Taking the restart
A scrum and restarts 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
- 9 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 20
- Space
- 30 x 25 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 2 balls
- Pitch
- Wants a forgiving surface
Setting it up
A receiving team spread across the pitch. You throw or kick the restarts in.
How it runs
Ball goes up, somebody calls it, they catch it and two others get either side of them straight away. Ten restarts. Every match starts with one of these and most minis teams have never once practised it, which is why the first two minutes are always chaos.
What to watch for
- One voice calls it. Loud, early and use your own name
- Catch it above your head, do not let it come down to your chest
- Two players either side before the catcher lands
Make it easier
- Throw it gently and flat
- Nominate the catcher before each one
Make it harder
- Chasers competing for it
- Restarts to different parts of the pitch
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Three of them calling for it at once and nobody catching
- One voice. Say your own name and everybody else backs off
- Waiting for the ball to drop to their chest
- Hands up high. Take it at the top, not on the way down
Safety. Nobody jumps into anybody. If two children go for the same ball, stop it and sort out the calling before you carry on.
The RFU's Headcase is where to go for what to do after a bang on the head. It is theirs rather than ours.
More like this
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.