I have posted this on the Wakefield forum but thought I would ask a wider audience. At the moment my side is playing in their first season at Under 7's RL, "Primary" Rugby as it is now called. The rules for the under 7's state that any knock on or running into touch doesn't result in a turnover to the other side, and each side must play their set of six in full regardless of errors, unless a try is scored.

The problem we have as a U7's side is that teams offload the ball anywhere several times each set, obviously with them being 6 or 7 years old the offloads are often of poor quality and go to ground, sometimes bobbling all over - sometimes ending up with the attacking side picking it up, sometimes the defending side pick it up. If the defenders pick it up, the attacking side get the ball back and continue with their set - if the attacking side pick it up then play continues, many times resulting in the attacking side breaking away as given the nature of the game most of the kids swarm round the tackle area leaving acres of space at either side of the ruck. I appreciate the theory behind the rule, to let the kids try things without fear of failure but think it is counter productive letting them thrown the ball anywhere, as it is a risk free play with no downside.

My question is, at what age does the ruling change so that knock ons/loss of the ball/running into touch result in a turnover - the rules seem a little unclear to me. Rule 7b states:

"at the youngest participation age, each team must complete a full set of six including errors....."

Does the "youngest participation age" refer to under 7's specifically, or does it refer to the whole "Primary" RL (ages U7-U9)? I have tweeted the Yorkshire JARL and Primary RL and emailed the RFL but wondered if anybody else knew?

At the moment we are trying to teach the kids in what we believe to be the correct manner, respecting the ball and not running into touch (it's their instinct to run round the outside of the other team rather than through them), maybe we have got it wrong and we should be letting them throw the ball anywhere instead.

Thanks

Cant speak for Yorkshire as I'm not sure if there are different rules depending on the association the club is affiliated to. But in the North West Counties, the rules you refer to are played upto and including under 9s. At under 10s I believe they play "mod" and 11s play "mod transitional" before moving to (with a couple of exceptions) full game rules at 12s, which is generally where neutral referees get involved.

The Primary game rules are, as you say, to get kids involved and having fun chucking it around. But if you are teaching them respect of possession and running at the line rather than round it, my guess (from a referee's point of view) is that your rewards will come when they start playing mod and above, when they have had a couple of years hitting the line where others have just been throwing it about. You'll find other teams will make more mistakes and wont have that technique skilled into them for as long as your players have.

HTH

My lad played under 8s and under 9s. they seemed to gradually faze in no knock-ons and running into touch over the under 9s season. Still quite lenient with it but not as lenient as when they first started.

It's all about fun and should not or never be about winning at those ages. Let them make their mistakes but make them aware of it without repercussions.

We rolled the new rules out for the first time in London at the weekend down on Medway (judging by the SL game afterwards the Broncos thought they were playing to Primary Rules!!).

It is all very experimental at present but I think most people 'got it'. U7s have now gone from tag to touch, 2m defence, no play the ball, etc. and more of a game management role rather than a referee to enforce rules. At the end of the day it’s about the kids having fun, being and feeling like they have been involved. On that basis it was a success.

I coach u9s (there is no u8s down here), and here again, adapting to the new philosophy is challenging. In training I coach them all the basics you would expect and hope they would do in a game situation, but in reality, because they play out their six regardless, there is more scope to get all the boys and girls involved, especially as its 6 a side.

One festival, big thumbs up from the St Albans club - our festival next on 22nd so fingers crossed.

Spot on.

Winning shouldn't be the main aim of any amateur game regardless of age.

Did you play any amateur rugby? try telling 13-18 year olds that winning doesn't matter, you would soon have no team.

You don't tell them that winning doesn't matter. No post has suggested that.
You do though, encourage the attitude that performance, work, training, development and improvement are more important.

Of course winning matters, nobody likes losing. I'm not saying coaches should go over the top and start bullying young kids but when you have a poor game and lose the coaches ride you harder in training and that comes from losing.
For me its no coincidence that the players that get signed up are from the best amateur teams, and the decent players who play for the poorer teams move to the better teams.

Who has said winning doesn't matter? Why are you ranting as if someone has?

The coaches response should be based on the performance, not the result. It's possible to play badly and win and also play well and lose. Working hard in training certainly should not only be related to the losing the previous match.
That's if you're going to be a reactive rather than proactice coach, but that's another subject.

Yes thanks, I've also coached for the last 10 years. I've consistently told the 13-16 year olds I've coached (as well as the under 13's) that winning doesn't matter. It's the amateur game. It's supposed to be played for fun, for the enjoyment of the game, for personal improvement physically, mentally and socially. Compared to those factors, winning doesn't matter at all. If winning is vital to you then you've fundamentally misunderstood why the amateur game is there.

Min/mod rules: files.pitchero.com/clubs/1907/mi ... 0rules.pdf Primary rules: media.rladmin.co.uk/docs/Primary ... 202012.pdf There might be odd variance in some leagues but (hopefully) everyone is heading towards a common set! Personal view on the knock-on stuff is that a bit of coaches common sense comes into it....

Min/mod rules: files.pitchero.com/clubs/1907/mi ... 0rules.pdf Primary rules: media.rladmin.co.uk/docs/Primary ... 202012.pdf There might be odd variance in some leagues but (hopefully) everyone is heading towards a common set! Personal view on the knock-on stuff is that a bit of coaches common sense comes into it....