Rugby | Rugby Drills

The players behind start running around the circle in a clockwise direction. When the coach shouts ATTACK, each player must get back to their partner - staying outside the circle and moving clockwise. They must get through their partners legs before getting to the center of the circle and steeling a ball, then carrying it back and passing it to their partner. The team/group that does not get a ball is LEFT OUT! Make sure that you have something for the players that are out of the main game to do. Have the players return their ball to the center of the circle, but reduce the number of ball in the center of the circle by one. So if there are 7 groups left, there should only be 6 balls. The players swap roles in their groups, so the previous runner is now static. Start the game again. Experiment with the number of balls in the center of the circle - to make the game harder or easier.

Be brief when telling the players the laws of this game, it's important to get them moving quickly. This is not a contact game. Break your players into two teams, giving each team their own colour of bibs if necessary. One team goes to attack, and one to defence. Nominate a Scrum Half for each team. There is no kicking in this game. Normal laws of rugby apply e.g. a forward pass will result in the ball being turned over to the opposition. If an attacking player is touched: they must go to ground, present the ball, two of their teammates ruck over (staying over the ball), and the Scrum Half moves the ball for the next phase of attack. When you start playing this game make sure that the defence is employing your defensive pattern around the ruck. As the game develops consider telling the defenders that they must have one or more players at the back of the ruck, if they are not fast enough to do this - push them back 10 meters. It’s important that defenders are employing their defensive pattern behind the primary defensive line. Have attacking players do what they normally would at the ruck. Depending on your goals decide on the number of touches you wish to allow e.g. unlimited is not a bad option as mistakes will be made! When you feel the time is appropriate, usually during a ruck, blow you whistle and should FLIP IT – kicking in or throwing in a second ball to the back 3/2 defenders on the team currently in defence OR just kick it behind the defenders. The defensive team goes, without hesitation, into attack. The team that was attacking goes into defence and you or an assistant coach remove the other ball from play when you can. Ideally you might have two balls with different markings. Don't hesitate to shape the game to focus on your session goals, and let us and other coaches know what worked for you!

In groups of 4 inside the grid with 1 ball per group. Players should pass the ball around the group with small pops. On the coach's whistle the player with the ball takes the ball into contact and hits the floor. Other players must then seal-clear-pick. After picking the ball players can continue to pop pass the ball until they hear the next whistle.

Make sure that you have your warm-up area marked out before your players arrive, it's important that you get them working right away. You can decide to play this game in smaller grids, or a larger playing area with the entire team. If using small grids, they can be 10 meters x 10 meters - and mark out as many as you need depending on the size of your team. If playing in a large area with the entire team, have two players working as taggers. The rest will be attackers - running around the playing area trying to avoid the taggers/defenders. If playing in a smaller area, have 2 defenders/taggers and 6 attackers. Give the taggers/defenders a ball each. Keep your law briefing, brief! It's important to get the players working as soon as possible. Tell the players that the two players with the balls will be chasing and looking to tag the rest of the players. If you get tagged, you join the taggers team. Play the game until all players are tagged. The last two players tagged, become the first two taggers for the next game. The ball cannot be thrown.

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

  4 players are required for this drill; 1 attacker, 2 defenders and 1 scrum half. Once the defenders are set up in either corner of the try line they are assigned a coloured ball. The attacker is to start in one corner of the baseline. The drill begins when the attacking player is fed a coloured ball by the scrum half. The defender associated with that coloured ball will then come out to defend the try line from their corner. This drill relies on both the reaction speeds of the defenders noticing which ball is in play and also that of the attacker noticing which defender is in play and consequently where there is space to attack.

2 players start on opposite end of a 5x5m block On the whistle they run down the line, turn the corner, The player with the ball must try and beat the defender with his feet

Four players per group inside a 10m x 30m Channel. Requires 10 cones and 1 ball. Two players start outside of the grid with two players inside. One of the outside players passes the ball to one of the inside players before both of the outside players (defenders) run through the red gates. The two inside players (attackers) have to try and cross the try line before the defenders can tackle them, if the attackers are too slow they will create a two 2 v 1 situation.

