Rugby: Left Out

This is a great warm-up for defensive and evasion sessions, or it might even be a warm-up that helps you reinforce coaching points made during a previous session. The best bit is that it's fun and relevant to all ages. If you're coaching tag rugby, change the warm-up exercise from contact to tags.

One team runs clockwise round the inside of the circle with the other team running anti-clockwise around the outside of the circle. The circle in this case is marked out using blue cones, but you can use whatever colour you like.

When the coach shouts 'Jailbreak' the players inside the inner circle try to 'escape' to outside the 10m x 10m square (yellow cones). The size of the square and distance from the circle is a suggestion, play with it a little and let us know your variations!

The inside team scores a point for each 'jailbreaker' - swap over. If you have an odd number of players give the defenders the extra man.

Set up a wide pitch, with cones on the half way line plus an extra box on two opposite corners. These corner boxes are the prisons for tackled/tagged players.

The aim of the game is for players to run into the opposing team's area and grab a ball to bring back into their ball area in their half.

However, if a player is tackled/tagged while in the other team's half they must go and stand in the prison square.

Players can be released from prison by being tagged by a team-mate. Once released they must walk around the outside of the pitch back to their own half before rejoining the game.

• Keep your player briefing, brief! Tell the players the following laws for this exercise.....

1. Players must start the game behind the outer cone of their corner and only one of them can enter the grid at any one time.
2. This game works on a relay basis, one and only one player in the grid from each group at a time - and the next player must be touched before they may enter the playing area.
3. While balls are in the center of the grid, one relay robber from each team can enter the grid to steel a ball from the center of the grid and bring it back to their own box or bank.
4. If all the balls in the center of the grid have been stolen, teams can now steel each others balls - but the same relay rules apply.
5. The winning team is the team that can get 4 balls into their box. Adjust this to allow your players to experience success or to make the game harder.

• You can add or remove balls to make the game harder or easier.
• No cheating! Only one ball can be carried at a time, only one player from each team in the grid, and you cannot go until tagged.

• Players start in the bottom right corner and on the command sprint as a group before doing 5 press ups.
• They advance as a defensive line, moving as fast as the slowest player.
• They never leave a player behind.
• They then side step (push as a defensive line) left to the next set of cones to do 5 sit ups before sprinting to do press ups. The group follow this routine until the end before the next group go.