Follow your mate
A handling and passing drill for U7 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
- U7, U8, U9, U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 9 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 21
- Space
- 20 x 15 m
- Kit
- 4 cones, 2 balls
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Threes at one end, one defender in the middle of the square, a try line at the far end.
How it runs
The one with the ball runs at the defender. The other two go with them, a stride behind on either side. When the defender gets there the ball goes to whoever is closest. Six goes each, everybody carries. Most tries at this age are lost because the other two watched, so the only thing being coached is being somewhere useful when your mate runs out of room.
What to watch for
- Stay behind the ball. Level with it means you cannot be passed to
- One either side. Both on the same side is one option, not two
- Shout so they know you are there before they need you
Make it easier
- Defender walks
- Threes with no defender, just holding the shape
Make it harder
- Two defenders
- The carrier has to pass before the try line whatever happens
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- The two without the ball drifting in front of the carrier
- Get back behind him. You cannot catch a pass from in front
- Both supporters running on the same shoulder
- One each side. Split up
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U7 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.