Rugby: scrum half pass drill from the ground

Great for scrum halves to practice placement of foot and following through with hands. 2 balls, 3 support players, 1 passer Ted on the ground as if one is feeding from the backhe support players set up a triangle on your given dimensions. The person at the top of the triangle is the feeder for the passer, who will stand one metre from the feeder on the inside of the triangle. The feeder starts with a ball as well as the passer who will start with his ball in the position of a scrum or maul. Once the first pass is made the feeder must immediately place the next ball on the ground for the second pass to go to the next support player. Support players should return the ball immediately to the feeder. Work for a minute and rotate.

Keep your player briefing, brief - and get the players moving as quickly as you can. You may consider having a demo group. On your go: The player acting as the Scrum Half passes a ball to the grid on his right and then another ball to the grid on his left, both passes will be from the ground. Upon receiving the pass - each grid begins their 2 v 1 attack and the player with the tackle pad presses up in defence. When the player acting as the scrum half has completed their two passes, they join the attackers on either the left or right grid. The first receiver of each attack becomes a Scrum Half - or simply returns to the start of the grid to join a new attack as the first receiver. Players rotate positions e.g. Scrum Half, First Receiver, Second Receiver. Defenders can move forward and back, and side to side. Change the defenders often to give them a chance in attack.

Keep your player briefing, brief! Tell the players the following or have a demonstration group..... We have 1 scrum half, 4 runners and 3 defenders with tackle/ruck shields. The scrum half starts the attacking line by passing a ball from the ground at the first cone, to the first receiver in the attacking line. The defenders start 10 meters back and press up on the first 3 attackers, leaving the 4th attacker free. The attackers use quick hands to move the ball down the line, before the next cone. The last receiver sets the ball down, the attack line will have realigned, and the scrum half will now be on the second cone of the opposite side of the grid ready to restart the attack. The defenders rush 10 meters back and and once again press up on the first 3 attackers, leaving the 4th attacker free. They keep going until the end of the grid, turn around - and do the same working down the grid. Don't forget to change the defenders.

Explain to thescrum halfs that they are to attempt to pass the ball at the attackers and attempt to hit them below the shoulders. It won't be a completed pass as the attackers are just trying to avoid getting hit. The scrum halfs can move sideways along the edge of grid, however, cannot move forward into the grid. The attackers can attack when they like, and if hit they can be out - or have more than one life. When an scrum half makes it through the grid successfully, with out being directly hit by a pass, they wait at the other end till all the other attackers make it. The scrum halfs must make their passes/hits from the groud.

Tell you players the following...... There will be two players on one side of the middle line of cones, and another group on the other side. They will be two separate teams. It's rugby tennis, so the aim of the game is to pass the ball in such a way that the other two players won't be able to stop it from going out of play, however. The ball must be a normal rugby pass, and the ball must hit the ground inside the tennis court on the oppositions side. The passer must be 2 meters behind the center line. That's it, lets play.

UPDATE

Touch Rugby in teams of 53 Touches and change possession.When a player with the ball is touched, tackler stays in passive contact. Ball carrier slides to the ground and presents the ball, with the nearest supporting player comes in and acts as a scrum half.

Tell your players the following...... One the call of the scrum half, the 3 attackers turn, round the cone and attack. The scrum half feeds the ball to the first reciever, players will need to decide who the first reciever is. The other two players fall in at depth, providing support left and support right. The support players can expand the space between them and the ball carrier. As the attack approaches the end of the grid, the coach will point left or right, and the ball must be (without delay) passed to the support player on the side the coach has pointed to. The attacking unit return to join the line in preperation for the next attacking opportunity, they should pass the ball back to the scrum half.

On the shout of &quot;GO&quot; the scrum half passes to the player on the first cone, who attacks the 1st bag. Once the bag is attacked and cleared out, the scrum half then passes to the player at the 2nd cone.<br /><br />Once the player at the 2nd cone has attacked their back, the scrum half then passes the ball to the person on the 3rd cone who repeats the exercise.<br /><br />Once the last bag is attacked the exercise is repeated.

