Organising your U11 season (2026)

What Changes for U11s

The framework for your first season with the U11s. One of the two or three really crucial years for change. The game starts to look more like a phase-based game, and players begin to understand there is a shape to it. A bigger pitch and slightly more players matter less than two specific changes: two-player rucks, and kicking becoming part of play for the first time.

• ›The scrum starts to become more competitive too – but core skills from last year (catch, pass, tackle, ruck, carrying through contact, scrum body position) are still the same skills, just with more players around them.

What Does Not Change

We are playing U11s rugby, not chasing adult rugby. Keep giving players problems to solve rather than naming sessions after a skill: "we are in this part of the pitch, facing this many defenders – what do we do?" turns a passing session into winning a small part of the game.

• ›Do not overload players with technical detail – pick a few small wins. In the ruck, chin and hips over the ball is the one technical thing worth nailing; in the tackle, ear tight and tight grip is enough – do not add hand and grip mechanics on top.
• ›Pro, sports and social players start to genuinely diverge this year, and the gap will keep growing with age – not because of anything you are doing, just how players are settling into what rugby means to them. Give every player a role in training and in games rather than levelling everything to one group.

From Me to Team Mindset

Team mindset is not chest-thumping for the badge – it is understanding your role in moving the game forward: what is my job in helping us score, or get into position to score?

• ›A pro player’s 7-out-of-10 pass and a social player’s 3-out-of-10 pass are not judged on the same scale – ask the pro "what does 8 look like?" and help the social player find their own 4, and praise both journeys equally.
• ›Fitness is not something you train directly – build it into games and Activate-style movement spread through the session; you are making players more athletically capable at the rugby skills you want, not running fitness drills for their own sake.

The Four Roots

Cycle through the four core skills every week (A and B this week, B and C next, C and D after that), roughly 5 minutes on each – realistically 7 or 8 – for about 10–15 minutes total, so nothing gets neglected across a block.

Kicking

Embrace it, but be intentional. In touch games, nominate one or two players per team as the only kickers – it forces them to think strategically about if-then decisions rather than every player treating a loose ball as a chance to boot it.

• ›Give players plenty of chances to kick in training so mistakes there are cheap; in matches, do not discourage kicking, but keep asking why and when.
• ›Every kick removes an opportunity for a weaker player – kicks tend to be made by, and often aimed at, the stronger, more confident players, whereas every pass gets more players and more of the pitch involved.
• ›Use an if-then framework: inside your own 22, the best outcome is usually a clearance towards touch; past halfway, the question becomes what you would need to see in front of you to justify kicking through.
• ›A general kick-and-chase is a more realistic starting point than grubber kicks at this age – grubbers are a tough skill unless a player is a real natural.
• ›Do not rush to add a fullback role just because kicking exists – very few U11 teams kick much, and the player most likely to cover the back field is probably the player you most want making tackles in the front line. Save it for later in the season.

Free Kicks and Set Piece

• ›Free kicks: tap the ball with the foot off the ground, then pass – not pick up and then pass, which gives defenders more time to come forward.
• ›Count the "tap" down in games (10 seconds early season, down toward 5 seconds by the end) so it stays sharp, with a turnover if it does not happen in time.
• ›A simple free-pass play for this age: a feeder, first receiver and support player work as a trio – the feeder passes to the first receiver, who bounces out at the third defender, with the support player arriving to win the ruck.
• ›Avoid running a pod system at U11 – there are not enough players for genuine forward pods, and it adds a layer of complexity players learning the game’s basics do not need yet. Every player is still a scrum player and a back player.
• ›There are no goal-line drop-outs or 50:22s in the U11 game – a player held up over the line results in a scrum back to the attacking team.

Structuring the Season

Block the season out rather than trying to fix everything at once: where are we at the first game, where are we by half-term, where are we by Christmas, where are we by February half-term. Chase one or two skills and one play to the first game, then layer on a new skill and a new play at each block.

• ›You are not dropping the other skills – you keep working them – but pick one absolute focus for each block and let everything else layer on underneath it.
• ›Introduce a play only when players are ready for it, and invite them to use it rather than shouting it on – hope to see it bedded in by Christmas, not forced in week one.
• ›Do not chase too many layers at once. A season with one clean skill and one clean play per block beats one with five half-finished ideas.

Session Structure

Short warm-up (Activate-style movement), then chase the one skill for the block for no more than 10 minutes with a real focus on getting it right, then unit play (scrum work, maybe a move), then 8–15 minutes cycling A/B/C/D mixed with the week’s problem to solve, then finish with a game.

• ›If you do not have full numbers, slice the game up (5v4, 6v3, 3v6) and set the players a specific zonal question: "if we are here, close to the try line, what does our game look like?"
• ›Keep cycling back through all four core skills across the season rather than spending three weeks solely on rucking because catching had a bad week – you will lose ground elsewhere.

Example 6-Week Plan

A simple way to sequence the skill and play focuses through the season.

Each pair of weeks follows the same pattern: agree what success looks like with the players in the first week, then test it in the second. The game element is where you can dial the challenge up or down depending on how the skill work is landing.

Keeping Them Competent, Connected, Challenged

Success is not just the scoreline – it is winning the parts of the game you defined, individual players developing, and coach and players enjoying the progress together.

• ›Know where each player is now, what "good" looks like for them, and what "better" looks like – individual development matters as much as team results.
• ›Read enjoyment beyond smiles – a puffed-out chest, being a bit more chatty, or a quiet nod can all be signs a player is enjoying their progress.
• ›Build and develop together – you want players to feel you are enjoying their progress with them, not standing above them saying "follow me."
• ›Challenge players with genuine rugby problems to solve, especially in small-group scenarios, once the basics from earlier blocks are secure – you have given them the tools, so step back and let them solve it rather than stepping in too early.
• ›Run a Tackle Club for contact: split into three ability groups (not named A/B/C to the players) so everyone does the same skill but at a pace and intensity suited to them, and players move between groups as confidence changes through the season.
• ›For a completely new player with no contact experience, slot them straight into the appropriate ability group in Tackle Club rather than a separate programme – opportunity and repetition at the right level is what gets them there.

Coaching Toolkit

• ›Build contact in layers rather than jumping straight to full intensity.
• ›Use first-receiver games to build fast-ball habits – bouncing out at 45 degrees, not straight or backwards.
• ›Keep the chat positive – always framed as getting better, never "that was awful."
• ›Rotate players in-game so everyone experiences different roles; if you want any structure in training, use bibs, keep it to just 9 and 10, rotated regularly.
• ›Know when to step back and let players solve the problem themselves.
• ›Use democratic passing – everyone gets the ball, not just the strongest player – and avoid piling too many constraints into one game; players just want it to still look like rugby.