This drill is designed to get your players in good habits when presenting the ball at the breakdown. This will allow your team to hold onto possession better and get quicker ball. The players run towards cones in lines of three, passing the ball from one end to the other. When the coach says "Down" or blows their whistle, whoever has the ball must drop to the ground and present the ball. The player who has presented the ball then passes to the player behind him and the drill carries on continuously. 0.29 - Demonstration  1.20 - What is the purpous of this drill?  

15m x 35m Grid. 1 Attacker starts on the half way line of the grid, with the other two outside of the grid back to back with two defenders. On the command the one attacker runs around the red cone, with the other one running around the blue cone - likewise for the defenders. Once they have run around the cones a 3 vs 2 will develop. If the player with the ball passes immediately this will give a 3 vs 2 in the middle of the pitch.

Drill to practice 3 v 2 attacking scenarios. Set up a channel 20m long and 15m wide with cones every 10m along the length (red, yellow, green). Set up 5 lines of players between the first two cones, the two players on each end are the defenders (red), and the three in the middle are attackers (blue). The ball starts with one of the defenders on one side and that player runs forward and throws a long pass to the defender at the other end of line. He then continues his run around the far (green) cone to defend. The defender who has caught the ball puts it down on the middle (yellow) cone and continues his run around the far (green) cone to defend. Once the second defender has put the ball down on the yellow cone the attackers may begin their attack. The player nearest the cone runs to pick up the ball and then they attack the two defenders, trying to score over the line marked by the green cones.   PROGRESSION: Start from the opposite side to practice passing in both directions. Reduce the width of the channel to make it harder for the attackers to score Add a defender to come round late and create a 2 v 1 after the 3 v 2

Drill to practice overlap situations. Set up a grid roughly 10m x 10m, with another grid roughly 5m x 5m adjacent to it (see diagram - red cones and green cones). In the bigger grid have two defenders (red) and in the smaller grid have one defender (red). Three attackers (blue) attack the 2 defenders in the first grid. Once they have completed the 3 v 2 situation the player with the ball and one other support player run around the cone and attack the one defender in the smaller grid. Swap the attack and defence after 3-5 repetitions.   PROGRESSION: The ball starts on the opposite side to practice passing in both directions. A coach/other player feeds the ball to the three attackers so the drill can start in any position. The coach/other player can kick or roll the ball to the attack to start the drill.

This is a backs moves passing exercise, aimed at drawing and fixing up a defender, to give a supporting teammate more space and take the defender out of the play 3 attackers line up along one side of the area, 2 defenders stand next to each other on the short side next to the coach On GO, the defenders run into position and the coach passes to the first attacker The attacker runs with the ball towards the first defender before passing sideways to their teammate That player then runs at the second defender and before contact passes across to the spare attacker to run to the other end of the area.

6x6m Grid  Ball  Players line up in 3s opposite sides of the grid.  Simply pass the ball along the line.  1 defender is in the middle of the grid putting pressure on all ball carriers. Once hand completed the next line starts immediately.  Defender swaps out when there is a mistake or when he touches someone with the ball.  Progression: add another defender, make the passes wider. 

Set an area with two different coloured cones on the touch line in the middle, one for defenders and one for attackers. At the prompt of the coach the players run around designated cones and attack the defenders to score. Ball carrier should initiate the attack by attacking the inside shoulder of the first defender to stop a drift defence. Draw the first defender and make the pass to your next support runner who should do the same to pass to the outside runner who can go and score. Once attacked three or four times players should swap to defence but not every single time to create continuity and positive development.

This is a simple 3 v 2. The three attackers have to get past the two defenders without being touched, that's it. The defenders will start 10 meters back, and can move anywhere inside the box. The attack must remain inside the box and all pass msut be legal. Don't forget to change the defenders.