More wins for a 4 v 3

WHY USE IT

This gives players lots of opportunities to practise 4v3s, suggesting solutions and ideas as you feed back between attempts.

Set up

A 20m square, a cone on the halfway line and two lines of three cones for players to start from, one cone 2m behind the start line, one ball, seven players.

HOW TO DO IT

Place a ball anywhere along the start line. Attackers 1, 2 and 3 run round the corner cone and attempt to score a try by attacking with width. Attacker 4 rounds the cone behind the line and supports from deep at pace. Defenders run round the corner and defend as a line (see picture 1).

What to look for:

Get the ball to the middle of the three attackers as soon as possible and realign off them. The back player plays catch up and reads the space in front as the defence reacts to the attack (see picture 2). The 4v3 has now been created. Player 1 loops round after passing to offer support while player 4 takes a pass at pace (see picture 3).

TECHNIQUE

• Have at least one player left and right of the ball.
• Have at least one player coming from depth at speed.
• Follow your pass and support on the outside.
• Hit a weak shoulder by changing attacking angle at the last moment.