This exercise promotes game understanding. It’s an organised kick and chase for one side, while the other side must use their extra possession to gain field position and exert pressure.
What you need for this game
20 Players
1 Ball
6 Cones
Set-up
Use cones to mark out a playing area measuring 60m x 40m. Use more cones to mark a halfway line, and use both ends as try lines, as shown.
Rules
This game should be played to regular two-handed touch rugby rules.
What you do as coach
Divide your players into two teams of 10. Nominate a team to begin as attackers and give them the ball.
On your whistle, the attackers start the game by taking a tap from the halfway line, with the defenders positioned 10m back in their own half.
When tackled (two-handed touch), the attacking ball carrier must drop down on to his stomach and then get back up before restarting play by rolling the ball through his legs, at which point the defending team must move back 10m.
For 10 minutes, team 1 has six plays when in possession and team 2 has just two plays.
The unequal allocation of plays means that team 2 will need to organise their kicking game to great effect, and team 1 must look to limit team 2’s kicking options and get in a position to use their six plays to try and score.
10-a-side.
Start with tap from halfway.
Drop to floor when tackled.
Play for 10 minutes.
Team 1 has six plays in possession, team 2 has two plays.
Observe: Team 2 have just two plays at a time, so they need a kicking strategy that will gain them good field positions and chances to score. Can they do it?
Note: Even though they have much more possession, are team 1 able to show the awareness and organisation needed to stifle team 2’s kicking threat?
Call out: Let team 1 know that their defensive line needs to show good speed if they are to limit team 2’s kicking options.
I've been fortunate enough to have Eddie Jones deliver some sessions. This is the game he started with and it is excellent for reinforcing key messages around core skills or principles of play. MORE
Make more of poor opposition kicks with this session. Also, work on what your defence might do when you do make a poor kicking decision.
Most matches have poor kicks. Use these training scenarios to practise your team’s reactions and decision making. MORE
Introduce players of mixed ability to contact by building up the skills through games and questioning.
I’ve found that using this progression of activity, the players develop contact skills together. You can adjust the pitch sizes and timings to suit your players. MORE
Players who turn for training early often kick the ball around.
While you might not want to intervene and allow them to have free play, you might want to make this a "thing".
That is, "if you want to start 15 minutes earlier than the official start time, I will lay on some activities to do. They are voluntary".
MORE
Use this unusual pitch set up to pose problems for your players to solve. As they work out ways to score they will begin to use handling and support to create width on their game. MORE
Encourage your ball carriers to run at pace, looking to avoid contact by anticipating where the spaces are.
This is a scanning exercise for just the ball carrier. They will make mistakes, yet start to become attuned to looking for gaps. MORE