Make Training Competitive but Fun

Giving your young players challenges and competitive games increases their motivation and enjoyment of the session. Check out these examples.

Make Your Warm Ups Competitive

Add a competitive element to your warm ups to engage your players and mentally prepare them for the session.

Home Training - Competitive Games

Lots of passing progressions to test players off all abilities. The exercises should be challenging and fun. Apply some targets (Do 10 of these) to keep the focus

Add A Competitive Element to Training

Rugby players are naturally competitive and tend to be more motivated if they are in competition with their peers. You can increase the enjoyment of your sessions and in turn, the benefits to your players' skill sets, by adding small skill challenges

Fun Passing Games

Children are naturally competitive and will engage more in training exercises that include a competitive edge. This challenges their skills under pressure and creates excitement and fun

England Players - Make sessions fun

Ben Youngs and Lee Mears describe what they think are the essential ingredients that make up a fun and productive rugby session. Both were taking part in an England Rugby coaching challenge with schoolchildren in the build up to the 2012 Six Nations.

Home Training - Fun Catching & Passing Games

A variety of drills and games to practice and improve your catching & passing

Stay Positive at Training

Win or lose, it's important to focus on the positives to maintain confidence in your players and a productive training environment.

Full Competitive Warm Up

Heres a full warm up focussed on agility that adds a competitive element to engage your players and mentally prepare them for the session!

Evasion Training

Rugby is a game of evasion. The movement and agility of players is integral to evasion and coaches should integrate specific exercises into training sessions. Coaches can use small sided games along with some simple practises

Wasps - Keeping It Fun

We can all take things too seriously at times and need reminding why we take part in sport. It is not only the community game that keeps fun at the centre of things, the pro's do as well. This clip shows a simple fun game to use at the start of sessions

Home training - Skills on your own

Some simple skills to work on at home on your own. You can set yourself targets and make the exercise easier or more difficult

Fun Is The Key To Winning

David Flatman provides some insight into why Fun is crucial to creating a winning formula. Saracens are a great example of this and are current English and European champions

Fun Catching Games

There's often down time before a training session where you can't help butthrow a ball around. Why not try out these fun games that will work your core skills as well. They work great as a gentle introduction to a session to switch players on.

End ball game for warm ups

A fun but competitive warm-up game that get's players switched on and ready to train.

Paul Gustard - Training Philosophy

Saracens' Paul Gustard discusses the training philosophy at the club, combining fun with a strong work ethic.

Quins - Using Games In Training

Elite coaches explain how they translate their desired playing philosophy and principles into practical hands-on coaching approaches, drills and games

Keep It Fresh

Doing the same thing week in week out isn’t good for anyone. The players will get bored and may lose interest in training. You can make sessions more fun by mixing it up and throwing in fresh ideas. This cone game is different, original and is great for building communication skills in defence.

L2 - Decision-making Development

Skill Practice Description • The coach kicks the ball out to the waiting attackers from under the posts. • The coach calls out a number of defenders to defend (4 in the example). • This number can change depending on ability. • The attacking team need to catch the ball and attempt to score on the try line without being touched (more than 1 touch can be allowed depending on ability) • Dropping the ball or being touched in possession results in a fail and all attackers must return to the 10m line before starting again. • The drill can be used as a competition by allowing each team a specified number of attempts before swapping the sides, the team scoring the most tries wins. Key Coaching Points • Being aware of the space between attack and defence • Using depth and not attacking in a flat line • The need to create 3v2’s and the ultimate goal of creating 2v1’s. Relevance to the Game • Attacking a broken field. • Collecting a lose kick and counter attacking with an assessment of the • opportunities presented. • Appropriate selection of pass i.e. long or short

Managing children at training - Paul Hull

Paul Hull explains the different challenges in classroom management at summer rugby camps, and the importance of trying to keep the activities fun.

