Cover me

Overview

Defenders have to come off their line to go and pressure an attacker in possession of the ball. However, when this happens the other defenders must quickly take up good covering positions so they can block the space vacated by the pressing defender. Cover me works on these skills.

SET UP

• Pitch 60yds x 30yds including two 10yd end zones

See complete set up here

What you get your players to do

One team is nominated as the defending team (white) and is positioned on the centre line. The other two teams (red and blue) work as passers and place themselves on opposite end lines.

To start, one of the passing team (red) passes along its line and attempts to pass across to the opposite team of passers.

The nearest defender (white) can go to pressure the passers while the remaining defenders must cover him by moving along the line in order to close the gaps and block the forward passes.

Rules

• The game is played for three sets of three minutes to allow all teams to play in defence
• Only one defender can go to pressure – the others must remain on the centre line
• The passers must keep their passes under waist height when passing to the opposite side
• If the blockers intercept the ball it is passed back to one of the passing teams and the game restarts
• A point is scored for a block and a point is scored for a successful pass. The points are tallied up at the end

Development/progression

To improve the intensity of the game you can impose a two touch rule on the passers. To reward good play you can impose a rotation when the defenders block a pass. Then they exchange positions with the team who gave away the ball.