Covering the back
A game sense drill for U12 and up, with where the cones go, how it runs and what to say when it is not working.
Free to read with no account. It works at a pitch with no signal too.
- Age grades
- U12
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Players
- 8 to 20
- Space
- 40 x 30 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 2 balls
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
Setting it up
Three defenders spread across the back of the pitch. You put balls in behind them.
How it runs
Kick or throw the ball into the space behind them. They have to cover it, communicate, get it back under control. Ten goes to different parts of the pitch. Nobody coaches this at minis level and it is where the soft tries come from.
What to watch for
- One voice calls who is taking it. Use a name
- The other two get either side of the catcher
- Turn and face up the pitch before you do anything with it
Make it easier
- Roll it along the ground
- Nominate the catcher first
Make it harder
- Add two chasers
- Balls that bounce awkwardly
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Two of them going for the same ball and colliding
- One name, called early. Everybody else backs off
- Catching it then standing still facing their own line
- Turn and face up the pitch before you do anything
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U12 rugby allows is the rule this sits under. Regulation 15 is reissued every summer, so the RFU's own rules of play are the ones to read for this season rather than a copy on somebody else's website. Ours included. Read against the RFU's 2026/27 appendices in August 2026.