Pressure's on - Coaching Decision Making

Total Control Under Pressure - When teams performances unfold late on in matches and players seem to struggle to make the right decisions its usually to do with fatigue and pressure. How can coaches help players to improve in this area

Speed Training - Speed Off The Mark

All players can train to get quicker & being quicker off the mark is a great asset to have when playing rugby. Tom Varndell one of the quickest players in the game goes through some acceleration drills

Speed Training - Warm Up Exercises

All athletes and especially sprinters use agility drills to get the body ready for speed training. Tom Varndell outlines some of the essential techniques players go through before the sprinting starts. You MUST WARM UP

London Irish - How do we train

Do Premiership teams train differently to amateur club and schools, is it just a difference in skills and power or do they approach training in a different way?

Improve Skills at Home

It's a great idea for players of all ages and abilities to practice their skills at home. Putting in the extra hours outside of training makes a huge difference back on the pitch. There are a large number of ideas for training at home, including position-specific skills, on PremiershipRugbyCoaching.com Join now to see them all.

Fun Sessions for Young Players - Start with Safety

We all want our sessions to be fun, but it all starts with the set-up, safety and reassurance from coaches. Particularly for young players. Achieve that and you will have a fun, productive session.

Home Training - Passing Challenges

Have some fun at home with some challenges passing games

Home Training - Passing with Dad

A range of simple drills that can also be progressed to really test hand eye skills. All of these practises can be done with more people. Set targets to increase the fun

Training at Home

Players can develop their ability by putting in extra work outside of their rugby training sessions. Premiership coaches explain the benefits of training at home.

Fun Offloading Game!

Ball control is the key element to an effective offload. Jim Evans from Harlequins uses some fun games to coach this skill

Fun Tackling Games

Try these fun games for any junior team. They are a great way to introduce tackle safety whilst keeping your players entertained.

Three player passing challenge

A simple passing game that is fun and competitive. You can add more players in and vary the distance to make this harder or easier. Different balls could be used as well. Dad's can do this at home as a fun game

Brian Smith - How to Plan Training

London Irish Director of Rugby Brian Smith discusses the key objectives and challenges when planning a training session.

London Irish - Our Training Style

An insight into a Premiership Rugby training session. Do the top teams train differently to amateur clubs and schools?

Training for Power

Power is essential for performance on the rugby field, and should be a part of every rugby player's physical training. Here are some 'power jump' exercises that you can include in your personal S&C programmes.

Training at Home

Premiership coaches discuss the benefits of extra-curricular training at home and participation in other sports to develop skills.

Speed Training - Techniques For Speed

Speed drills are exercises that educate & prepare the body for explosive sprinting and are integral to getting quicker. These exercises should be practised regularly as part of a players overall conditioning program

Broncos Agility - Mirroring

Trying to copy or mirror the movements of your training partners works on both your attacking and defensive skills, small steps and fast feet are terms and techniques used to improve the players movement. In this exercise a unit of forwards trains with focus but in a fun and competitive environment

Kicking in Training Games

Community Coach Tamara Taylor explains the challenges and benefits of allowing kicks in conditioned touch games at training.

Quick and Fun Agility Exercises

In this video Ross Hanbury takes a detailed look at two quick and fun agility exercises to run with your players.

Bear Crawl Touch

During pre-season, it's a great idea to keep training fun, but with emphasis on building fitness. Conditioned games are an excellent way to do this. In this game, defenders who make a touch must run back to their own try line and complete a bear crawl before rejoining the game. This gives opportunities to the attacking team.

Seven's - Speed Training

See some of the exercises the England 7's players go through for fitness & speed

Home Training - Solo Passing

Practicing rugby skills at home can be difficult if there are no others to play with. But there are still things you can do by yourself if you have a ball handy. This exercise requires passing against a wall, developing accuracy, hand-eye co-ordination and problem solving. Also, check out our other videos on developing grip.

