Rugby: preseason rugby

Looking for varations for touch rugby games. Using as a bit of preseason want to freshen the game up.

I have just started helping our head coach with under12's team. He wants to retire and has put me forward to be head coach next season. I am a little worried on how i should aproach training with the boys, going to a full 15 a side team on a full pitch. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

My U11's are a mixed bunch when it comes to tackling. Some very good, most OK, some ...hmmmm... enough said. Been through all the drills and when we break things down, go back to basics, everything appears OK, but it doesn't always transfer into the game. Any ideas on small group games that will allow me to combine technique with confidence?

I need ideas for fun team building activities and any fun games to help towards team building. Has anyone got any ideas on what to do? Anything to spice up rugby training sessions in the dark, cold winter nights.

Some of my U9s players, who are experiencing contact for their first season, are showing reticence in tackling - how do you coach or get through the fear factor/element?

I have started an under 10s team up, and I would say about 8 from the 13 children I have , did not play rugby until about 6 months ago. Of these players, there seems to be a lot of potential, as we are scoring tries against teams, that very rarely concede tries.the problem I got with them, is that we are very poor at organising our selves in defense when the opposition has the ball, which does result in us conceding quite a few tries. We have some very good tacklers in the team. Can anyone offer some ideas on how I can get them to organise themselves? Thanks . Chris.

I coach under 9`s rugby and a lot of the kids have a bad fear of tackling, they lack the confidence to get stuck in. What is the best thing to help them overcome this?

Looking for varations for touch rugby games. Using as a bit of preseason want to freshen the game up.

I am curently helping coach an U14 team, my focus being on forward play and conditioning. As a general rule, for conditioning I only get the lads to work against body weight for resistance training. Some players (and parent?)are eager to get into the gym and start to use weights as means of resistance. Obviously at this age the level of physical maturity of players is vast, boys to men, hence each individual must be assessed. I have done some reseaech which would indicate that the use of weights for 14-15 year old is to be encouraged (Irish RFU), but I am keen not to get the lads into the gym to early. Does any one have and ideas on this subject or can point me to any research to support either idea.

Does anyone have any ideas for a pre season fitness regime for under 13`s.Outsided of our training sessions I am looking for a personal programme that the guy`s can undertake themslves.

Hi. I am in charge of the Mini Rugby (age 8) warm-up and am interested in more ideas. I try and keep them fun, sports specific and interesting for the boys and they seem to like what I do. Can anyone please help? Thanks!

Getting quite frustrated that my u10's are not using the space on the pitch and tend to bunch up. Despite various drills and game scenarios to force them to spread out and pass to someone in space they revert in any game to bunching up around the ball and taking it back into the thick of the opposition rather than looking left or right! Any ideas how to change their ways?

I coach an under16s Rugby League squad who are at premier division level, some of whom are lets say not very fit. Does anyone have a good pre-season conditioning plan/session we could slot in once or twice a week to get the lads fitter ?

an RFU directive states that coaches should not hold pads/shields for juniors to run into during sessions, or even juniors holding pads for each other!!! I notice a lot of drills utilise pads as this was something we always used when I trained years ago! I personally think they are a good thing (especially since some of the juniors I coach are 'not small'!) BUT wondered what the general thoughts were out there in SportPlan world....

My coach has put me at openside flanker and I'm confused of where i should be after the scrum. Should I be attacking the opposing scrum half or just trailing behind the backs waiting to clean up/ form a ruck? It would be great to know what I'm doing !

This is my first year playing on a rugby team for my school, grade 9, im much smaller than everyone else but i run fast and can be strong. my position is the blind side wing, and i dont understand what im supposed to do. it seems like i just jog and stay far away, but i dont know what im supposed to do if someone from the opposite team comes near me and noone else is one them, am i supposed to tackle? i also have trouble tackling cause my arms dont rap fast enough when they run into me, any advice?

I coach under 8's and next season they will start contact. When am I allowed to start teaching them tackling skills? I sit january during their under 8 season or at the start of the under 9 season ?

In relation U9's, I've read about the two hands on the ball ruling in U7 tag, Is there a similar requirement in U9's to have both hands on the ball when running etc (this was flagged up by a learned touchline parent?). Can anyone close the loop on this one for me?