Sportplan rugby has played a large role in my team's love for the game!
I have just started helping our head coach with under12's team. He wants to retire and has put me forward to be head coach next season. I am a little worried on how i should aproach training with the boys, going to a full 15 a side team on a full pitch. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, I have a large pack, some new to rugby, and they are really passionate and impactful, but some are really struggling with helping get them on top of their fitness and aerobic exercise. One prop in particular is only 11 yrs old, but deperate to convert osme weight to focus on fitness. Any tips or exercise routines that I can use to get a heavy forward pack to work on their fitness training outside of the once a week rugby training session we have as a team?
I am curently helping coach an U14 team, my focus being on forward play and conditioning. As a general rule, for conditioning I only get the lads to work against body weight for resistance training. Some players (and parent?)are eager to get into the gym and start to use weights as means of resistance. Obviously at this age the level of physical maturity of players is vast, boys to men, hence each individual must be assessed. I have done some reseaech which would indicate that the use of weights for 14-15 year old is to be encouraged (Irish RFU), but I am keen not to get the lads into the gym to early. Does any one have and ideas on this subject or can point me to any research to support either idea.
I coach under 9`s rugby and a lot of the kids have a bad fear of tackling, they lack the confidence to get stuck in. What is the best thing to help them overcome this?
I have started an under 10s team up, and I would say about 8 from the 13 children I have , did not play rugby until about 6 months ago. Of these players, there seems to be a lot of potential, as we are scoring tries against teams, that very rarely concede tries.the problem I got with them, is that we are very poor at organising our selves in defense when the opposition has the ball, which does result in us conceding quite a few tries. We have some very good tacklers in the team. Can anyone offer some ideas on how I can get them to organise themselves? Thanks . Chris.
I am trying to plan winter training sessions and am interested to know what kinds of drills and workouts that have worked best?
I need ideas for fun team building activities and any fun games to help towards team building. Has anyone got any ideas on what to do? Anything to spice up rugby training sessions in the dark, cold winter nights.
in more ways than one
The offload is one of rugby's most devastating weapons when executed well, turning a defensive collision into a second-phase attacking opportunity. This article breaks down the technique, timing, and training progressions coaches need to develop confident offloaders at every level.
Defensive line speed is the single most important factor in shutting down attacking opportunities before they develop. This guide explores how to coach your defensive line to push up as a connected unit, communicate under pressure, and deny the opposition time and space.
The teams winning in 2026 aren't taking risks - they're grinding out territory with relentless pick-and-go phases. Here's how to coach it.
Coaches from around the world look to Sportplan for coaching confidence.