Offload in the tackle
A handling and passing drill for U10 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
- U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 18
- Space
- 15 x 15 m
- Kit
- 1 ball per pair, 1 tackle shield per pair
- Pitch
- Wants a forgiving surface
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Threes. A shield holder, a carrier and a support runner three metres behind.
How it runs
The carrier walks into the shield, stays on their feet and pops the ball to the support runner arriving on their shoulder. Then jog it. Six each. They are learning to keep their hands free in contact rather than curling up round the ball the second they get held.
What to watch for
- Take the contact on the shoulder, keep the ball in two hands
- Support arrives late and loud so you know they are there
- Pop it before you go to ground, not after
Make it easier
- Walk the whole thing
- Support stands still and calls for it
Make it harder
- Carrier gets held by two shields
- Support arrives from the other side
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Going to ground first and then trying to pass
- Pop it before you go down. Standing up, not falling
- Support arriving early and stopping alongside
- Come late and fast. Arrive as they hit it
Safety. Shield holders brace and absorb, never drive. Contact at hip height only. Nobody goes to ground in this one, so stop it if it turns into a wrestle.
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 U10 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.