Three phase game
A game sense 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
- 12 minutes
- Players
- 12 to 24
- Space
- 40 x 30 m
- Kit
- 8 cones, 1 ball
- Pitch
- Wants a forgiving surface
Setting it up
Two teams playing contact rugby with normal age grade rules.
How it runs
You get exactly three rucks before the ball turns over, so a try has to come inside that. Five minute halves. It stops the endless one metre carries and makes them think about where the next phase is going before they get there.
What to watch for
- Decide where phase two is going while phase one is still happening
- Get the ball away from the ruck quickly. Slow ball wastes a phase
- Do not put everybody into the first ruck
Make it easier
- Five phases
- Touch rules instead of contact
Make it harder
- Two phases only
- Narrower 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.
- Every player piling into the first ruck
- Two in. The rest of you get ready for phase two
- Standing around after the ruck deciding what to do next
- Decide during phase one. Where is phase two going?
Safety. Age grade contact rules apply exactly as they do on a Sunday. Nobody off their feet at the ruck, nobody joining from the side and stop it if heads start dropping through tiredness.
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.