Rugby games to play at home with your kids are great ways to enjoy rugby without the pressure of proper competition or playing in large groups.
If your child has begun to show an interest in rugby, the easiest way to get them involved is to practice at home casually. This could either be in your garden or at a local green space like a park.
For children who are too young to formally play for a club or school team, this may be the only way to experience rugby.
For all these games you need a rugby ball, so check our article Best Kids Rugby Balls to help select the right size ball for your child.
Home rugby games to play with your child
End Ball:
End Ball is a very simple game that has been used in training for many sports. In rugby, it coaches the skills of “evasion” and “invasion” (chasing the player with the ball).
It requires two teams with each having more than one player so a minimum of four players.
However, players can modify it for three players, with one defender and two attackers, by rotating roles.
The aim is to score points by having a player receive the ball in the other team’s “end zone”.
This game requires a fair bit of space. If you are lucky enough to have a decent-sized garden, this is no problem. If not, you may have to go somewhere with more space like your local park.
To start:
Designate two areas as each team’s endzone, remember you are trying to score in the other team’s end zone which will be behind them.
How to play:
Players move the ball by passing, you can pass in any direction but cannot move whilst holding the ball.
The team not in possession defend by trying to intercept the ball.
If the attackers drop the ball or go out of bounds, or if the defenders touch it all, the ball is turned over to the defenders.
When a team scores, the ball is turned over to the other team who must start play from within their own end zone.
Touch Rugby:
It is easy to play a simplified touch game in your garden even with low numbers.
You can have two attackers and one defender with each player taking turns being on defence.
Play on the grass with two designated “try lines” for scoring.
Advance the ball by running and passing it only backwards or sideways.
Score by placing the ball down past the try line.
Tag Rugby:
A slight variation of Touch Rugby that you can play is Tag Rugby, which uses belts with velcro tags attached to the waist which you pull off the attacking player constituting a “tackle”.
This is more competitive for defenders as grabbing the belts is more difficult than simply touching the player.
Practice Passing:
If your numbers are even more limited, simple passing is still enjoyable and sharpens one of rugby’s most important skills.
You just need a rugby ball and a partner and can work at your own pace.
Make sure to get you and your child passing from both hands as players often have a side they are weaker at passing from.
When you want to play rugby games at home with your kids but, you cannot pass with your child, you may want to consider buying a half-ball/rebounder ball.
These look like regular balls that have been cut in half width-ways.
This means you can pass against a wall as hard as you want, which is great if you do not have a partner to practice with. Additionally, the design makes the ball rebound with an unpredictable bounce to improve the reflexes of the player.
Check out our list of the Best Rugby Balls for kids for our favourite rebounder ball and others.
Use a Rebound Net:
Not everyone wants large equipment, but kids enjoy rebound nets to improve reaction times in various sports.
Like the rebounder balls, these allow you to practice solo but they also create opportunities for team games if you want to involve more people.
If rebounding with multiple people is easy; compete to catch rebounds or deflect the ball to teammates.
Mini kicking goals:
If your little one is desperate to start honing their kicking skills, then it’s even possible to buy a micro rugby goal post to go in your garden.
The instructions also state you can use them indoors, but you do so at your own peril!
Alternatively, we’ve made our own posts in the past out of plumber pipes from the local hardware store.
Before you go…
These are a few of our favourite ways to practice Rugby when you are unfamiliar with the game. A sport like rugby can seem daunting to new fans due to its complex gameplay and terminology.
We are confident that learning its basic concepts at your own pace will make things far simpler. Interested in learning the laws of the game in more detail? Check out our simple guide to the rules of rugby made easy to learn more.
