Four Stations, Seven Hits

Starting position

Four stations in a line, twelve metres apart, a cone and a shield holder at each. Thirteen players in groups of three behind the stations, and a single 9 to keep the whole thing turning. The ball goes up the four stations and comes back down: seven contacts in twenty-one seconds, never stopping. At every station the sequence is the same and it comes down to three actions. The carrier goes into the shield — and the holder steps forward to meet him, so you have to go and find him, not wait for him. A second man arrives right behind, drives through and pushes the shield back to where it started, sometimes past it. A third secures the ball on the ground. The 9 picks it up and takes it to the next station. He covers ninety-four metres over the drill; the others cover far less, but in contact. That imbalance is the whole point: the 9 learns to clear the ball cleanly with his lungs burning, the groups learn to set up fast because the ball always comes back. On the way back the same groups go again, the other way, on legs that no longer answer the same.