How a full-back should train

Barbell back squat

The foundational lower-body strength lift — carries over to every sport.

Power clean

Trains rate of force development — raw explosive power.

Tackle technique

Safe, dominant tackling technique — the core rugby skill.

Hill sprints

Low-impact way to build sprint power and drive mechanics.

Setup: A pitch with touchlines, several balls.

1. 1. Kick to find touch from varying positions and angles.
2. 2. Alternate spiral and end-over-end.
3. 3. Call your target before each kick and score yourself.

Volume: 4 × 10 kicks

Coaching point: Ball drop is everything — hold it out and let it fall, don't throw it down.

Make it harder: Kick under fatigue, or with a chaser closing you down.

Setup: Open pitch, a few balls.

1. 1. Put up a contestable kick — height over distance.
2. 2. Chase hard and compete for it at the top of your jump.
3. 3. Land safely, on your feet, ball secured.

Volume: 8 kick-and-chases

Coaching point: Hang time buys your chasers metres. A flat kick is just giving them the ball.

Make it harder: Add a competitor jumping against you.

Setup: A ball and open space. A wall to throw against helps.

1. 1. Throw the ball high above you and track it up with your eyes the whole way.
2. 2. Take it at full stretch above your head, arms out, and pull it into your chest as you land.
3. 3. Land on both feet, balanced, ready to run.

Volume: 3 × 10 catches, half of them taken on the move

Coaching point: Take it at the top of the reach, not on your chest — the extra foot of height is what stops the contest.

Make it harder: Turn away and catch off a late look, or take off one foot with a knee raised into the contest.

Setup: A ball and five cones over 20m.

1. 1. Run at each cone, sink your hips and step hard off the outside foot.
2. 2. Accelerate for three steps out of every step before setting up the next.
3. 3. Alternate the direction at each cone.

Volume: 6 runs of 5 cones

Coaching point: The acceleration out is the point. A pretty step you jog away from beats nobody.

Make it harder: Do it at full pace with a defender shadowing, or add a catch before the first cone.

Setup: A ball, a tee, and posts — or any target at distance.

1. 1. Build the same routine every time: place, steps back, steps across, breathe, look, strike.
2. 2. Strike through the bottom third with the instep, head down through contact.
3. 3. Kick from one spot until you have three in a row, then move.

Volume: 20 kicks, from five positions across the pitch

Coaching point: The routine is the skill. Under pressure you do not rise to the occasion — you fall back on the routine you have grooved.

Make it harder: Kick tired at the end of a session, or set a target you must hit before you are allowed to stop.