Aerobic Base drill
Bronco Test
Test rugby-specific fitness with the shuttle test widely used in rugby.
- Time
- 15 minutes
- Players
- 1 to 30 players
- Intensity
- High
- Equipment
- Cones
- Space
- 0-60m out from the try line
- Positions
- All positions
Setup
One cone at 20m from the try line. Your 40m and 60m turning points are the two 10m lines, so a single cone is all you need.
How to run it
- Start on the try line.
- Run to the 20m cone and back, then to the near 10m line and back, then to the far 10m line and back - that is one round of 240m.
- Repeat 5 rounds without stopping for 1200m total, touching or crossing every line with your foot before you turn.
- Time the whole thing: professional forwards typically run about 5:10 and backs about 4:55, with anything near 4:15 being genuinely elite.
- Pace it off round one, because the Bronco is won in rounds four and five and going out flat guarantees a collapse.
Coaching cues
- Round one must not be your fastest
- Touch or cross every line with your foot
- Attack the turns - that is where the time is lost
Common mistakes
- Sprinting round one and collapsing by round four
- Cutting the turns short, which invalidates the time and makes it useless for comparison
Related drills
- MAS Time TrialMeasure your Maximal Aerobic Speed, the number every other conditioning session in this library is built from.
- Maximal Aerobic GridHold time at or above your maximal aerobic speed, which is the single biggest driver of aerobic power.
- Eurofit 15:15 IntervalsBuild aerobic power with short, fast repeats that feel manageable and accumulate brutally.
- Tabata ShuttlePush aerobic power with a dense 2:1 work-to-rest format once you can handle the gentler MAS methods.
- Extensive Tempo RunsBuild work capacity and aid recovery between hard days without adding meaningful fatigue.
- Pitch-Length Long IntervalsDevelop aerobic power with longer efforts held at your maximal aerobic speed.