Three player scrum shape
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
- 10 minutes
- Players
- 6 to 16
- Space
- 10 x 10 m
- Kit
- 4 cones, 1 ball
- Pitch
- Wants a forgiving surface
- Indoors
- Fits a small space
Setting it up
Two threes facing each other a metre apart. Hooker in the middle, a prop either side.
How it runs
Work the crouch, bind, set sequence with no push at all. At this grade the scrum is uncontested and it is there to restart the game, not to win a shoving match. Once the shape holds, add the scrum half rolling it in and the hooker striking. Ten goes then swap the front rows round.
What to watch for
- Flat backs and heads up on crouch. Looking at the grass means reset
- Bind onto your own player before you go near the opposition
- Nobody moves forward on set. Hold still and the ball comes in
Make it easier
- No opposition, just the coach calling the sequence
Make it harder
- Scrum half feeds and the hooker strikes and controls it
What it looks like when it is going wrong
What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.
- Heads down looking at the grass on crouch
- Eyes up. If you can see the floor, reset
- Somebody edging forward on set because they think it is a push
- Nobody moves on set. Freeze and wait for the ball
Safety. No pushing, ever, at this grade. Match front rows by size. Any collapse means everybody stands up and starts again from crouch. If a child does not want to be in the front row, they do not have to be.
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.