Rob the nest
A handling and passing warm-up 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
- 6 minutes
- Players
- 8 to 24
- Space
- 25 x 25 m
- Kit
- 12 cones, 8 balls
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
Setting it up
Four teams, one in each corner with a hoop of cones for a nest. All the balls in a pile in the middle.
How it runs
One player at a time fetches a ball from the middle and puts it in their nest. When the middle is empty you can take from other nests. One ball at a time, always carried in two hands. Two minutes then count. They will keep asking for it, which is fine because they are sprinting for six minutes and think they are playing.
What to watch for
- Two hands on the ball the whole way back
- Place it in the nest, do not throw it
- Look before you run so you know where you are going
Make it easier
- Nests closer to the middle
- More balls so nobody waits
Make it harder
- Balls must be placed on the ground with two hands and a bend of the knees
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 thrown into the nest from a stride away
- Place it. Bend down and put it in
- Setting off before they have picked which nest
- Look first, then run
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.