Back to Week 4

Detailed print — a concise two-page A4 edition (print double-sided). The full digital plan stays on the Week page.

RUGGER PUPSPlaybook

Week 4: Dodge the Defenders

Programme
Years 1–2 — Six-Week Programme
Age group
Years 1–2 · ages 5–7
Duration
60 min
Coaching
1 coach · Up to 20 children
Mission
Dodge, change direction and escape the defenders.
PAWS
Play with Purpose · Stay Safe & Strong

Learning objectives

  • Keep their eyes up.
  • Find gaps.
  • Change direction.
  • Change speed.
  • Side-step.
  • Accelerate into space.
  • Evade taggers.
  • Carry a rugby ball while moving.
  • Use tags safely.
  • Apply evasion in a simple tag rugby game.
  • The session should feel like: Adventure → escape → dodge → score.

Equipment checklist

20 tag belts • 40 tags plus a few spares • 10–12 rugby balls • 35–40 cones or flat markers • 2 colours of bibs • Whistle • First-aid kit • Access to drinking water

Pitch setup

  • Use one main rectangular area of roughly 20m × 25m (a flexible guide).
  • Keep the main external boundaries, and two end zones where useful for the final game.
  • Leave enough internal space for safe zones, dens and a wide crossing river.
  • Use internal cones to adapt the space — avoid full-pitch resets.
  • The whole session must stay manageable for one coach and up to 20 children.

Before the Pups Arrive

  • Keep the main boundary and leave space for a wide crossing river, safe zones and dens.
  • Pre-size tag belts — Escape Edition, Crocodile Crossing, Safe Zones and Fox & Hounds all use them.
  • Mark two safe banks at opposite ends for Crocodile Crossing.
  • Set out five cone safe zones spaced well apart for Pickle's Safe Zones.
  • Have 3–4 tagger bibs ready to hand out for Pup Traffic — Escape Edition.
  • Keep spare cones accessible to drop dens for the Fox & Hounds progression, plus two bib colours for the final game.

Session — 8 activities

1. PAWS Welcome & Recap · 0–4 min (4 min)

Setup

Gather the children in the normal coaching area.

How to play

  1. Welcome the group back.
  2. Recap: “Last week we worked together and helped our teammates with our passing.”
  3. Introduce today's mission: “Today we're learning how to dodge, change direction and escape defenders.”
  4. Ask: “What can you do if a defender is in front of you?” — e.g. run around them, side-step, change direction, find another gap. Keep it brief.

Commands: Coach: “PAWS!” — Children: “READY!” · “Freeze Paws!” — Stop and listen

Coaching cues: “PAWS!” · “READY!” · “Today we dodge the defenders!”

Safety: Keep this recap short.

2. Adventure Journey — Escape Adventure · 4–11 min (7 min)

NO BALLS OR TAG BELTS

Children choose the destination, journey and animals — coach encourages dodging and changing direction.
  • Coach
  • Child / attacker
  • Cone
  • Arrow = movement

Setup

Use one open bounded area. No rugby balls or tag belts are required. Children spread out with room to move safely.

How to play

  1. Ask: “Where should the Rugger Pups go today?” Let the children choose.
  2. Ask: “How are we getting there?” Let the children choose the transport, then act out the journey together.
  3. When the group arrives, ask: “What animals live here?” Let the children suggest the animals.
  4. Everyone moves like those animals — encourage weaving, dodging, changing direction, accelerating, stopping and starting, and moving into space.
  5. Use “Freeze Paws!” to stop and choose the next part of the adventure; restart with “PAWS… READY!”

Purpose: Use imagination and movement to introduce dodging, weaving, changing speed and changing direction.

Destination ideas: Jungle · Ocean · Zoo · Safari · Australia · Farm · Arctic · Beach · Space · Another child-led destination

Transport ideas: Plane · Boat · Train · Jeep · Helicopter · Rocket · Swimming · Walking

Escape movement ideas: Ocean: dart like fish, weave like eels, escape like dolphins · Jungle: side-step like monkeys, sprint like cheetahs, slither like snakes · Australia: hop like kangaroos, sprint like emus, crawl like crocodiles

Coaching cues: “Find your own space!” · “Change direction!” · “Can you escape?” · “Show me how your animal moves!”

Safety: Maintain safe spacing. Keep children inside the marked area. Avoid dangerous animal movements. Keep the activity flowing.

No formal progression — the changing journey and animals provide the variation. The ideas above are examples only; the children choose.

3. Pup Traffic — Escape Edition · 11–19 min (8 min)

On ESCAPE! children change direction into open space — 2–3 taggers become active only then.
  • Child / attacker
  • Tag belt
  • Tagger (3)
  • Coach
  • Arrow = movement

Setup

Children spread around the main area. Start without rugby balls.

How to play

  1. Children move around responding to the commands.
  2. The key Week 4 command is ESCAPE! — children quickly change direction and move into a different empty area.

Commands: Green — Run · Amber — Slow down · Red — Freeze · Blue — Side-step · Turbo — Accelerate into space · ESCAPE! — Change direction quickly and find a new empty space

Coaching cues: “Eyes up” · “Find the gap” · “Change direction” · “Escape into space”

Progression: Add 2–3 taggers in clearly identifiable bibs; everyone wears a tag belt. Taggers are only active when ESCAPE! is called — during normal commands everyone moves freely. On ESCAPE!, taggers try to remove one tag. Tagged children stop, the tag is handed straight back, they reattach it and play resumes.

Safety: No tackling. No pushing. Tags handed back directly. Keep taggers limited to 2–3 initially.

