Step over and stay
A ruck and maul 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 18
- Space
- 10 x 10 m
- Kit
- 1 ball per pair
- Pitch
- Wants a forgiving surface
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Pairs. One lies on their side with a ball placed long. The other stands two metres away.
How it runs
Walk in, step right over the ball, get low with a flat back and stay on your feet. Hold it for three seconds. Ten each then swap. Nobody is pushing anybody. All they are learning is where their feet go, which is the bit children get wrong and then get penalised for all season.
What to watch for
- Feet either side of the ball, never on top of it
- Flat back, head up, hands ready
- Stay on your feet. Going off them is a penalty
Make it easier
- Stand over the ball without getting low
- Walk in from one metre
Make it harder
- A second player arrives and tries to shift you
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Standing over the ball with a rounded back and the head down
- Chest up, look at me. Bend your knees, not your back
- Feet landing on the ball or side by side behind it
- One foot each side. Straddle it like a puddle
Safety. No contact between players in the basic version. Bodies and feet only.
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.