Return to play: Games, drills and fitness testing

You want your training to be purposeful. That means players feel they’ve gained something from the session.

Here’s a mix of handling, fitness and kicking games to help populate your training sessions for the return to play. It looks a lot like pre-season of course. You will see the fundamentals of skills, teamwork and movement, but little or no focus on tactics or contact.

There will be plenty of time for that before the season really starts. In the meantime, keep sessions short, sharp and safe.

The Return to play: Social distancing line game comes from Nuneaton head coach, Geraint Davies. Watch how the players develop their own games within the game.

Lions Academy has plenty of experience in creating activities to keep players engaged. Their Return to play: Social distance crazy kick game is fun, purposeful and has some hidden fitness elements. A good game for all the players, and one you can set up for early arrivers at training.

Heads up technical passing drill is a good breakout activity to focus on skills. Ideal for social distancing, it will test better players to handle more accurately. You can run a much slower version for developing players.

And if you are going to do some conditioning, then Test your team’s running fitness gives you a base to measure their progress. Easy to set up and run with a large number of players, it has always been one of my go-to tests.

Return to play: Social distancing line game

in Return to play, Small-sided games, Warm Ups

Use this box passing game to develop pass, catch and movement skills as well as defensive movement. The players can quickly develop their own adaptions. A great warm-up game for in-season training. MORE

Return to play: Social distance crazy kick game

in Kicking & Catching, Return to play, Small-sided games

Use this kicking game to improve kicking, catching and tactical awareness, as well introduce some fatigue elements into training. Tactically, using a variety of kicks, the aim is to find spaces where the defenders are not covering. MORE

Test your team’s running fitness

in Fitness & Conditioning

Before you begin training in earnest, you should establish what base your players are starting from. In the first of two articles on testing, we look at different ways to measure running fitness levels… MORE

VIDEO: Heads up technical passing drill

in Passing & Handling, Rugby drills

Use this four-player, two-ball exercise to hone your passers' accuracy and ball transfer. The gentle pressure of movement, aligned with the skills of keeping the head and the body square will also help players to pass quickly. MORE