How to Tackle in Rugby: Technique, Steps and Drills

Tackling is the most important defensive skill in rugby and the one with the least room for guesswork. A good tackle is not about bravery or size; it is a repeatable technique with clear steps, and players who learn the steps tackle harder, miss less, and get hurt less. This guide breaks the tackle into its coachable parts, then gives you the progressions to build it safely from walk-through to full contact.

The five steps of a tackle

1. Track

The tackle starts ten metres before contact. Move up in line with your defence, close the space early, then shorten your steps as you approach. Aim your inside shoulder at the ball carrier’s inside hip so they cannot step back inside you, and trust your teammates to cover the outside.

2. Set your feet

The most common cause of a missed tackle is feet too far away. Your lead foot should land close to the ball carrier, in their “hoop”, close enough to step on their toes. Short, fast feet in the last two metres; never plant and lunge.

3. Get your height right

Bend at the hips and knees, not the back. Chest up, eyes up, spine in a strong neutral line. Target the shorts: shoulder contact between waist and mid-thigh. Head position is non-negotiable: head behind or to the side, never in front of the carrier. Cheek to cheek is the classic cue.

4. Make shoulder contact and wrap

Hit with the shoulder, not the arms, and punch both arms around the carrier’s legs the moment contact is made. The wrap is what separates a tackle from a bump, and it is also the law: no wrap, no tackle.

5. Drive and finish

Keep your legs pumping through contact, drive the carrier backwards or sideways, and land on top. Then the job changes: get to your feet, contest the ball or fold back into the line. Elite defenders treat the finish as the start of the next action, not the end of this one.

Building it safely: the progression ladder

Nobody should meet a full-speed tackle in their first contact session. Progress through these stages and only move on when the current stage looks clean:

1. Kneeling tackle. Both players on knees. Groove shoulder contact, head placement and the wrap with zero collision risk.
2. Walk-through tackle. Carrier walks, tackler from one knee then standing. Add the footwork: step in close, cheek to cheek, wrap, roll.
3. Jog-pace tackle in a channel. A narrow 2-metre channel takes away the big step and lets the tackler practise tracking and foot placement at controlled speed.
4. Tackle bags and shields at speed. Full-intensity contact mechanics with no bodies at risk. Perfect for volume: ten quality hits beat thirty sloppy ones.
5. Live 1v1 in a grid. Small grid (5x5) so speeds stay honest, carrier limited to one step. Referee every rep for height and head position.

Three drills that fix the most common misses

Feet-in-the-hoop drill

Lay a hoop (or marked circle) at the carrier’s feet. The tackler must land their lead foot inside the hoop before contact. Fixes the plant-and-lunge miss instantly, because it makes the invisible error visible.

Shadow tracking

1v1 in a 10-metre channel, no contact: the defender simply has to finish within arm’s reach of the carrier’s hips after two changes of direction. All tracking, all footwork, zero collision, so you can train it every session.

Low-body-height gate

Set a bar or bungee at hip height that the tackler must pass under in the final step before a bag hit. If they cannot get under it, the height problem is strength and mobility, which is built in the gym, see our rugby gym program for the trunk and neck work that supports it.

Common faults and the cue that fixes them

• High tackles:“eyes on the shorts.” Height follows eyes.
• Arm tackles:“shoulder first, arms second.” If the arms arrive first, the feet were too far away.
• Head in front: stop the session and re-groove from the kneeling stage. This is the one fault you never coach around.
• Stopping on contact:“hit and keep running.” Leg drive is what turns contact into dominance.

Where this fits

Tackling holds up under fatigue only if the body does: neck, trunk and shoulder strength are the armour, covered in our durability programs, and collision readiness is built progressively through pre-season. For the full menu of session drills around it, start with our guide to rugby drills.