Support the break
An evasion and footwork drill for U9 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
- U9, U10, U11, U12
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Players
- 8 to 21
- Space
- 40 x 20 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 1 ball
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
Setting it up
A carrier and three support runners spread behind. Two defenders in the middle third.
How it runs
The carrier beats the first defender then keeps going. Support has to get there before the second defender arrives. Score at the far end. Six goes. Making a break is the easy bit, having somebody with you when you do is what turns it into a try and that is a running habit rather than a skill.
What to watch for
- Support runs the moment the break happens, not once they are told
- Come from behind the ball, at an angle, not flat alongside
- Shout so the carrier knows you are there without looking
Make it easier
- One defender
- Support starts alongside the carrier
Make it harder
- Three defenders
- Support starts further back
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Support setting off once the carrier has already gone twenty metres
- Go when the break happens. Do not wait to be sure
- Support running flat alongside so the pass has to go forward
- Come from behind at an angle. Deeper than that
More like this
The grades that can do it
What U9 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.