Play rugby end ball

You’ll need

A rugby ball
Cones or markers
Bibs or shirts to identify teams
Whistle (optional)

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.

Planning and setting up this activity

Choose a spacious, accessible area and mark out a large rectangular pitch area, such as with cones.
Using cones or markers, create two in goal areas (called try zones) and a halfway line.
Check the terrain to make sure it's free of hazards, such steps or rabbit holes. Use cones or tape to mark or block dangers.
Check the weather forecast and sunset time to make sure there’ll be sufficient light throughout.
Ask everyone to tie long hair back, and remove any jewellery, watches and so on before playing.
Remind everyone to bring a drink and wear long sleeves, long trousers and trainers.
Read our guidance on running wide games and active games safely.

Running the game

Gather everyone together and explain that you’ll be playing tap rugby. You could ask if anyone’s ever played rugby before or what they know about it.
The aim of the game is to score the most points. A team scores a point when they catch the ball in the opposing team's try zone. The winners can be either the first team to a score a certain number of points (such as first to 7 points) or the team with most points at the end of the game.
Ask everyone to get into two teams of 5-7 players. If you’ve lots of players, you may want to allow for substitutions for each team. You could also have multiple teams, then rotate the teams who are playing or play across multiple pitches.
To start, one team begins with the ball in their try zone and the game starts with a free pass. The other team starts in their try zone.
Players can move the ball along the pitch by passing it in any direction, whether it’s forward, sideways or backwards. Players can’t move with the ball and may only move the ball forward by passing. To make it harder, you could set a time limit for passes, such as 5 seconds.
Any other players without the ball should be moving to try to catch or intercept the ball.
A team scores a point when they catch the ball in the opposing team's try zone. After a team scores, the opposing team takes possession of the ball, and they restart the game with a free pass from their try zone.
The teams can both defend:
- Defending players may intercept a pass, but they can't swat/deflect a pass. A swatted/deflected pass will not count as a turnover.
- Defending players can’t take the ball from attacking players. However, defenders can gently tap the player if the player holds the ball for longer than five seconds during a pass. This forces a turnover. Once tapped, the attacking player must immediately pass the ball to the defending player, who then must pass it within 5 seconds. Defenders should only carefully tap other players and always below shoulder height.
If a pass is dropped, intercepted or a player is holding the ball for longer than the time limit, a turnover occurs. This means the other team get the ball and play continues from the spot where the turnover occurred.
When you’re ready to play, run a quick warm-up to make sure everyone is ready, then get playing.
At the end, make sure to run a quick cool down to allow everyone to stretch.
For younger groups, you could add a rule to make sure that all players are getting a chance to pass and receive the ball. For example, a try doesn’t count unless all teammates had a chance to pass the ball. However, you may need to assign someone to each team to monitor this passing.
For older groups, you can make this game more like rugby by allowing the person to move with the ball, but only allowing backwards or sideways passing. You could start at walking speed to make this easier.

Reflection

This activity was all about trying rugby and playing a game as part of a team. How did you find the game? What did you like and what went well? Is it like any other games you’ve played? What was difficult? What did you have to think about? You may have had to catch or intercept the ball. What was that like?

You also had to work as a team. How did your team work together? How did you communicate and help each other? You may have come up with different ways to help each other. Did you have any strategies for playing, such as finding space or defending? Is there anything you could have done better?

This game was very similar to Rugby. How did you find it? Have you had much experience with Rugby, and did you find it easier or harder than other games you’ve played? Has it made you want to try rugby in the future?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Active games: The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.
Contact games and activities: Make sure everyone understands what contact is acceptable, and monitor contact throughout the activity.
Outdoor activities: You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.