Rainbow run decision making game

by Dan Meehan in Rugby drills, Small-sided games

Here are two versions of the same game. In each one, it is a basic 2 v 1, but the angles of attack and defence keep changing depending on the target. It really challenges the role of the support player to put themselves in a good position to give the ball carrier options.

RAINBOW RUN CALLED

Start two attackers with a ball at the starting gate (green cones above).
Put a defender in the middle of the box.
Call out a colour.

The attackers aim to score between the 8m gate of those coloured cones.
They have 30 seconds to do this and score in the other colours, returning to the restart at the end.

If they are tagged, they return to the green gate before trying again. The defender has to return to the middle too.
The ball must be passed backwards depending on the direction of the gate.

RAINBOW RUN RACE

Set up two boxes with 2 v 1 in each box.
The attackers aim to collect a try in each colour. And then return to the starting gate. Any tag means they restart, and reset the colours.
The teams aim to collect the most colours in the time period or get home first.

NOTES

The defender aims to prevent the attackers from scoring using good angles of the run.

You can progress to 3 v 2.

You could put this back into a game and place a condition such as only two defenders allowed in the 15m channel at one time in defence for example.

The direction of passing is backwards as normal. The changing angles create different pictures for the attacking players. When they attack straight ahead, it’s like trying to play against a set defence. In the wider gates, it’s like attacking against a defender who is tracking across.

It also encourages the defender to try and work to set themselves early using good body shape to dictate where they want the attack to play into.

The race is an excellent pressure game because the two groups are aware of each others’ success and push each other on.

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