U14 Rugby — Playbook & Calls

Our calls and shapes for the squad.

Playing Philosophy

Intended playing style: play like Japan, not South Africa — i.e., quick recycle (sub-2-second rucks), continuity, and offloads.

Calls are kept short, single-word, and used consistently in training so they become automatic in games — predictable, consistently-named calls beat ad-hoc instructions under pressure.

See laws.html for the RFU laws these calls operate within (e.g. lineout laws, scrum laws) — this doc is our own calls and shapes built on top of them. Squad context and coaching considerations, plus coaching focus areas and how each block builds toward these calls, live in the coaching wiki's Coaching Notes and Session Plans pages — this doc stays to calls, shapes, and moves only.

Scanning — CTC

A visual-awareness routine, used both in and out of possession, to keep players' eyes up and aware of space rather than fixed on the ball:

Open Play

Default attacking pattern: zig-zag across the pitch, working 5m to 5m, built off a forward pod of 3 stood in front of 10 (12 joins the pod as well when numbers allow).

Shape and calls used in open play phases:

Notes for coaching: these calls should be introduced as closed-skill pattern work in small groups first (whole–part–whole), then layered into conditioned games before being used at full pace/contact.

Diagrams:

Rhino — forwards pod off 9.

Backs Moves

Structured backs strike moves, introduced across last season. Run from 10 unless noted otherwise.

Notes for coaching: introduce each move individually as pattern work (whole–part–whole) before combining or calling them live. "Loads of others" still to be added — capture them here as they're introduced so the list stays the single source of truth for backs calls.

Diagrams:

Hulk — hard line + trail option.

Kicking Calls

Calls that trigger a kick in open play (see Kicking Strategy below for the tactical detail behind exit kicks etc.):

Diagrams:

Eagle — kick.

Hawk — box kick.

Kicking Strategy

Exit kicks: From inside our own 22, kick to the 15m channel.

(More kicking strategy — e.g. attacking kicks, contestable kicks, box kicks — to be added. Note: per laws.html, drop goals are newly permitted at U14 but a low tactical priority for us.)

Defence

Default system: pressure defence — line-speed off the top, forcing errors rather than sitting off.

Built on four pillars:

• Communication — calling threats, coordinating the line.
• Line-speed — the whole line moves up together, fast, on the trigger call.
• Facing on retreat — always shuffling backwards, never turning to run back to the try-line.
• Individual tackle skills — the technical base everything else sits on.

These sit inside the wider line-org system: spacing, numbering up, scanning (CTC — see above), the shuffling retreat, and communication.

Ruck-defence: guard either side of the ruck; only compete for the ball when it can realistically be won — otherwise stay on your feet.

Lineout defence: simple, since lineouts are uncontested at U14 (see laws.html) — pressure goes on 9 and 10 rather than contesting the catch.

Kick defence: system (pendulum vs. two players dropping off the line) still TBC.

(Whether/when to introduce drift vs. blitz as an explicit defensive-system choice, on top of our default blitz, is under review — see block1-overview.html's Saved for later blocks.)

Lineout — new at U14

Lineouts are a brand-new skill for this squad this year — see laws.html for the full law rundown (uncontested, no lift, min 2/max 13 players, etc.). Not competing for the ball, and no jump/lift technique needed since nobody is lifted at U14.

Numbers: default to a 5-man lineout, unless we're setting up a driving maul — in which case commit more forwards to the lineout to build a bigger maul. Since the non-throwing team can never field more players than we do (see laws.html), our own count also sets a ceiling on what the opposition can contest with.

Default move — 5-man Rhino:

Starter play from an attacking lineout.

Setup: 5-man lineout; 2 "extra" forwards (not committed to the line) stand in front of 10.

Coaching note: phases 1–2 are there to draw defenders in before releasing it wide in phase 3 — backs moves (see Backs Moves above) can be called into phase 3 once the shape is solid.

Diagrams:

Phase 1 — OTT to 9, extras + 12 set ruck 1.

Phase 2 — forwards fold round for Rhino.

Phase 3 — backs edge attack.

Calls: kept deliberately simple — the call is disguised by which letter it starts with, not by the word itself. Mnemonic is the club colours — Blue, White, Gold:

Any word starting with the right letter works as the actual call (e.g. a "B" word for front, a "W" word for middle, a "G" word for back) — the letter is what carries the meaning, so it stays flexible in the moment while being easy for players to remember via the club colours. (Watch for a clash if a "B..." lineout call is ever picked that overlaps with the "Bull" call already defined in Open Play above — worth flagging to players so context makes clear which is meant.)

Scrum (8-man, contested, new at U14)

Scrum moves from 6 players (U13) to a full 8-player contested scrum, and the No.8 can now pick up from the base for the first time — see laws.html.

Default move — DSP:

(No.8 pick-and-go as an alternative to DSP is still to be defined as its own call, once the pack is comfortable with the bigger 8-man scrum shape.)

To be expanded

Sections still to fill in as we build this out:

• Defensive shape (defined above — pressure defence, the four pillars, Bang as the blitz trigger call, ruck-defence and lineout-defence rules; kick-defence system and drift-vs-blitz still TBC)
• Scrum calls / options (see above — default is DSP, ball to 9; No.8 pick-and-go call still TBC)
• Lineout calls (defined above — B/W/G (Blue/White/Gold) front/middle/back system)
• Lineout numbers (defined above — default 5-man, more for a driving maul)
• Lineout default move (defined above — 5-man Rhino: OTT to 9 → extras + 12 set ruck 1 → forwards fold for Rhino → backs edge attack; diagrams added)
• Backs moves (defined above — S1, DS Pop, Batman, Superman, Smash 1, Hulk; more to be added)
• Kicking calls (defined above — Eagle, Hawk; kicking strategy beyond exit kicks still TBC)
• Attacking shape outside the 22 (default pattern now defined above — zig-zag, 5m to 5m, forward pod of 3 in front of 10 (+12 when numbers allow); further phase-by-phase detail still TBC)
• Set-piece to open-play transitions