Turnover to try
A ruck and maul drill for U12 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
- U12
- Time
- 11 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 live. Defence is trying to win the ball at the ruck.
How it runs
Win the ball at a ruck and you have ten seconds to score before the whistle goes. Nothing else counts. Six goes each way. Winning a turnover feels like the achievement, so this makes clear that the turnover is worthless unless somebody has already looked up.
What to watch for
- Whoever wins it goes forward immediately. Do not set up
- Somebody has to be looking up before the ball is won
- The space is behind their ruck. Go there
Make it easier
- Fifteen seconds
- Coach calls the turnover rather than contesting for it
Make it harder
- Seven seconds
- Fewer attackers once the turnover happens
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 the ball then stopping to reorganise
- Go the second you have it. Ten seconds starts now
- Nobody looking up, so the space behind the ruck goes unused
- One of you watches the pitch while the rest fight for it
Safety. Contesting at the ruck under age grade rules only. On your feet, through the gate, hands or feet but never a shoulder into a bent-over player. Stop it if the competition gets scrappy.
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 U12 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.