Conditioning - Warm-up & Speed Work

Warm up exercises and techniques are used to teach the body the mechanics of movement and potentially how to improve. Accurate technique is important and the trainer uses a variety of games and races to make it fun and competitive

Lions 09 - Lineout Movement

A dynamic practise for speed and quality of lifting in lineouts. This exercise can be used for 15's and 7's and for different age groups. The coaches can vary the distance of the cones and progress to both lifters moving. Coaches can add some fun by making it a competition. Key factors : The jumper must jump - Core body strength - Keep body stiff and straight - Lifters work together - Lock out arms - Bring the jumper down safely

Attack Grid For All Ages

Progress your passing practises to make them competitive by adding defenders and ore chaos. This attack grid has lots of flexibility and can be used with players of all ages

Decision making at the breakdown - Ruck touch

Coaching players to make the right decision at the breakdown is a complex challenge for coaches. In this video Danny Wild from Leeds carnegie uses a whole - part - whole approach to help improve the players decision making

Expert Conor O Shea - what makes an effective team

Conor O SHea discuss what makes an effective team

Neal Hatley - Decision Making At The Breakdown

Coaching players to make the right decisions at the breakdown is a challenging task. Bath coach Neal Hatley has a number of tips and in this clip he takes us through one of them

Players First - Circle & Caterpillar Game

A great fun game to get training started and integrate new players into your squad. Lots of progressions and a variety of skills on show

Breakdown - Coaching Players To Make Decisions

The coach uses a combination of drills & games to deliver a session on making decisions at the breakdown. There are some technical points and observations on the coach using classic "Tell & Yell" instructions

Worcester - Breakdown decision making

The coach progresses a static decision making exercise into a moving one. The coach uses a ball strapped to a tackle sausage to replicate attackers and where they may be tackled. The defenders then have a decision to make, either jackal on the ball or clear opponents

Ruck Clearing and Decision Making

Advanced clearing exercises for senior players. The support player makes a decision on how to clear out the ruck based on the position of the opposition.

Sir Ian Mcgeechan - Training principles

Sir Ian Mcgeechan discusses how training methods have evolved in rugby

Paul Hull: Do Players make Good Coaches?

Paul Hull explains that sometimes former players can make great coaches, but they need to combine their technical knowledge and experience with the right communication skills.

QBE - Decision Making Development

QBE - Decision Making Development

Games for Coaching - Examples

Coaches often request ideas to help them plan sessions. Here are some examples of the conditions that coaches can apply to make training more challenging and enjoyable

Chapter 2 - Introducing Competition for the Ball

Pressure players to make decisions

A simple attacking drill mixed up by calling a random number of attackers and defenders instantly before. This takes the players out of their comfort zone as they are forced to react and make decisions rather than pre-plan.

Why Train In 4 Minute Blocks!

London Scottish Players and Coaches explain why they often train in 4 minute blocks.

Brian Smith - How to Plan Training

London Irish Director of Rugby Brian Smith discusses the key objectives and challenges when planning a training session.

Expert - Conor O Shea - what makes a great player

Conor O Shea gives us his thoughts on what makes a great player

Tony Rea - What makes rugby special?

Tony Rea - What makes rugby special?

Rucking - Live With 5

A clever and competitive practise using 5 players that involves passing, tackling and then making the crucial decision of what to do at the breakdown. This can be done from Under 12's upwards

Winning is for the Parents

The hot topic! who is winning for, some of the games leading coaches provide their view

2-man Tackle and Decision-making

This practice develops communication in a three v three game format

Worcester - Decision Making

The coach uses a tackle sausage and ball to replicate an attacking player. If the player falls back towards the defender he secures the ball, if the attacker falls further away the defender clears aggressively. This exercise could be worked as a support player for one of your own attackers

Interview - Sir Ian Mcgeechan - Training

What makes a winning team

We asked Premiership Coaches what they thought made a winning team. You may be surprised by some of the answers

How to carry the ball - Relay & fun

Devloping core skills and fitness for players learning rugby

Interview - Dean Ryan: Rugby is Special

"Good people make good rugby players, who make it fun to be involved" - Dean Ryan

Expert - Conor O Shea - What makes a great scrum half

Conor O Shea discuss the profile of scrum half

Richard Wigglesworth - The Fun side of Skills

Saracens and England scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth discusses the importance of skills and how they can enjoyment to a session.

Garden Training At Home

A few ideas for young players to hone their passing fundamentals in between rugby sessions, either on their own, or with a friend. Useful for holiday periods.

