Hospital pass
A handling and passing warm-up for U9 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
- U9, U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 6 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 18
- Space
- 15 x 15 m
- Kit
- 1 ball per pair
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Pairs, six metres apart, one ball each.
How it runs
Deliberately throw each other bad passes. Too high, too low, behind them, at their feet. Twenty each. They will laugh at it and they will also get much better at taking a scruffy pass, which is most of the passes they will get on a Sunday.
What to watch for
- Get your feet to it. Do not just reach
- Low ball, get your hands under it with little fingers together
- Take it cleanly then reset before you throw one back
Make it easier
- Closer together
- Only slightly bad passes to start
Make it harder
- Both moving while you do it
- Bad passes at pace
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Reaching for the low ball without moving the feet
- Feet to it first. Then your hands
- Fingers apart so it goes straight through
- Little fingers together underneath it
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U9 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.