Teaching Rugby safely in secondary school PE lessons

Student teachers on the (Secondary) Physical Education PGCE were introduced to Tag Rugby at the Falmer campus.

Tag Rugby is a non-contact version of rugby which removes the tackling element of the game, so that physical education lessons become safer and more inclusive for all sexes, ages and abilities.

The game is played by two teams of 5-7 players, with the aim being to ground the ball over your opponent’s try line. The attacking team has six plays to try get the ball over the try line and then switches to being defenders for the next six plays – the swapping continues until the game finishes. The team with the most tries at the end of the game wins.

Each player wears a Tag Rugby belt which has two tags attached. When an attacker is holding the ball, they can be tagged (one of their tags removed) by an opposing player. When a player has been tagged, the attacker is only allowed to take a maximum of three strides and must pass the ball to another player on their team. The ball must be passed within three seconds of being tagged – if this takes longer or takes more than three strides, then referee awards a free pass to the opposing team. After the ball has been passed after being tagged, the player retrieves their tag and puts it back on to their tag belt.

PGCE Physical Education Route Leader, Dr Gary Stidder, said: “The reason some pupils have a bleak perception of physical education lessons is simply because the subject commands a fear factor.

“The principles of competitive invasion games such as Tag Rugby can be taught safely. These principles involve manoeuvring the ball through a defended territory to an agreed target, within set parameters over a prescribed period of time whilst upholding the safety and wellbeing of pupils in school physical education lessons.

“The game of Tag Rugby takes away the fear of injury that some pupils have and allows for the game to be played in mixed-sex groups.”

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