Rugby: leave no man behind

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.

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.

Tell the players: The player in possession of the ball when the coach blows their whistle has to run around the cone at the end of the grid to try and run the full length of the grid to score a try. The player from the opposition in line with the player that is running can try to stop the player scoring by running around the cone and tagging the runner before they reach the line. For tag rugby players, provide all players with tags. In other variations decide on touch or contact, depending on how warm the players are - and your training goals. Provide coaching on the go with encouraging feedback.

The first player runs around the red cone and back down to the start of the slalom. There the player zig-zags up the slalom, then back down before running around the second red cone and down to the second group of players where the ball is passed to the next player Important no more then a max of 3 players per slalom to make sure that there is lots of activity.

Tell the players the following: <ol type=&quot;&quot;1&quot;&quot;> <li class=&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;>On your whistle the ball carrier and the support player come forward off their cones. <li class=&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;>The ball carrier passes the ball to either their left or right (not forward). It is easier to decide the pass direction and roles in advance e.g. one ball will always travel left - and one ball will always travel right. <li class=&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;>When a ball carrier has finished their pass - they join the end of the opposite line. <li class=&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;>Players keep working within the Wide grid until you should tight, they then move into the inner grid. In this grid space is very limited and players will pop the ball (again not forward). <li class=&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;>Players keep working within the inner grid until told to move out wide again. <ul type=&quot;&quot;disc&quot;&quot;> <li class=&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;>Keep the tempo high and have fun.

Have four players stand at the four cones, the other players, in their own running groups of four should, be behind them - ready to go when their turn comes. Give the first player, the player with the ladder furthest away, a ball. The other players should lay down on the ground. When the first player runs and reaches the ladder, the second player can get up and attack, the third player can attack when the second player reaches their ladder, and the forth player can get up and attack when the third player reaches their ladder. The pass should be passed down the line, but you can only pass when you're inside your own ladder and you can only receive when you are inside you own ladder. Players aim to get the ball down the line, and should, score at the end before passing the ball to the first receiver in the next group. Players cannot stop inside a ladder or at any time during the attack.

Here are two games to improve your players grip on the ball:1. Simple grip battle (0.00-0.14)<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>Two players have one ball between them.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>This is a grip battle where the players are trying to take the ball from each other. <li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>Tell your players to focus on how they are gripping the ball and using grip strength rather than by moving their feet or hips.2. Competitive grip game (0.14-1.04)<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>Set up an area with cones and give half of the players a ball.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>The players without the ball are trying to knock the ball out of their hands.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>The players with the balls are trying to stop that happening.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>Either play that when all the balls go down the defence wins.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>Or play when a ball goes down those two players swap roles.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>(1.04) Have players work on the hand off and ball transfer in pairs and then play again and see the difference.

Keep your player briefing, brief! Tell your players the folloiwng......... Players should be moving, staying around 5 meters part - running with the ball and attacking space. After the first catch - pass ball around body. After the second catch - pass ball through legs from front and behind left leg. After the third catch - pass ball through legs from front and behind right leg. You might consider asking players to pass the ball with just one hand, off their hip

Tell the players that they have to run and hit every line on the pitch, but before proceeding to the next line they need to return to and touch the try line. For example a player would run to the 5 meter line and back to the try line, then to the 22 and back and so on. The players should aim for a target time to complete the exercise e.g. 3 minutes 15 seconds, but you should change this to suit your players fitness levels. Time your players and record their times, use the recorded times as time to beat when you next use this exercise.

Have 8-10 players standing in a line with a scrum half at the end a few metres in front.Scrum half passes the ball to a player. Passing down the line for 4-6 passes and moving forward until the ball reaches the end of the line. Not every player has to touch the ball.Then the person at the end passes a long ball back to scrum half, and they turn and do the same in the other direction.

