Rugby drills by age group
What a minis grade plays is set by RFU Regulation 15 rather than by a coach's judgement. Tag at U7, tackling from U9, rucks and scrums from U10. No lineout at any of them. Here is the whole picture on one page, with the drills that suit each grade.
Free to browse. Pick your age group and that is the setup done.
What arrives when
| Grade | What is new | The game | Drills | Sessions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U7 | Tag | No contact at all | 18 | 4 |
| U8 | Tag | No contact at all | 30 | 4 |
| U9 | Tackle | Tackling arrives. No rucks | 48 | 4 |
| U10 | Ruck and scrum | Rucks, mauls, uncontested scrum | 73 | 6 |
| U11 | Ruck and scrum | Same as U10, a year more of it | 90 | 6 |
| U12 | Full ruck | Five in the scrum, no cap on the ruck | 99 | 6 |
Check your own grade against the RFU. Regulation 15 is reissued every season with an appendix per age group, so the wording that counts to a referee is theirs rather than anybody else's summary. Every age grade claim Equal Play makes links out to the matching appendix for the same reason.
Pick your grade
U7 rugby drills
No contact at all. 18 drills ready for the grade.
What U7 rugby actually is, in plain English.
U8 rugby drills
No contact at all. 30 drills ready for the grade.
What changes at U8, in plain English.
U9 rugby drills
Tackling arrives. No rucks. 48 drills ready for the grade.
What changes at U9, in plain English.
U10 rugby drills
Rucks, mauls, uncontested scrum. 73 drills ready for the grade.
What changes at U10, in plain English.
U11 rugby drills
Same as U10, a year more of it. 90 drills ready for the grade.
What changes at U11, in plain English.
U12 rugby drills
Five in the scrum, no cap on the ruck. 99 drills ready for the grade.
What changes at U12, in plain English.
Why the list comes ready for your grade
A filter is a preference you set. This is not one. Putting a ruck drill in front of an U8 grade is a safety problem before it is a coaching one, so Equal Play builds the list around the grade instead of leaving you to sort one out. Choose U8 and everything in front of you is U8 rugby, however you search it or sort it.
It is worth saying that none of the big drill libraries do this. They will happily hand a U8 coach a rucking session, because their catalogue is organised by skill rather than by what the grade actually plays. That gap is most of the reason this exists.
Planning the session, not just finding the drill
Finding a drill is the easy half. Fitting five of them into the hour you have booked, with water breaks in, then remembering what kit to throw in the boot, is the part that goes wrong on a Tuesday. Equal Play adds the minutes up as you build, warns you when the session has quietly become 75 minutes long, then gives you a kit list at the end.
There are ready-made sessions for every grade from U7 to U12 as well, so you can start from one somebody has already thought about and swap out the bits you do not fancy.
Common questions
What age can children start tackling in rugby?
U9, which is school year 4. RFU Regulation 15 makes U9 the first grade where tackling is allowed in matches or at training. U7 and U8 play tag rugby with no contact.
What age do rucks start in rugby?
U10. Rucks and mauls arrive alongside the uncontested scrum, a season after the tackle. A U9 tackle drill that carries on into a contest on the floor has become a ruck drill, which is why the distinction is worth holding on to.
What age does the lineout start?
U14, so no minis grade has one. Regulation 15 has touch restarting with a free pass all the way through U13 and holds lifting back until U15. That makes restarts and free kicks worth more of your season than most coaches give them credit for.
How do you know a drill is safe for your age group?
Check it against the rules of play for your grade, which the RFU publishes as an appendix per age. The catalogue here does that check for you: pick your age group and every drill you see is one your squad is ready for.
Which age group is a child in?
Whichever grade they fit at midnight on 31 August. A child's age grade holds for the whole season no matter when their birthday falls, so a squad stays together from September to April.
Equal Play is not affiliated with the RFU. Regulation 15 is theirs. We link to it rather than reproduce it so you always get the current season's version. For playing time specifically, see Regulation 15 playing time for coaches. Read against the RFU's 2026/27 appendices in August 2026.