Rugby: Piggy Back - Partner Warm Up

4 players stand on the corners of a 5x5m grid, and one player in the middle (the piggy).

They play piggy in the middle until the whistle goes.On hearing the whistle:

• The player with ball in hand is pillar aka 1. The rest of the players FOLD in and become 2,3,4 and 5 in the defenesive line.
• Once they are set, they call hold hold and press off the line.

• 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.

• Have a quick demo using one group - keep your player briefing, brief.
• Each pair face one another and stand side by side, about 1 meter apart - shoulder to shoulder. And about 2 meters apart - face to face.
• Players should be up on the balls of their feet, jogging on the spot.
• They should continually pass to each other, passing with the player in front of them.
• When the coach calls out a direction the players should move as a unit maintaining the distances to each other while passing until the new direction is called.
• You could call NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, or WEST. You could also have each side of your grid marked with different coloured cones and your players could move according to colours.
• Movement should be controlled and not too fast.
• Expand the size of the training area for greater speed of movement over distance.

In this example we will play one touch offload, but remember you can change the version of touch to suit your training goals, applying the same mismatch strategy.

• Tell the players we are going to play one touch off-load, the normal laws of rugby apply. Any forward passes etc. will result in the ball being turned over.
• When a player is touched, they must pass right away without delay. A delay will result in the ball be turned over.
• Alternative: You might decide that one team will play 5 minutes in attack no matter what - and 5 minutes in defense.
• They have unlimited touches, you can change this depending on your training goals.
• Tell the players the defenders in the different coloured bibs don't have the ability to make a touch that counts. That doesn't mean that they don't try! If you are an attacker, and if you are touched by one of those players, keep going.
• You can start the game with lots of players on the defense wearing mismatch bibs, and reduce it as the session develops.
• Let them play - don't tell them what it's all about. Let them discover, remember this is the warm-up!