Defend the line
A game sense drill for U8 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
- U8, U9, U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Players
- 10 to 24
- Space
- 30 x 25 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 2 tags per player, 1 ball
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
Setting it up
Five attackers against four defenders, defenders on a marked line.
How it runs
The attack has three goes to score. The defenders can only move once the ball moves. Then swap. Give the defenders one instruction only, which is to stay in a line and let them find out for themselves what happens when one of them rushes out.
What to watch for
- Defenders come up together. One out on their own leaves a hole
- Talk along the line. Say who you have got
- Attackers, find the one who came up too fast
Make it easier
- Even numbers
- Defenders may move as soon as the attack sets off
Make it harder
- Six attackers against four
- Defenders start further back
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 keen defender shooting out ahead of the rest
- Come up together. Watch the person next to you
- Silence, so two of them take the same attacker
- Say who you have got. Out loud, every time
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U8 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.