Two tackle shuttle

A tackle drill for U10 and up, with where the cones go, how it runs and what to say when it is not working.

Open this drill in the app

Free to read with no account. It works at a pitch with no signal too.

Age grades
U10, U11, U12
Time
10 minutes
Players
8 to 20
Space
15 x 10 m
Kit
2 tackle shields, 4 cones
Pitch
Wants a forgiving surface
Indoors
Fits a small space

Setting it up

Two shield holders five metres apart. Tacklers queue at one side.

How it runs

Tackle the first shield, get up, tackle the second, get up. Four goes each with a proper rest between. Two in a row is where technique starts to go, so this is the drill where you find out whose tackle holds up when they are blowing a bit.

What to watch for

Make it easier

Make it harder

What it looks like when it is going wrong

What you can see from the touchline, then the one thing to say about it.

The second tackle made from further away, arms first
Walk the second one until it looks like the first
Setting off again from one knee
All the way up. Both feet, then go

Safety. Tiredness is the risk here, so build in a real rest and cap it at four goes. Any drop in head position and that child is finished for the drill. Shield holders absorb, never drive.

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.