Five simple footwork and evasion games

Watching most youngsters play rugby, and it's true for many seniors too, is like watching bees around honey. The ball is the honey, with players jostling around it, trying to get as near to it as they can. And no amount of shouting from the sidelines seems to make any difference.

So, here are five great ways to help your players understand the importance of space and how to use it. The games are particularly designed for junior players, but they work well as warm-ups for senior players also.

1. Three team keep ball

As a warm-up exercise play a game of "three team keep ball". Work the players in three teams of four or five, in a 20 metre square. Two teams have a ball each, which they keep away from the third team who defend. When a ball is touched by a defender, that attacking team becomes the defending team, the defenders the second attacking team.

2. Simple space

There's a lot of space on a pitch but players, whether ball carriers or supporters, often don't appreciate it. One of the best ways to help them understand the importance of space is to play a game of tag or touch rugby in a very restricted area.

After perhaps five minutes of play, ask the players why it was so difficult to score points. They should identify that they needed more space. Then play the same game again but in a wider area, returning to the narrower area every time there is excessive "bunching".

3. Blob tag

This is an unusual game, involving artificial bunching to get players to understand about space. Defenders have to link hands to make a "blob", "gang" or "chain" of two or three. The attacking team has to outmanoeuvre the gang, using passing and footwork to score tries.

4. Corridor wars

This game is to prevent sideways running, by making players hold their positions. It's a tag or touch rugby game played on a pitch divided lengthways into four equal corridors.

Split your players first into teams of six, and then into three pairs. Name one pair from each team, for example, A, B and C or similar. Players in pair "A" can only operate in the two left-hand corridors, "B" in the two middle corridors and "C" in the two right-hand corridors.



You probably don't need your two rugby teams to have separate colours, but it may be useful to have different coloured bibs and/or tags for each corridor. Normal rugby laws apply as appropriate to your players' ages.

5. Doom strips

This is a development of corridor wars. Add in three narrow "doom" strips about a metre wide between the corridors. Players are not allowed to carry the ball through the doom strips. However, they can pass the ball across the strips and travel through them. For an additional development, give extra points for passes that cross the doom strips.