Rugby: Bag Slams | Contact Conditioning Circuit Exercise 2

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?

This is the first exercise in a series of three that can be put together to form a contact conditioning circuit.

Alternatively, this would be a great exercise to include as part of a warm up.

• Your players should work in pairs.

• One player lays with his back on the ground and the other lays across him facing down.

• The player with his back on the ground has to work really hard to get back to his feet against the resistance of his partner.

This exercise will develop your players core strength and ability to manipulate the body in order to get back to their feet.

This drill is simulating aspects of the game such as having to roll away after making a tackle.

Set up the practice as shown inside a 30m x 30m Grid.

6 Shields and 1 Ball.

Player 1 carries the ball before passing the ball to player 2 who bursts through the shields. Once through the other side, 2 passes to 3 and receives a return pass before bursting through the next set of shields

Once they are through the last two players with shields can move and try and block the runners. Player 2 has the option to pass to either player or go it alone.

Involve a ball in your warm-up.

Get players to pass the ball around their head to flex the neck and shoulders.