Rugby: non rugby training sessiion

I have started an under 10s team up, and I would say about 8 from the 13 children I have , did not play rugby until about 6 months ago. Of these players, there seems to be a lot of potential, as we are scoring tries against teams, that very rarely concede tries.the problem I got with them, is that we are very poor at organising our selves in defense when the opposition has the ball, which does result in us conceding quite a few tries. We have some very good tacklers in the team. Can anyone offer some ideas on how I can get them to organise themselves? Thanks . Chris.

I have just started helping our head coach with under12's team. He wants to retire and has put me forward to be head coach next season. I am a little worried on how i should aproach training with the boys, going to a full 15 a side team on a full pitch. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

My U11's are a mixed bunch when it comes to tackling. Some very good, most OK, some ...hmmmm... enough said. Been through all the drills and when we break things down, go back to basics, everything appears OK, but it doesn't always transfer into the game. Any ideas on small group games that will allow me to combine technique with confidence?

Getting quite frustrated that my u10's are not using the space on the pitch and tend to bunch up. Despite various drills and game scenarios to force them to spread out and pass to someone in space they revert in any game to bunching up around the ball and taking it back into the thick of the opposition rather than looking left or right! Any ideas how to change their ways?

an RFU directive states that coaches should not hold pads/shields for juniors to run into during sessions, or even juniors holding pads for each other!!! I notice a lot of drills utilise pads as this was something we always used when I trained years ago! I personally think they are a good thing (especially since some of the juniors I coach are 'not small'!) BUT wondered what the general thoughts were out there in SportPlan world....

I just finished my collegiate rugby career. I feel inspired I would love to coach rugby to women in countries that have a lower popularity of women's rugby. How do I get started?

I coach under 8's and next season they will start contact. When am I allowed to start teaching them tackling skills? I sit january during their under 8 season or at the start of the under 9 season ?

What drills would anybody reccomend to encourage forward running in an u8s side,whilst keeping it fun?Some players tend to crab along the pitch.

I've a few players who genuinely do not like tackling but love the game in every other facet. Does anybody have experience indealing with this predicament. We have practiced the basic techniques repeatedly but when it comes to game time these kidsjust won't engage with the shoulder but use outstretched arms in a feeble attempt to tackle.It can be very frustrating ....

I have a new team of high school girls who exceeded expectations but have lost their confidence after a weekend of loses at a 7's tournament. How do I rebuild their morale so they can get back on track?

Hello, I have a real issue with certain players in my team, they are lazy, undisciplined, don't respect the coach or trainner. What should I do? how can I try to get them back on track?The problem is that we are a small club, our team is only 11 members and they feel they have their own position earned no matter if they train or not.Thanks!!

I need ideas for fun team building activities and any fun games to help towards team building. Has anyone got any ideas on what to do? Anything to spice up rugby training sessions in the dark, cold winter nights.

Hi, I am a coach for the under 13’s at our club. Recently during one of our meetings I raised a concern about the possibility of players playing in full contact games, drills and training. I and my fellow coaches appear to disagree on whether a young player can still take part in full contact drills, training or game if he does not have his mouth guard with him. I’m informed that the club’s guidelines are that if his/her parent is present and gives permission or there is a letter stating that it is ok for that player to play without his/her mouth guard then we as club and coaches are able to play that player. I know that the RFU have also provided a guideline that mouth guards are recommended at all times but the position I am taking is that we, as club and as individuals, have a duty of care and if we knowingly allow anybody to play without the correct protection and an injury occurs we may be likely to be found guilty of negligence even if we have that prior permission. I do not believe that a letter or verbal permission abrogates us from our responsibility of caring for our players…especially the young. Maybe I am reading too much into this but the Health and Safety Act is an enabling act (possibly doesn’t cover sport- not sure about that) where the responsibility of safety is inherent in everybody not just nominated persons and with the litigation climate in this country becoming more like the USA I would hate for one of our parents to get "legal" if one of their little dears gets injured. Dentistry is not cheap. My approach is if the player does not have their gumshields then they cannot take part in any contact . Period…just in case. Do we have anybody who could clarify this point. Kind regards David

I am curently helping coach an U14 team, my focus being on forward play and conditioning. As a general rule, for conditioning I only get the lads to work against body weight for resistance training. Some players (and parent?)are eager to get into the gym and start to use weights as means of resistance. Obviously at this age the level of physical maturity of players is vast, boys to men, hence each individual must be assessed. I have done some reseaech which would indicate that the use of weights for 14-15 year old is to be encouraged (Irish RFU), but I am keen not to get the lads into the gym to early. Does any one have and ideas on this subject or can point me to any research to support either idea.

At u10s level how many training sessions are acceptable in a week period with a game on a sunday. we currently use Wednesday 1hr session, Friday 1hr session and game sunday is this too much for under 10s even tho they enjoy every session and are improving and have no complaints.?

I'm coaching and reffing U11 rugby and one of my players is the definitive 'big lad'. His 'strength' is his size and his power, but last weekend he didn't seem to get reffed fairly. The opposition couldn't tackle him down, one on one and when another two joined in to make a mini maul, that didn't slow him down much either. The ref then let other people join in the (one sided) struggle to tackle him down, which seemed very unfair as A) it's outside the laws of U11 rugby,, B) it makes it nigh on impossible for him to offload, C) when he is brought to ground, he has 4-5 players all over him and he got pinged for 'holding on'. He is a recent arrival to rugby and it was our first game for a couple of months, so the situation hadn't reared his head before. We are keen that he learns all of the core skills of rugby and doesn't get used as a battering ram, but after seeing a pack of hyenas trying to pull down the big fella, something just didn't seem right to me.I'd be grateful for any thoughts and opinions.

I'm about to begin coaching forwards at the college level, any drills, conditioning, tips, or any suggestions from my more experienced ruggers will be greatly appreciated

Under 8's first session on 'contact' %3A the plan is to get them on the ground with the ball, learning contact with the ground before the player%3A can anyone suggest some ground based drills with the ball, (eg forward roll) to get them going? Thanks