Block 1, Week 1 — Sunday session

Session details

U14M

Plan

Runs to the standard 90-minute Sunday session, warm-up and close included (see claude.html). The allocated slot is 10:45–12:30 (105 min), so there's ~15 min of slack for arrival, kit and a late start — don't spend it by drifting; finish on time. Scale each block proportionally if the slot changes.

The opening block needs two coaches free (one on the hookers, one on the tackle zone) while a player leads the warm-up for everyone else — see claude.html. A third coach lets you run two tackle diamonds side by side, which halves the group size and roughly doubles the reps.

Activities

Contact warm-up (whole squad)

Coaching Points: in the pummel — chest up, back flat, head to the side, hips low, arms working continuously. In Wrist Wrestle — stay low, feet moving, win it with body position rather than by yanking.

Setup: everyone in pairs, matched by size — not by friendship, and not whoever is standing nearest. Whole squad together, no equipment.

Description: the standard two-minute contact warm-up (see claude.html), and the squad's first time seeing either game, so it will need a proper demo rather than a description:

1. Get low (~30s) — on the spot, feet moving, drop into the tackle-ready position. Five or six reps.
2. Pummelling (~45s) — pairs chest to chest on knees, one arm inside and one outside, both "swimming" the outside arm inside on the call and alternating.
3. Wrist Wrestle (~45s) — standing, each grips the same wrist on the other (right hand to right wrist, both of them, so the grips lock), free hand behind the back, and each tries to slap their partner with the hand being held. A point per clean touch, then reset.

The rules are not negotiable, and are worth saying out loud on the first session: pummelling is an arm battle — no lifting, no takedowns, no twisting anyone's neck. Wrist Wrestle targets the shoulder or upper arm only, never the head or face, and stops the moment either grip goes. Anyone who would rather not play the slapping game pummels again instead — offer that to the whole squad up front, so nobody has to ask.

Adaptations:

• Demo each game with a coach as the partner before letting the squad loose — quicker than explaining it twice.
• If a pair is badly mismatched despite the pairing, break the three and rotate rather than leaving it.

Hooker throw-in — the Cross-Bar Challenge (pull-out skill zone)

Coaching Points: consistent pre-throw routine (same feet, same grip, same ball position every time); ball back behind the head, both hands on it; step into it rather than throwing with the arms alone; follow through with the hands pointing at the target; eyes on the target, not the ball.

Setup: hookers (~3) peel off with a coach after the contact warm-up and work at the posts; everyone else stays with the player-led warm-up and handling reps. Mark a throwing spot so the distance is the same every rep.

Description: the Cross-Bar Challenge (see activities.html) — throw at the crossbar rather than at a team-mate. Over the bar first, then progress to hitting it; score out of ten. The bar gives instant, unarguable feedback on height and line, which is exactly what a first-ever session needs — no jumper to catch it, no lineout to organise, just the throw. Runs for the whole opening window, then straight back into the main group for the lineout intervention.

Progressions:

• Increase the distance from the posts.
• Move from "over the bar" to "hit the bar".
• Swap the bar for a receiver at the front/middle/back of a 5-man line once the technique holds up — that's the Week 2 step, not necessarily today.

Adaptations:

• Shorten the distance if the ball isn't reaching cleanly — a throw that's a strain has no technique in it.
• Give a couple of non-hookers some throws too; useful cover, and it keeps the group moving.

Video example: Learn the Hooker Throw from Jamie George — Rugby Lineout Masterclass

Tackle Diamond

Coaching Points: low — chop!, shoulder contact, squeeze (see activities.html). Defence "wins" the rep if the tackle is completed over the halfway point of the diamond.

Setup: see activities.html. Runs in the opening block once the whole squad has done the two-minute contact warm-up: with ~28 players left after the hookers peel off, rotate three groups of ~9 through the diamond, ~4 min each, each group coming straight out of the warm-up/handling work and going straight back to it.

Description: controlled, small-group, full-contact tackle-technique reps — short and sharp. Front-loading it means the squad's first real coaching input of the season is the defence base the whole block is built on.

Adaptations:

• Two diamonds side by side if a third coach is free — smaller groups, more reps each.
• Drop to two rotations of ~6 min if the group is slow to settle on the first session back.

Whole-group intervention — Lineout positioning + laws

Coaching Points: where each player stands in the line; lineouts are uncontested at U14 — no jumping/lifting, min 2 / max 13 players (see laws.html).

Setup: whole squad, cones marking the 5m and 15m lines.

Description: a short (2–3 min), single-voice coaching point delivered to everyone once the skill zones have folded back in — not a specialist skill zone, everyone needs to hear this once.

Main game — Touch/tag, lineout restarts

Coaching Points: line-speed (defence); handling and support lines (attack); using the lineout restart cleanly.

Setup: small-sided, full pitch space (Sunday, so no need to compress into a third of a pitch as on Thursdays — see claude.html). With ~31 players, run two games side by side rather than one oversized game — nobody should be standing watching.

Description: small-sided touch/tag game where every restart is a lineout throw-in (uncontested). Defence scores points for line-speed (getting up as a line quickly); attack scores a bonus for a clean lineout catch that leads to a try.

Progressions:

• Tighten the line-speed scoring window as the game goes on.
• Layer in the Bang blitz-trigger call (see playbook.html) once the basic shape is running.

Adaptations:

• Reduce grid width if line-speed is too easy to beat; widen it if defence is dominating.

Continuous Defence (backs, parallel to forwards' lineout work)

Coaching Points: quick reorganisation and communication under repeated pressure from alternating directions.

Setup: see activities.html.

Description: run as the backs' parallel focus while the forwards unit (plus hookers) is tied up in lineout work — this is the season's first blitz-defence exposure.

Notes

• This is the squad's first session of the season and their first-ever lineout exposure — keep contact introductory even though it's a Sunday with more time/space than usual.
• The contact warm-up at +5 is not optional and covers the whole squad, because the tackle rotations start straight after it (see claude.html). If the session is running late, cut something else — a rotation, or time off the main game — not the two minutes.
• 31 expected is a big group — 6 more are unanswered, so it could be up to 37. Plan for two games side by side in the main block, and be ready to add a fourth tackle rotation (or a second diamond) if the unanswered players turn up.
• The B/W/G lineout calls aren't introduced until Week 2 — this week is positioning and the throw only.
• Scrum's first exposure is Thursday 10 Sep, not this session.
• See block1-overview.html for the one remaining Block 1 open item — Week 5 backs detail.