Under 7 – Test Your Coaching – Support Play

Kids at this age play as individuals. Once they have the ball they take off and run as far as possible until they get tackled. (Ripped)

One of the coaches’ jobs is to teach them how to play rugby so as a challenge at this level you could introduce ‘support play’.

The only time a player must make a pass is at a restart. The idea is to introduce a pass when the ball carrier has a player running near to him, either on the inside or outside.

Of course support play is what the game is all about the higher the level that is being played.

The Concept
Talk to your team about ‘support play’. You might get them to look at examples on the television and explain what has happened and why. Make sure they know why support play is important in rugby.

Even saying “Follow”’ can help them understand the support idea.

Activities
One more pass could be added to many of the activities that you have already carried out under the other skill areas.
You will need to introduce another attacker and if the team get really good at this you could introduce another defender who is a few metres back. That means the coach will need to introduce the player passing and then backing up so that the new ball carrier can pass it to the player who made the first pass.

Playing a simple 2 v 1 in a small grid will show the attacker how to commit the defender by running straight at him and then passing away just before he is going to get tackled.

Practice a tap kick and pass with the receiver running directly at an opponent before passing it to his support player.

Play a game of Rippa at training but include a rule that requires two passes to be made after each tackle before the team can score. Talk to the support players – where should they be / what should they be thinking and looking for?

Good luck.