Rugby Drills

Whether you’re a coach or a player you’ll know that rugby drills are an important way to help improve skills and performance on the field. Rugby is a sport of multiple positions, each needing different strengths and techniques, but we’ll cover some drills that work for all players.

Fitness Drills

First and foremost, every member of the team needs to be fit, so it’s worth having some good fitness drills in your repertoire to keep you and your team in peak physical condition.

• Shuttle Runs – This drill sees players running between two cones, the distance can be varied along with the number of repetitions in order to increase the intensity of the drill. This exercise will help to build cardiovascular fitness along with speed and agility.

• Interval Sprints – This exercise is a great way to simulate the high-intensity bursts and short recovery periods of a rugby game making it perfect for improving cardiovascular fitness. This drill involves sprinting at maximum effort for around 20 seconds, then jogging for 40 seconds to allow a brief recovery. You then repeat these sets 10 times. You can increase sprint time and reduce recovery time as fitness improves.

• Squat Jumps – This drill is a great way to build explosive power in the lower body, something that is vital for all players. This exercise starts with players in a squat position with feet shoulder-width apart, then jumping as high as possible, extending the legs and extending arms upwards. As you land you return to a squat position and immediately jump again. A good starting point is 3 sets of 8 reps with 60-second recovery periods between sets. This can of course be adjusted depending on fitness level.

• Burpees – This is a classic drill used in many different types of workout routines, and that’s because it’s a fantastic whole-body exercise. Burpees begin in a standing position and then drop down to a squat. You then place your hands on the ground and kick your feet back, landing in a plank position. You then do a push-up before jumping back into a squat position, followed by a Squat Jump as detailed above, before repeating the whole process. 3 sets of 10 reps with 60-second recovery periods between sets is a good way to improve endurance, strength, and agility.

• Medicine Ball Slams – A full-body exercise, this drill is perfect to incorporate into your rugby-specific gym workout. Standing with feet shoulder-width apart and holding the medicine ball with both hands, lift it above your head making sure to fully extend your arms. Then, engaging your core and using your full body strength, slam the ball to the ground as hard as possible. Repeating 3 sets of 8 reps with 60-second rests between sets is a great way to improve upper body strength and core stability.

Passing Drills

As you undoubtedly know, passing is a core skill in rugby, so including passing drills in your training plan is a good way to improve these skills while exercising the necessary muscle groups. You’ll need more than one person to effectively do these drills, so grab your teammates!

• Box Passing – For this drill, you’ll need four players, standing in a square or box, they then quickly pass the ball between them. You can work continuously passing to the left or right or change it up by passing randomly.

• Triangle Passing – This drill is very similar to box passing but uses 3 players. Both triangle and box passing are great ways to improve speed and accuracy along with communication.

• Pass and Follow – Perfect for improving communication and timing, this drill requires several players to stand in a line facing another player a few metres away. The first player in the line then passes the ball to the lone, facing player and, following their passes takes that player’s place. Meanwhile, the lone, facing player catches the ball and quickly passes it to the next player in the line, following their pass and taking their place. The drill continues in this way moving back and forth down the line.

Tackling Drills

Running tackling drills is important not only because it improves a player’s effectiveness on the field but because it also improves safety during play. When running these kinds of drills, it is important to pay attention to footwork, and body position in order to improve technique.

• One-on-One Tackle – These are great if there are only a couple of you getting in some extra training. This drill involves two players, one acting as ball carrier, and the other a tackler. The ball carrier runs towards the tackler, who then uses proper technique to bring them down.

• Tackle Bags – This drill is great for solo training. Set up a few tackle bags and practice taking them down by hitting them with your shoulder and wrapping your arms around them. Remember to keep your body low and your head up!

• The Double Tackle – This is similar to the one-on-one drill but uses two tacklers. The ball carrier runs forward and both tacklers try to bring them down. This is a great exercise for practising proper technique and communication.

Scrum Drills

The scrum is probably the most iconic part of a rugby match and it’s also important to get right. Practising scrum drills is a good way to improve teamwork and communication.

• Three-on-Three Scrum – This drill uses three forwards from each team forming a scrum. You can change the starting position of the ball to replicate different game scenarios and improve team cohesion and technique.

• On-on-One Scrum – This drill can be done on your feet or knees and requires just two players. Both players should start with one hand on the floor and one at a time lift them off to bind on the opposition. This is great for building core stability and perfecting technique.

Including a variety of different drills into your training program is a great way to develop as a player and teammate. As with introducing any new exercises into your routine, it’s important to make sure you check in with your doctor, coach, or personal trainer. This will give you the opportunity to make sure it won’t cause any health problems or conflict with any training you’re already doing.

Don’t forget, you can get loads of great exercise and training advice from The Gym Group Personal Trainers. Plus, our great value memberships give you 24/7 access to our gyms, so you can work out whenever it suits you.