Kicking drill
Spiral Punt Development
Build the long, low spiral that finds touch and makes the 50:22 possible.
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Players
- 1 to 4 players
- Intensity
- Medium
- Equipment
- Ball
- Space
- 60m along a touchline
- Positions
- Fly-halves, fullbacks, halfbacks, wings
Setup
Open grass with 60m of length, ideally along a touchline so balls stop out of play. Five to eight balls.
How to run it
- Hold the ball out in front of you on a level plane at no more than a 30 degree angle, in your kicking-side hand.
- Kick earlier in your foot swing than for a normal punt, with a straight leg, so both the ball and your toe are pointing towards the ground at contact.
- Push your hip forward and consciously keep your toe down until you make contact - the power comes from your glute, not your quad.
- Work three phases of 20 kicks: first at 50% effort focusing only on a clean nose-down spin with distance irrelevant, then at 80%, then aiming at a 10m touchline zone 40m away.
Coaching cues
- Toe down until contact
- Ball at 30 degrees, held out in front
- Push the hip forward - glute, not quad
Common mistakes
- Holding the ball too vertical, which turns it back into a wobbling drop punt
- Toe coming up before contact, which shanks the ball off the side of your foot
Related drills
- Box Kick with StopwatchBuild a box kick with the hang time to actually be contested, not just distance.
- Grubber Through the GateMaster the low end-over-end grubber that travels through a defensive line.
- Chip and RegatherExecute a chip at full pace and win the ball back yourself.
- Self Up-and-UnderBuild hang time on the bomb and practise the high-ball catch in the same rep.
- Drop Kick with TargetBuild a reliable drop kick for both drop goals and restarts.
- Under the CrossbarForce a compressed, driven strike that exposes any weakness in leg speed through contact.