Tell your players the following, keeping your player briefing, brief! It's vital to get the players moving as quickly as possible. Each of the three cones should have one player. The player in the middle will have a ball, and one of the two other players will have a ball. The player in the middle has to throw their ball up in the air (vertical), catch the ball being passed from the other ball carrier, and then forward the passed ball onto the other player in the group, before catching the ball that they just threw up into the air. Once that is done, they do the same again - this time the lateral pass will come from the opposite direction. This is repeated, the tempo increasing as the players get more comfortable handling the two balls they must keep in play. Change the position of each player in the group; there can be a competition between the players to find out who can do the most without dropping any of the balls, or giving a poor quality pass. Have fun with this, but don't forget that there are great lessons to be learned here, many of which are noted in the coaching points.

Tell the players the following..... Each player has four poles and six balls, the winner is the player that hits the most poles - you cannot leave your cone and must hit the poles by passing. You can only hit each pole once. You can make this game a little harder by moving the cones further back from the poles.

Within a group there are two groups of 4 attackers and one chaser/scrum half. At the middle point, marked by a cones, the scrum half moves the ball to the first attacking line. The scrum half firstly tracks the progress of the ball, as the exercise progresses - the scrum half should apply more and more pressure to the ball carrier - working up to the point of becoming a full on defender. When the ball reaches the opposite end of the grid, the last player in the line sets the ball down. The scrum half then feeds the ball to the next attacking line, fulfilling their own role within the exercise. The opposite attacking line should realign in preparation for the next attack. The tempo of this exercise should be high.

Practice short kicks while attacking forward (not standing still).The attackers are aiming to land their kick in the target area (yellow cones). Adapt the size based on their ability (e.g. senior players 5m x 5m, junior players 10m x 10m).Set up two cones (red) to simulate the area of a ruck/scrum/line out and give a defensive offside line. Two defenders (red) position themselves on the offside line opposite two attackers (blue).One attacker (1) acts a scrum half and passes the ball to the first receiver (2). The first receiver (2) catches the ball and tries to perform a chip or grubber kick into the target area . The second attacker (3) chases the kick and tries to regather it.The two defenders aim to put pressure on the kicker.Once the attack have gathered the kick they should return it to the feeder and join the back of the line to start again.PROGRESSION:Defenders to start passive and increase pressure as attackers gain confidenceStart with a chip kick and progress to grubber or vice versa.

Tell your players the following...... The two bottom players will be the feeders, they will be positioned by the cones with the balls. It's a race, team against team. The idea is to take the ball from the feeder and pass it down the line, with the last player setting the ball on the ground. The ball must travel through each players hands. The winning team is the team that can get all their balls down the line the fastest. Any dropped balls must be returned to the start of the line, to the feeder who will pass them out again. You can keep the race going by having the last reciever feed the balls back. So all the balls must travel up and back down the line.

Passing in partners.Players stand opposite each other about 3-4m away. One player will take 1-2 steps forward, then pass back and sideways to their partner. Their partner then takes 1-2 steps forward, as they walk backwards to their original spot, so the player can pass back to them. Continuous walking and passing.

Good for warm ups and co-ordination, getting used to keeping your body straight on and handling the ball and practicing using your arms to pass the ball rather than the whole body moving. 2 balls, 2 players Players stand 2 or 3 metres apart facing each other holding a ball on opposite hips (one on right and one on left). Work for 30-40 seconds on pushing the ball and passing from the hips to the other players chest; passes are made at the same time so coordination is key and the pass received must be returned from the same hip it was received.

Split your team into two teams. One team will be up to bat/kick and the other team will field. The fielding team should take up positions that they feel will be advantageous to their game plan - don't worry too much about over coaching this - players can learn as they play. The fielding team should have a pitcher/thrower of the ball. It is his job to stand on the pitching mound and to throw the ball as hard as he can toward the hitter/kicker. The idea is to force the hitter/kicker to struggle to catch the ball. A bad throw is considered wide and three bad throws means the hitter/kicker gets to walk to first base. However, three good throws that are dropped will be considered three strikes and the hitter/kicker will then be out. So the pitcher throws the ball, as hard as he can, to the kicker/hitter -who if they catch it can make a kick to space. The kick must land on the pitch, but can bounce into touch. If the kick is caught then the hitter/kicker is out. If not then they can start running. They need to get from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 4th and then back to where they started in order to score a home run. They can stop at any base and be considered safe. However, runners can be called out when running between bases if the fielders manage to get the ball grounded at any of the two bases they are between.