Grid size is around 5x5m. You can keep changing the size of the grid. The defender must shadow the attacker as they run towards a cone (left or right) before then trying to spring over the back line to score a try. The defender must touch the cone with their hand whereas the attacker doesn't have to (giving the attacker the advantage). Attacker is looking to score between the opposite cones.

Split the players into two teams, giving each team their own set of bibs. Two different colours that clearly define the teams. Keep your player briefing, brief. It's important that you get your players moving as quickly as possible. Tell the players that we will be playing One Touch Ruck, see the laws surrounding this game in the Warm-Ups section of the SportPlan site. Briefly - when an attacking player is touched while carrying the ball: they go to ground and either pop or present the ball for a minimum of two supporting players to ruck over. The defence should behave as they normally would at the ruck, committing two players who will not compete for the ball or go into contact. The defence should employ their normal patterns around the ruck. The attacking team can have three touches in a row between the 15 meter lines, if they move the ball to the either of the 15 meter channels they can have another four touches in that channel before having to move the ball back out. If the attacking team moves quickly from one 15 meter channel to the other (exploiting space), they get a bonus of 4 touches in that zone. If any attacking team exceeds the number of touches they can sustain inside a channel, the ball is turned over. Play with these laws a bit - keeping an eye on what you want to achieve in this session. The normal laws of rugby apply, any law infringements result in a turn over. There is no kicking in this game. Don't forget to give the defence a turn in attack, if for any reason the attacking team is particularly good at retaining the ball. If they are, well done you as a coach!

Using cones and tackle bags, mark out your training area as shown in the diagram. The tackle bags should be stood up, and at a distance away from the play that tests the strength of their pass. Set 6 balls at each cone and divide your players into groups of 2, and allocate one group of 2 to each training area. Tell your players that... Each player has five tackle bags and six balls, the winner is the player that knocks down the most balls.<br /><br />A player cannot leave their cone and must knock the bags down by passing and hitting with the ball on the bag or the bag itself.

Players in pairs with a ball between them. The player on the left starts with the ball and passes the ball to the player to the right. The player with the ball then runs diagonally across the grid to the next cone while the player without the ball crosses over behind the ball carrier, ready to receive the ball at the next cone. They continue passing left to right and crossing over in each grid until they reach the end. Once at the end they run back to the start to the right of the grid, practising the same skill on the way back but without cones to guide them.

Break your players into two teams. One team goes to attack, and one to defence. There is no kicking in this game. Normal laws of rugby do not apply e.g. the ball can be passed in any direction. The ball is passed from player to player, but once the ball is caught - the ball carrier must stop moving. They can move only to pass the ball to another player. The defenders can close down attackers, working to remove attacking options. Defenders can intercept the ball, but must leave the ball carrier alone once the ball is cause. They can apply pressure on the pass, similar to the pressure that a bastleball player might apply (but consider using this as a progression). Tries can be scored by attackers who catch the ball inside the oppositions in goal area. Dropped balls result in a turn over.

Players line up at least 2 or 3 behind a cone. The ball starts at one end with the player running up to the cone in front of him and passing to the next player waiting on the cone. As a player has passed he must quickly run around the grid and fall back into position. The Ball is constantly within the grid moving from right to left.

Tell your players the following...... On the 4 players side, they will go 2 at a time in attack - the balls should be with these players. They will advance around the lower part of the training area. On the 6 players side, they will go 3 at a time in order to provide 3 defenders, one will advance to the 7 meter marker, the second will go to the 14 meter marker, and the last will stay at the back of the grid. They will advance around the top part of the training area. The attacking players will now face three 2 v 1 situations. Once the attack finishes the two attacking players return to their starting position, the next two attackers go. At the same time the next three defenders go, while the last three defenders return to their starting position. Don't forget to give every player a chance in attack and defence.

Play 5 v 3.The aim of the game is for teams with unequal number of players to defend and attack. Possesion is changed if one of the following :- A try is scored, there is an interception or three people are tagged.Players must ensure that they replace tags when they are removed. If at any stage the ball goes loose any team can pick up the ball.

