Ruck clear-out

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Rugby drill · Under-10 and up, where rucking is allowed

This is a contact drill about one thing: body height. The support player who arrives first at a tackle has to move a defender off the ball, and the only safe, legal and effective way to do it is low, square and bound on, with the head up and the shoulders above the hips. Check your union's age-grade rules on when rucking starts and how it is played before you run it.

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Time: 15 minutes
Players: 5 at a time: a ball carrier, a support player, a scrum-half, a receiver and a defender
Equipment: 4 cones to mark the gate
1 ball
Contact shields or a ruck pad for the early stages

Setup

Put a ball carrier 10 metres from a marker cone, where they will go to ground and present the ball back.
A defender starts 5 metres beyond the cone, a support player 5 metres behind and to one side of the carrier, and a scrum-half and receiver behind them.
On the whistle the carrier goes to ground at the cone and places the ball back, and the defender gets over it.
The support player comes in through the gate behind the ball, binds on the defender and drives them back beyond it.
The scrum-half arrives at the base, passes to the receiver running onto it, and the group rotates.

Coaching points

Come in through the gate, straight from behind the ball, not from the side.
Bind on with the whole arm before or as you make contact. No shoulder charges.
Hips low and head up, with your shoulders above your hips. Drive with short steps.
Carrier: land, turn and place the ball back at arm's length towards your own team.

On the run sheet: Through the gate, bind with the whole arm, hips low and head up, drive beyond the ball, scrum-half in and away

Progressions

Start with the defender holding a ruck pad, then a contact shield, then live at walking pace.
Add a second defender, so the support player has to choose which one is the threat to the ball.
Put a second support player in, so two clear the ruck as a pair.

How it runs

The carrier goes to ground and places the ball back. The defender gets over it, on their feet, trying to win it. The support player comes in from behind the ball, through the gate, binds on the defender and drives them back and beyond the ball, staying on their feet. That is the ruck formed and won. The scrum-half arrives at the base and passes to the receiver running onto it. The animation shows the whole sequence and finishes with the receiver holding the ball.

The laws it is teaching

Law 15 says a player joining a ruck must come in from behind the hindmost foot of their team-mate, bind on with the whole arm, and stay on their feet, with the head and shoulders no lower than the hips. That last part is the drill's whole point: it is the law and it is the safe body position. The hindmost foot also sets the offside line for everybody not in the ruck. The ball is the scrum-half's to play from the base, and once the referee calls "use it", it must be played within five seconds.

The mistakes to watch for

Support players who arrive from the side of the ruck, which a referee penalises and which pushes the defender across the ball instead of off it. Diving in with the head below the hips, which is how necks get hurt. And clearing the defender only to stop on top of the ball, so the scrum-half cannot get at it.

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Page updated 29 October 2026 · Rugby play designer · All drills