Taking a free pass
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
- 8 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 20
- Space
- 15 x 10 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 2 balls
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
A line of cones seven metres in front of the player taking the pass, with the defenders standing on it.
How it runs
Every game below U11 restarts with one of these. Even once free kicks arrive at U11 the free pass is still what follows a kick into touch, so it is worth ten minutes rather than being discovered on a Sunday. The passer holds the ball out, calls play, then passes it backwards to somebody arriving. The defenders cannot move until the ball has left their hands. Everybody takes a turn at passing it, because the child who does it in a match will not be the one you expect.
What to watch for
- Hold the ball out where everybody can see it, then shout play
- The catcher runs onto it. Nobody stands still waiting
- Pass it backwards. Level with you counts as forward when you are moving
Make it easier
- No defenders at all
- Walk the whole thing through once
Make it harder
- Defenders come from ten metres so there is real pressure on the catch
- Two passes before anybody can be tagged
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 ball put on the grass or rolled rather than passed out of the hands
- Pass it. It comes off your hands, it does not go on the floor
- The catcher stood flat footed waiting for it to arrive
- Run onto it. Take it moving or they will be on you
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.