 3.

Groups of 10+  Tackle bags  Cones step 1 - players perform a down up - chest to the floor.  Step 2 - Players make a double shoulder hitbetween 2 bags opposite. Step 3 - active player moves down the line to hit the next group of 2 bags.   At the end players start again, aim to do 2/3 min sets then swap the bags. 

Set Up 3 players, 1 ball 2 v 1 one player with ball tries to retain possession whilst other 2 work to dislodge ball. 30 secs of work - if successful before time up start again. Players must stay on their feet at all times.

Bag  Ball  Player lies oppsite a tackle bag. and fires from hips to get in the jackal postion.  Keep rotating the same way until coach says chnage direction.  Progression: Chest to floor.  Introduce a bag.  Introduce a ball.

A drill to be completed in pairs. One player holding a tackle bag stands in a low, strong position with knees bent. The player is standing with one foot either side of a tackle tube on the floor, with their weight forward. The other player starts lying on the floor in a half press-up position ready to go. The tackler needs to get to their feet quickly, sidestep past the cone on the floor and tackle the player holding the tackle bag. Once the player with the tackle bag has been hit, the tackler drives through to clear the opponent out of a ruck.

A tackling exercise to be completed in pairs. One player stands over a tackle tube, while holding a tackle bag themself against their chest. The tackler begins lying down with chest on the floor ready to go. The tackler gets to their feet quickly, and gets low before tackling the opponent/tackle bag with force. The aim is for the tackler to rip the tackle bag away from the opponent, and roll away.

Set Up 2 players, 1 ball Start with ball carrier with a straight arm onto the chest of the defender. 20 sec of work: ball carrier tries to maintain arms length away from defender. Players must stay on their feet.

This is the third exercise in a series of three that can be put together to form a contact conditioning circuit. The circuit can be sets of 30 seconds of hard work followed by 30 seconds of rest. Swap in this circuit for your usual fitness routine to give the players something a bit more interesting and transferable to a game.  Alternatively, this would be a great exercise to include as part of a warm up. Players work in pairs, one player holds a tackle bag behind a tackle sausage. The other player makes a low tackle on the sausage and then drives through, clearing out the player holding the tackle bag. This player then goes to ground and gets back up to complete another repetition in the other direction. It is the job of the player holding the tackle bag to lift up the tackle sausage after each repetition. This drill will increase players overall fitness levels while being very relevant to game situations.  0.21 - Why is this important for players?