Back to back wrestle
A tackle warm-up for U9 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
- U9, U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 6 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 20
- Space
- 10 x 10 m
- Kit
- Nothing
- Pitch
- Wants a forgiving surface
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Pairs of similar size sat on the grass back to back, legs out in front. Plenty of room between pairs.
How it runs
On go they get up onto their knees, turn round and wrestle, trying to get the other one onto their back. Stay on your knees throughout. Twenty seconds, then stop on the whistle whatever is happening. Three rounds. Getting used to somebody else's weight against you is most of what makes a first tackle frightening, so this comes before anything with a run up in it.
What to watch for
- Stay on your knees. Nobody stands up
- Get low and get your chest onto them
- Grip clothing or arms. Never a neck, never a head
Make it easier
- Ten seconds a round
- Kneel facing each other rather than back to back
Make it harder
- Start lying on your front
- A ball between them to be won rather than a pin
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- One of them up on their feet driving down at the other
- Back on your knees. Both of you stay down there
- An arm going round the head or the neck
- Hands off the head. Grab the shirt or the arm
Safety. Match by size, never by age alone. No hands on a head or a neck at any point and stop it instantly if one goes near. Both stay on their knees, so nobody falls from standing. Grass only. Stop the moment somebody says stop.
The RFU's Headcase is where to go for what to do after a bang on the head. It is theirs rather than ours.
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U9 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.