4. Crocodile Crossing · 19–28 min (9 min)

Wide river between two safe banks — 2–3 crocodiles, tag belts on, nobody is out.
  • Safe bank at each end
  • Child / attacker
  • Crocodile (2–3)
  • Tag belt
  • Rugby ball
  • Coach

Setup

Create a wide river between two safe banks. Choose 2–3 crocodiles to begin inside the river. All other children start behind one safe bank wearing tag belts.

How to play

  1. On “Cross the river!”, the pups try to reach the opposite bank without losing a tag.
  2. Crocodiles try to remove one tag.
  3. If tagged: the child continues safely to the opposite bank, the crocodile hands the tag directly back, the child reattaches it and everyone joins the next crossing.
  4. Nobody is eliminated. Rotate crocodiles frequently.

Coaching cues: “Find the gap” · “Watch the crocodiles” · “Change direction” · “Go when you see space”

Progression: Give rugby balls to some runners. Rotate the balls between rounds so different children carry while escaping.

Safety: No pushing or tackling. No grabbing clothes or belts. Keep crocodile numbers manageable. Spread children across the starting bank to reduce collisions.

5. Pickle's Safe Zones · 28–38 min (10 min)

Maximum 2–3 children per safe zone.
  • Safe zone
  • Child / attacker
  • Tag belt
  • Tagger (3)
  • Coach
  • Arrow = movement

Player icons are representative — use the group numbers in the instructions.

Setup

Create several small cone safe zones, spaced well apart, around the main playing area. Children wear tag belts. Choose 2–3 taggers.

How to play

  1. Children move freely around the area.
  2. On “SAFE ZONE!”, children find and reach a safe zone before a tagger removes a tag.
  3. Each safe zone holds about 2–3 children — look around for an available zone rather than following the same person.
  4. After a few seconds call “Back out!” — everyone leaves the zones and moves again. Repeat.
  5. If tagged: the tagger hands the tag directly back, the child reattaches it and keeps playing. Nobody is eliminated.

Coaching cues: “Look before you go” · “Find an empty zone” · “Change direction” · “Escape into space”

Progression: Introduce rugby balls to some runners and rotate the balls. Do not add more complicated safe-zone rules.

Safety: Safe zones must be spaced well apart. No pushing into zones. Keep numbers per zone limited. Taggers cannot wait inside a safe zone.

6. Spike's Fox & Hounds · 38–47 min (9 min)

Foxes chase, hounds escape — dens are added for the progression. Nobody stays in a den.
  • Den (progression)
  • Child / attacker
  • Tag belt
  • Fox (3–4)
  • Rugby ball
  • Coach
  • Arrow = movement

Player icons are representative — use the group numbers in the instructions.

Setup

Choose 3–4 foxes; everyone else is a hound wearing a tag belt. Use the whole bounded area. Give rugby balls to some hounds where possible.

How to play

  1. Foxes try to steal one tag from the hounds.
  2. Hounds escape by changing direction, changing speed, finding space and side-stepping.
  3. If a fox removes a tag: the hound stops safely, the fox hands the tag directly back, the hound reattaches it and rejoins immediately.
  4. Nobody is eliminated. Rotate foxes regularly.

Coaching cues: “Escape the fox!” · “Find a gap!” · “Change direction!” · “Get to a den!”

Progression: Place several cone dens around the area. Hounds score by reaching a den with both tags still attached, then move straight back into the game — nobody stays in a den.

Safety: No tackling or pushing. No grabbing clothing or belts. Dens must be spaced safely. Keep fox numbers manageable.

7. Big Pup Tag Game · 47–56 min (9 min)

Option A — One game · 10 v 10

+5+5

Option B — Two games · 5 v 5 on each pitch

+2+2+2+2

Use only when both games can be supervised safely.

Player icons are representative — use the team numbers shown above.

  • Attacking team
  • Defending team
  • Try line / end zone
  • Coach
  • Arrow = movement
Find the gap, change direction and run into space.

Setup

Use the main pitch and end zones already in place. Two colours of bibs.

How to play

  1. Same familiar game. Choose the match format below on the day.
  2. Week 4 focus: finding gaps, changing direction, side-stepping, running into space and escaping defenders.
  3. Simply praise and encourage attempts to beat defenders — no bonus points, no side-step counts.

Option A — One 10v10 match: Use when the group benefits from one closely supervised match.

Option B — Two adjacent 5v5 matches: Use when both games can be supervised safely.

Simplified rules: Ground the ball over the try line to score. · A defender removes one tag. · The tagged player stops. · The defender returns the tag. · The player reattaches it. · The ball is passed to a teammate. · No tackling, pushing, grabbing or blocking.

Coaching cues: “Find the gap” · “Change direction” · “Run into space” · “Help your teammate”

Safety: No tackling, pushing, grabbing or blocking. Keep every playing area in your view.

Don't over-referee whether a skill was performed correctly.

8. PAWS Huddle & Collection · 56–60 min (4 min)

Setup

Gather the children. Collect balls, belts, cones and bibs.

How to play

  1. Ask: “What helped you escape a defender today?” (e.g. side-step, change direction, run faster, find a gap, look for space).
  2. Praise effort, confidence and safe play.
  3. Finish with the closing chant.

Closing chant: Coach: “Once a Pup…” · Children: “ALWAYS A PUP!”

Coaching cues: “What helped you escape?” · “Well done, Pack!” · “Once a Pup…”

Safety: Follow the school's authorised collection and handover procedure.

Closing chant

Coach: “Once a Pup…” — Children: “ALWAYS A PUP!”

PAWS / READY — Play with Purpose · Always Be Kind · Work Together · Stay Safe & Strong