<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>A coach or scrum half feeds a ball carrier who should be running onto the ball.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>The ball carrier should run towards the tackle sausage and use footwork and a hand off to move past the tackle sausage towards the first two tackle bags.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>The player should aim to hit the gap between the two tackle bags and power beyond the contact.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>Those two players then drop the bags and follow the original runner in support.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>The ball carrier then hits the bag, goes to ground and looks to lift the ball up to one of his support players. <li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>The next player then hits the last tackle bag, goes to ground and presents the ball.<li dir=&quot;ltr&quot;>The next support player clears away the bag to secure the ball.This drill works on a number of skills (running onto the ball, hand off, footwork and hitting gaps, communication and support, clearing out a ruck) in continuity which means its more game realistic and trains players to not only perform the individual skills, but also to be thinking about how the skills link together and what their next job is.

The aim of the drill is to develop players speed of pass.

Be brief when telling the players the laws of this game, it's important to get them moving quickly. This is not a contact game. Break your players into two teams, giving each team their own colour of bibs if necessary. One team goes to attack, and one to defense. Nominate a Scrum Half for each team. There is no kicking in this game. Normal laws of rugby apply e.g. a forward pass will result in the ball being turned over to the opposition. If an attacking player is touched: they must go to ground, present the ball, two of their teammates ruck over (staying over the ball), and the Scrum Half moves the ball for the next phase of attack. When you start playing this game make sure that the defense is employing your defensive pattern around the ruck. As the game develops consider telling the defenders that they must have one or more players at the back of the ruck, if they are not fast enough to do this - push them back 10 meters. Have attacking players do what they normally would at the ruck. Depending on your goals decide on the number of touches you wish to allow e.g. unlimited is not a bad option as mistakes will be made! Don't hesitate to shape the game to focus on your session goals, and let us and other coaches know what worked for you!

One player throws the ball in to 5 players standing side by side. One player to stand in the scrum half position so as to be ready to receive a pass. Pupils should :- Attack the ball by moving forwards. Catch the ball in two hands. Players on either side of the jumper need to protect the jumper after they have caught the ball.

<div class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>Be brief when telling the players the laws of this game, it's important to get them moving quickly. </div> <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>This is not a contact game. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>Break your players into two teams, giving each team their own colour of bibs if necessary. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>One team goes to attack, and one to defence. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>Nominate a Scrum Half for each team. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>There is no kicking in this game. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>Normal laws of rugby apply e.g. a forward pass will result in the ball being turned over to the opposition. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>If an attacking player is touched: they must go to ground, present the ball, two of their teammates ruck over (staying over the ball), and the Scrum Half moves the ball for the next phase of attack. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>When you start playing this game make sure that the defence is employing your defensive pattern around the ruck. As the game develops consider telling the defenders that they must have one or more players at the back of the ruck, if they are not fast enough to do this - push them back 10 meters. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>It’s important that defenders are employing their defensive pattern behind the primary defensive line. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>Have attacking players do what they normally would at the ruck. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>Depending on your goals decide on the number of touches you wish to allow e.g. unlimited is not a bad option as mistakes will be made! <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>When you feel the time is appropriate, usually during a ruck, blow you whistle and should FLIP IT – kicking in or throwing in a second ball to the back 3/2 defenders on the team currently in defence OR just kick it behind the defenders. The defensive team goes, without hesitation, into attack. The team that was attacking goes into defence and you or an assistant coach remove the other ball from play when you can. Ideally you might have two balls with different markings. <li class=&quot;&quot;&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&quot;&quot;>Don't hesitate to shape the game to focus on your session goals, and let us and other coaches know what worked for you!