U7 rugby drills
Most of them have never held a rugby ball. Everything here is tag, because that's what an U7 grade plays, so the whole page is running, passing and having a go.
Free to browse. Pick U7 and that's the setup done. No account needed.
What the U7 game looks like
U7 is tag rugby. Nobody tackles, rucks or scrummages. The whole grade is about running with a ball in your hands and getting used to being in a team. Contact arrives two seasons from now.
Tag rugby. There's no tackling at U7 in a match or at training. Regulation 15 sets this out. It was never left to a coach's judgement. The U7 rules of play are the version that counts to a referee, they're reissued every season, so check yours there rather than trusting a copy on somebody else's website. Ours included.
New to the grade? What U7 rugby actually is sets out what a U7 match actually looks like.
What to work on at U7
- Carrying the ball and running forward. A seven-year-old who runs at a gap is doing the thing rugby is for. Everything else can wait.
- Pulling a tag and shouting it. It sounds trivial. It's the whole defensive game at this grade and it takes half a season to become automatic.
- Catching a ball that's coming towards you. Not a spin pass. Just a ball in the air, caught in two hands.
- Keeping everybody moving. An U7 queue is a lost U7. If eight children are watching one child do a drill, the drill is wrong.
The hard part of U7 isn't the rugby. It's thirty minutes of attention split fourteen ways in the cold. Sessions here are 45 minutes because that's honestly as long as it holds. They're built as games rather than lines, because a game keeps everyone busy while a line does not.
What is in Equal Play for U7
Pick U7 and the catalogue shows 22 drills: 9 warm-ups plus 13 exercises. Every one of them is written for the grade, so whatever you pick is something your squad is ready for. It's not a filter somebody can switch off by mistake.
| Theme | Drills |
|---|---|
| Handling and passing | 11 |
| Evasion and footwork | 10 |
| Game sense | 6 |
5 ready-made U7 sessions
Every one runs 45 minutes with the water breaks counted in, so the total on screen is the time you actually booked. Open one and change whatever you like before training.
- First session of the season
- Hands and space
- Tag and run
- Nothing but games
- Nobody queues
Common questions
Can U7s tackle?
No. U7 is tag rugby under RFU Regulation 15 and there's no tackling in matches or at training. Tackling is introduced at U9. That's why no tackle drill appears anywhere in the U7 catalogue here, whatever you search for.
How long should a U7 rugby session be?
About 45 minutes of activity is realistic. Attention at this age goes long before the legs do, so short games that keep everybody involved work better than a long drill that has ten children queueing behind one.
What should you actually coach at U7?
Running with the ball, catching it in two hands, pulling a tag and calling it. Keeping the whole group moving matters more than any individual skill, because a child stood in a queue at U7 is a child who has decided rugby is boring.
Other age groups
What U7 rugby actually is is the whole grade written out. What every age grade plays, side by side. The one after is U8.
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. Read against the RFU's 2026/27 appendices in August 2026.