Tell your players the following... We are playing 7's, normal rules apply - except this is touch. Upon getting touched a player must off-load the ball right away to a supporting attack player. They must stop running. If they do not off-load right away - the ball is turned over to the defence. If they keep running the ball is turned over. Touch is one handed. There are unlimited touches, but in the even of the law being broken e.g. a knock on - the ball will be turned over. The game is to be played at pace. We will have 4 quarters of 4 minutes for this game. Bring you players together for no more than a minute at the end of each quarter to highlight what is going well, what could be better and to agree targets for the next quarter. Ask players, don't just tell.

The speed of the pass should be reasonable and provide the interceptors with a chance of success. Tell the players the following.... The rest of the players will start one cone back from the passers, each standing one behind the other. The first player will go, aiming to intercept the flat pass. Then the next, until all players have intercepted the pass. They then move another cone back - to do the same. They keep moving back until they don't have enough speed to get onto the ball. Don't forget to give the passers a chance, they could be injured players who you might want to keep busy with simple passing.

Groups of 10+ Ball Bibs. In 5m Channel have 4 defenders stood one behind eachother 5m apart. Have 4 defenders stood in diamond formation. 1 ball carrier, 2 support runners, 1 trailer runner. Ball carrier takes on defender, trying to manoeuvre the defender or get on the outside of the defender using footwork and fend. Once the player has line of sight of a supporting attacker, the attacker returns to 2 hands on the ball, then offloads to support runner. The trailer runner then becomes the second support runner. continue up the grid until the defenders left.

Tell the players the following..... Each player has four tackle bags and six balls, the winner is the player that knocks down the most bags - you cannot leave their cone and must knock the bags down by passing. If you find that the bags are too heavy - you can amend the game by placing balls on the top of the bags, the passers must knock them off.

Tell you players the following...... There will be two players on one side of the middle line of cones, and another group on the other side. They will be two separate teams. It's rugby tennis, so the aim of the game is to pass the ball in such a way that the other two players won't be able to stop it from going out of play, however. The ball must be a normal rugby pass, and the ball must hit the ground inside the tennis court on the oppositions side. The passer must be 2 meters behind the center line. That's it, lets play.

There will be one ball carrier at any one time. They will run around the circle, passing the ball. The ball must be handled by all players, so players work to identify themselves as needing the ball. The ball cannot be passed to the person beside the carrier, but backwards passes are allowed. The coach can change the direction of the players running and ask them to do things e.g. touch the ground with your right hand, touch the ground with your left hand, jump up and clap etc.

The two feeders should be 15 meters apart and will........ Feed the left most attacking unit with a ball, they will move forward at pace passing down the line and setting the ball down when it hits the last receiver. The first feeder will without delay pass the ball onto the right attacking unit, they will do the same as the left attacking unit, on their side of the pitch. Both attacking lines should realign and take a ball from the second feeder, before turning and working their way up the pitch, running the same exercise. Players should change their position in the line.

Fun game to practice passes/kicks not being intercepted.Divide players into two equal teams and set up two grids (one small and one big - see diagram).The blue team are divided in half with half in the small grid, and half outside the big grid. They are trying to pass/kick the ball between themselves to score points - one for every pass/kick which is caught on the full.The red team are trying to intercept the passes/kicks or distract the blue team players. They cannot leave big grid or enter the small grid.Players in the small grid cannot leave the small gridProgressions - Players can only hold the ball for 5 secondsIf a ball is dropped/intercepted it is taken out of the game

Give each training area one ball and tell the players the following...... One of the attacking lines takes the ball. They simply attack, moving the ball through the hands - lateral passing only. The defenders (there will be three), mark the first three attacks, they leave the forth free. Defenders can move up and down, left and right, but must leave channel 4 open. Defender start 10 meters back. The ball must go through all four attacking hands. Don't forget to switch the attackers and defenders.