Hands without looking
A handling and passing drill for U10 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
- U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 8 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 18
- Space
- 20 x 10 m
- Kit
- 4 cones, 1 ball
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Threes in a line jogging up a channel. You stand off to one side.
How it runs
As the line jogs, you hold up a number of fingers. The carrier has to shout the number before passing on. It forces their eyes up off the ball. Four lengths each. They will drop a few at first, which is the point being made for you.
What to watch for
- Eyes up. Feel the pass, do not watch it
- Catch with your fingers not your palms
- Say the number loud enough that everyone hears it
Make it easier
- Walk it
- Call the number out loud yourself as well
Make it harder
- Hold the number up on the far side so they have to properly look across
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Eyes dropping to the ball at the moment of the pass
- Keep looking at me. You know where their hands are
- Catching with stiff arms so the ball bounces out
- Soft hands. Let it come into you
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U10 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.