Rugby Possession Drills

"There is far too much talk about good ball and bad ball. In my opinion, good ball is when you have possession and bad ball is when the opposition have it," said former England rugby player Dick Jeeps in 1976. Jeeps' quote highlights the importance of maintaining possession when playing rugby. A number of possession drills can help you achieve this. Teach your rugby team both the value of possession and how to go about retaining the ball through a range of drills.

  1. Basic Passing

    • Your rugby players will not be able to maintain possession until they can pass the ball to each other accurately and quickly. Line up five to 10 of your players and get them to jog forward as they pass the ball along the line. Remind them that they must only pass the ball backwards, not forwards, as this is not allowed in rugby. Help them develop their technique and put spirals on the ball as they pass it, which will help them with their power and accuracy. Have the players jog and pass the ball along the line in both directions, so they develop the ability to pass in both left and right. Once the standard is sufficient, get them to introduce long passes where they miss out one or two teammates in the row and pass to someone a few bodies down the line.

    Kick and Keep Possession

    • When kicking in rugby is performed accurately and tactically, it can be used to help an attacking team gain territory and retain the ball. Mark up your rugby pitch into X, Y and Z zones using cones as shown. Position your players in a line on the halfway line so they will each take it in turns to run and receive the ball from you about 40 meters from the try line and kick for an X, Y or Z area. Instruct your players that they must not advance any closer than 32 meters from the try line (mark this with cones) before kicking the ball. Award a player three points if he hits the Z area, five points for an X area and 10 points for a Y area. Deduct five points if he misses any of the areas altogether, such as kicking straight into touch, which, in a competitive match, would lose his team possession.

    Regain Possession through Handling

    • Use this drill to teach players how to cleanly pick up a moving ball from the ground and pass it, which will help them regain possession with good handling in match situations. Set up a line of players on a touchline so they will run one at a time to complete the drill. Position one player five meters further along the touchline and 10 meters onto the pitch from the line of players. This player starts as "roller" and she will roll a ball along the ground on its side while the first player in the queue runs onto the rolling ball, gathers it into their hands and passes it back to the roller. The roller then passes the ball back to the first player from the queue, who is then the roller. The old roller runs around to the back of the queue and the next girl in the queue starts the drill over again.

    Ball Retention in Contact

    • This simple drill can be completed using two players - one attacking and one defensive - a ball and a tackle bag. Set up the two players two meters apart facing one another, give the attacker a ball and the defender a tackle bag, which they hold over their shoulder and torso. Instruct the attacking player to run in a low position into contact with the tackle bag while making sure they retain the ball at all times. The defending player should push against the attacker with the tackle bag, but not until the attacker has made contact with it. Get all of your players to practice this drill, as holding onto the ball cleanly when entering contact is integral to retaining possession.