Catch-pass in lines
Rugby drill · Under-7 and up
Most dropped balls in junior rugby are not bad hands; they are bad depth. A receiver who is level with the passer gets a ball that has to go forward, and a receiver who is standing still gets one that arrives at the wrong time. Running the ball along a line, at pace, with everyone a step deeper than the player inside them, fixes both.
Adding it to a session puts it on your run sheet with its time and cue. It does not use up one of your saved plays. No account? Add it to a practice plan and print the run sheet for free.
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Players
- 4 per line, and as many lines as you have
- Equipment
- 4 cones for a channel 30 metres wide and 20 metres long
- 1 ball per line
Setup
- Mark a channel about 30 metres wide and 20 metres long with a cone at each corner.
- Line four players up across the start line, about 8 metres apart, with the ball in the hands of the player on the left.
- Stagger the line: each player starts a stride or two deeper than the player inside them, the ball carrier furthest forward.
- On the whistle all four jog up the channel together and the ball goes along the line, left to right, one pass each.
- At the far end the line turns, the player now on the left takes the ball, and the line comes back.
Coaching points
- Hands up and out towards the passer before the ball is thrown: give them a target.
- Stay deeper than the passer. If you can see their shoulder blades, you are too flat.
- Catch it early and in front of you, with your fingers, not against your chest.
- Pass across your body with your hips still facing upfield, and follow through to the target.
On the run sheet: Hands up early, a step deeper than the passer, catch it in front of you and pass in two strides, no forward passes
Progressions
- Raise the pace from a jog to three-quarter speed, and then to a sprint.
- Pass both ways: on the way back the ball goes right to left, so everyone passes off their weaker side.
- Add a fifth player and a miss pass, so the line has to hold its depth with a player taken out.
How it runs
Four players set off up the channel together, spread across it, each a stride deeper than the player inside. The ball carrier on the left passes to the second player, who catches it on the run and passes to the third, who passes to the fourth. Nobody slows down to catch, and nobody gets ahead of the ball. The animation shows one length of the channel: three passes, every one of them going flat or back, and the player on the right finishing with the ball at the far end.
It is a non-contact drill and the first thing to run in any rugby session, from the minis up. The youngest players can walk it first and jog it once the passes are going to hand.
The law it is teaching
Law 11 calls a pass that goes towards the opposition's dead-ball line a throw forward, and the other team gets the scrum. Players running at pace have to pass slightly backwards to stay legal, which is only easy if the receiver is already deeper than the passer. The stagger in the setup is the drill's whole point: depth is what lets the ball go flat without going forward.
The mistakes to watch for
Receivers who drift level with the passer, then reach back for a ball that is behind them. Passers who turn their hips to face the receiver, so the line bends towards the touchline and runs out of space. And catching the ball against the chest, which takes an extra stride to get it back into two hands for the next pass.
More rugby drills
- 2v1 draw and passUnder-8 and up · 12 min
- 3v2 overlapUnder-9 and up · 15 min
- Tackle techniqueUnder-9 and up, where tackling is allowed · 15 min
- Ruck clear-outUnder-10 and up, where rucking is allowed · 15 min
- Lineout throw and liftUnder-13 and up · 15 min
- Scrum-half pass off the baseUnder-9 and up · 10 min
- Kick-chase lineUnder-11 and up · 12 min
Put Catch-pass in lines in Tuesday's session
It lands on your practice plan already timed, with the coaching cue printed under it, next to your own plays.
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