The pedagogic spine: the game before the drill
World Rugby’s children’s method and the FFR’s École de Rugby fiches rest on one idea: the conditioned game. The child plays a game whose rules force the target skill — five passes to score a point, a channel that forces the pass ahead, a two-hand touch that hands the ball back. Most u9 / u13 content is a game with a condition, not an isolated technical rep.
Two method rules frame contact, and they hold at every age:
- Contact is technique before contest. Every contact skill is taught as a shape — body position, head placement — before it is a fight: ball presentation before the breakdown, the no-impact scrum before the contested push, the tackle shape before the full-power tackle.
- Head safety is the through-line. “Head to the side, never lead with the head” (tackle), “head and neck are never the contact zone” (clean-out), “spine in line” (scrum) recur across the whole bank.
The four-block session shape
The session runs in four blocks, in this order. It is the shape Paak lays out automatically — a product derivation of the game-based method, not a template a federation publishes: never present it as an “FFR standard session”. Every age band has warm-up, main and game options, and the bank guarantees at least one low-intensity warm-up drill per band.
| Block | What it does | Published examples (by band) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Warm-up | Movement prep, handling, collision prep (neck) from u17. Low intensity. | u9: ball movement prep (animal walks, catch a lofted ball), the sparrowhawk (evasion game, non-contact). u13/u17/sen: the “Activate” prep (20 m channel, cones every 5 m). u17/sen: neck brace-hold. |
| 2. Main block 1 | One technical theme, taught as a shape then in a situation. Rising intensity. | Handling (passing channel, 2v1), tackle (side-on then front-on, from u17), breakdown (ball presentation), scrum (educational at u13, contested at u17/sen). |
| 3. Main block 2 | A second theme, or the first flowing into the game. | Attack / line-break combinations, paired kicking, lineout alignment (u17+). |
| 4. Game | A conditioned small-sided game that puts the skill back in the match. Contact set by band. | Five passes (non-contact), 4v2 touch, Sharks and Fishes, corner ball, opposed game (u17/sen). |
Picking a theme: the eight families
The main block is chosen by a theme. The rugby knowledge base defines eight — a product taxonomy derived from the World Rugby / FFR skill families, which no federation publishes exactly this way. The physical work is one of them, but it is not run as a main block: it rides the warm-up (next section).
| Family | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Handling & passing | Two-hand catch-pass, spin pass, pass after contact |
| Tackle & defence | Tackle technique and height, defensive line |
| Breakdown (ruck & maul) | Ball presentation, clean-out, jackal |
| Scrum & lineout | The set-piece contest for possession |
| Kicking | Clearance, grubber, up-and-under, place kick |
| Attack & line-break | Draw-and-pass, alignments, pods, wide play |
| Conditioned & small-sided games | Reduced-numbers games, conditioned touch |
| Physical | Rugby-specific movement prep and prehab, neck included |
What a theme may run depends on the band: handling is worked at every age, but the front-on tackle, the contested clean-out and the contested scrum are u17+ only (with the union’s tackle-height setting). The full “what to teach when” grid is in the Handling & passing guide and the contact guides.
The physical work: in the warm-up, never a gym block
For youth, the physical work is not a strength block: it is movement prep in the warm-up and light neck and trunk prehab. The progression follows age: bodyweight for the youngest (ball movement prep, animal walks), moving to loaded work with maturity. The isometric neck hold (four directions, 5 to 10 s, light and pain-free) is collision preparation, not a session of its own.
One last load point: in rugby it is the collision load — the total of contacts (tackles, rucks, scrums) — and not just running that drives fatigue and exposure. Monitor contact volume alongside distance and intensity.
What the generator does in Paak
This is exactly the shape Paak lays out for you. You pick the age band, the duration and the theme; the app builds a minuted four-block session outline, right on your team’s session. Planning, editing and saving the session is free; printing the session sheet is on Paak One.
What the generator does not do: decide the contact level for you. That is the federation rule — the age band, the tackle gate, the front-row credential — which you set first (the Age groups & contact guide), and which Paak then respects.
Frequently asked
How should a rugby session start?
Do young players need a strength session?
How many blocks, and how long each?
When in the session does contact go?
Sources
World Rugby Passport — Coaching Children / Main Coaching Activities (activity names public; downloadable Activity Cards login-gated — setup inferred from public descriptors) · World Rugby — Tackle Ready & Breakdown Ready frameworks · FFR, fiches École de Rugby 2025-2026 (conditioned game, contact as a shape) · RFU / World Rugby, Activate injury-prevention programme — outside the FFR / FSR framework (foreign-curriculum) · Paak rugby drill bank (31 sourced drills, warm-up / main / game blocks). Content verified August 2026; the four-block session shape and the u9/u13/u17/sen bands are Paak product derivations, published by no federation.
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