Five player scrum
A scrum and restarts 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
- 11 minutes
- Players
- 10 to 20
- Space
- 15 x 15 m
- Kit
- 1 ball
- Pitch
- Wants a forgiving surface
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Two fives. Three in the front row, two in the second row behind them.
How it runs
Same sequence, still no push, but now with two in the second row binding onto the front. Get the shape right static before anybody feeds. Then feed and channel the ball back through. Ten goes then rotate. The second row's whole job here is holding a shape, which is less exciting than they hoped and worth being honest about.
What to watch for
- Second row binds onto the props' shorts, heads to the side of their hips
- Everybody flat backed. One bent back and the shape goes
- Still nobody pushes. Hold and let the ball come through
Make it easier
- Three player scrum
- Static shape with no ball
Make it harder
- Add the back line and play off it
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Second row binding on the shirt collar or round the neck
- Grab the shorts. Head to the side of the hip, never the middle
- One bent back in the middle folding the whole shape
- Straight backs all five. Fix the one that is bent
Safety. No pushing at U12 either. Second row heads go to the side of a hip, never into a backside or between two players. Match by size across both rows. Collapse means everybody up and reset. Nobody is made to be in a front row.
The RFU's Headcase is where to go for what to do after a bang on the head. It is theirs rather than ours.
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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.