Turnover game
A game sense 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
- 12 minutes
- Players
- 10 to 24
- Space
- 35 x 25 m
- Kit
- 6 cones, 1 ball
- Pitch
- Fine on hard ground
Setting it up
Two teams, normal touch rules, try lines at both ends.
How it runs
Every time the ball turns over, whoever wins it has five seconds where the other team cannot touch them. Five minute halves. It teaches both sides the same lesson, which is that the moment right after a turnover is the best chance either team gets all game.
What to watch for
- Winning the ball back is only useful if you go somewhere with it
- Look up the instant you get it. The space is there now, not in ten seconds
- Defending team, get back and reset fast
Make it easier
- Seven seconds
- Bigger pitch
Make it harder
- Three seconds instead of five
- 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.
- Winning it back then stopping to celebrate or reorganise
- Go. Right now, while they are still turning round
- Nobody looking up at the moment the ball is won
- One of you watch the pitch, not the ball
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.