Step 2 - Introducing Competition for the Ball

Cheek-to-cheek - Head position

Start with the players kneeling, explain the cheek to cheek technique and ensure each player is competent, you can then add some competition and fun by adding some conditions

Neil de Kock - What makes a good coach?

Saracens and South Africa scrum-half Neil de Kock highlights rapport as the key to being a good coach.

Fun passing game

Round the world passing challenge. Each player has a ball and they try and reach Ten passes of each hand. You can progress this by doing 1 pass to the left and then 1 to the right, then two to the left and so on until you get to 10, this is tough!!

Team training - patterns & continuity

Developing continuity skills and understanding how to support

Head Position training in units

A progression in the tackle technique session is to have four defenders working at the same time. All attackers should go the same way (directed by the coach) and the defenders can communicate which way to go.

Conor O Shea - Do half time team talks make a difference

Conor O Shea talks about how half-time team talks can a difference to performance in the 2nd half

Richard Wigglesworth - What makes a good coach?

Richard Wigglesworth highlights an ability to interact with players as the trademark of a good coach.

Conor O Shea - Basics of the game

Conor O Shea discusses what constitutes the basic aspects of rugby union

Breakdown Touch

This is a game which can be used to introduce contact gradually into pre-season training. With each touch, one player from each side must compete at a controlled breakdown situation. It is important for players to maintain good technique when they are fatigued, and for the coach to manage this.

Pre-Season Advice From the Pro's

We all want to start Pre-Season with some new ideas but maintain a fitness element to what we do. In this clip leading coaches explain that they have a similar approach

The Importance of Playing Games

Stuart Lancaster explains the importance of using games for an effective rugby session.

Rules of Play - U7s

The rules for the Under 7's in England have changed. The new rules focus on having a game coach who has far more flexibility in making games fun and positive. Official matches are now 4 a side which makes sense. View this video to see how this works in practise

End Ball & Connecting Players

Fantastic game for warm ups, integrating new players and working on a wide range of skills. Its fun and this example has a "Game within a game"

Building Intensity

Being able to perform skills and execute patterns at a quicker pace and make decisions instantly can make the crucial difference for teams competing at higher levels. But, how do you coach intensity? Using games is crucial to recreating the pressure of a match...

Game to coach Depth

Ex England Sevens coach Russell Earnshaw talks through the importance of depth and keeping "Connected". He uses a simple exercise to work on various techniques and makes it competitive to keep the intensity high

Neil de Kock - Favourite part of Rugby

Neil de Kock highlights his favourite part of rugby training when he was young.

Military fitness for games - Pre season

Pre season fitness can be tedious and repetitive however you can integrate the latest fitness drills into games of touch or other conditioned games to make your training more challenging

Tackle Technique - Full Session

[WITH DRILL VIDEOS] This session from Joe Goodman (Bristol University Rugby) has been designed to prepare players for a return to full contact competition, re-establishing correct technique to ensure safe, efficient tackling through progressively increasing the level of contact and complexity of skill execution.

Fitness mid season

Midway through the season and time to review and refresh, is it time to integrate some fun fitness exercises into your coaching sessions

Agility Games for contact warm up

Saracens community coach uses games and competitive activities to introduce the contact elements of rugby. This builds confidence in players prior to actual contact skills

Improving support play

Decision making is a tricky skill to coach. Danny Wild the Leeds coach uses conditioned games with breakout technical sessions to improve this process as well as working on some groundwork skills

Stuart Lancaster: Importance of Playing Games

Stuart Lancaster explains why he thinks including game-play in rugby sessions is essential to player development.

Scrum half pass with Lee Dickson

Lee Dickson leads a passing session at the Northampton saints summer training camp. The focus is on doing the simple things well and progressing the practises to make things more challenging

Bandana's & Muscle Vests

Its not about you the coach, its about the players. Take some time to consider what the players want to do. A fun clip but with a serious message

Head position - How To Coach

Making sure that defenders put their head on the correct side is the most important aspect of tackling, coaches can improve confidence by using contact shields and surprise tactics to help train players improve their technique