Rugby play templates
6 rugby shapes, drawn on the pitch they belong on rather than sketched. Read the setup, then open it in the designer and move the players your team does differently.
Attacks
Attacking backline from a scrum
Attack · 15 players
A full fifteen: eight bound into the scrum, the scrum-half at the base, and the backline fanned out to the open side roughly 8 m apart with the fly-half 10 m off the gain line. The blindside winger and fullback cover behind.
Read the setup
Attacking pods (1-3-3-1)
Attack · 15 players
The forwards distributed across the field as one, three, three and one: a forward in each 15 m channel and two pods of three between them, with the halves, centres and back three in behind. Note the digits count players *across* the pitch, not lines of depth — 1-3-3-1 is a width map, which is exactly why it keeps a pod available on both sides of every ruck.
Read the setup
Defences
Defensive line (13 up, 2 back)
Defence · 15 players
Thirteen in the front line at roughly 5 m spacing right across the pitch, with the fullback sweeping behind and the blindside winger holding the back field. The default defensive picture from a phase in the middle of the park.
Read the setup
Ruck defence: pillar and post
Defence · 17 players
Defending a ruck: two pillars either side of it, the post defender next out, then seven spread across the open side and three covering the blind, with the fullback and a winger sweeping. Gets the two jobs nobody volunteers for filled first.
Read the setup
Set pieces
Kick-off receive
Set piece · 15 players
Receiving the restart: the forwards in two pods of three with a pair in the middle, all standing at least 10 m back from halfway where the ball has to land, the halves behind them and the outside centre and fullback covering the deep kick.
Read the setup
Lineout (7-man)
Set piece · 15 players
Seven forwards formed between the 5 m and 15 m lines with the hooker throwing from the touchline, the scrum-half receiving just outside the 15 m line and the backs stacked behind. Where the whole line stands is the bit coaches get wrong on a whiteboard, so it is drawn to the marks.
Read the setup
Templates for another sport
Draw your first rugby play now
It opens on a rugby pitch, it costs nothing, and your team can watch the play animate from a link.
Open the rugby designerShelf updated · All play templates