Kick it or run it
A kicking and catching 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
- 8 to 20
- Space
- 30 x 20 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 2 balls
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
Setting it up
A line of cones across the middle for the defenders to start on, with a try line at each end.
How it runs
Two attackers against two defenders. The defenders are told, quietly, whether to rush up or to sit back. The attackers are told nothing. Rush up and there is grass behind them worth a kick. Sit back and there is grass in front worth running at. Eight goes, then swap. The only question you ask afterwards is what they saw, because a good decision off a bad read is luck.
What to watch for
- Look at the defenders' feet. Coming forward or standing still
- Grass behind them is a kick. Grass in front of them is a run
- Whoever is not carrying calls it. The carrier has enough to do
Make it easier
- Tell the attackers as well, so they get the shape first
- Walk it through once
Make it harder
- Three against three
- Defenders choose for themselves rather than being told
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- A kick every time whatever the defenders do
- Only kick it if there is nobody left back there. Otherwise run
- Head down running into the first defender with a gap two metres over
- Head up before you get there. Tell me what you saw
More like this
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.