Rugby Kicking: Technique, Types of Kick and Drills

Kicking decides more rugby matches than any other skill: three points at a time off the tee, territory in the exchanges, and tries from grubbers and cross-kicks. It is also the most trainable skill in the game, because you can practise it alone, measure it precisely, and the technique barely changes from club rugby to a World Cup final. This guide covers how to strike a rugby ball, every kick type and when to use it, the goal-kicking routine, and the drills, plus a free kick-tracking tool to measure your progress.

The strike: what every kick shares

• Ball presentation: drop the ball onto your foot, never throw it. The hands guide it down; gravity does the rest.
• Contact point:the hard bone of the top of your foot (the “laces”), striking the ball’s sweet spot, lower third for height, middle for distance.
• Plant foot points at the target. The kicking leg follows the plant foot; most wayward kicks were aimed wrong before the leg ever swung.
• Follow through to the target, tall chest, eyes down through contact. Looking up early is the number one amateur fault.

Goal kicking: routine beats talent

Every great goal kicker owns a repeatable routine: same tee height, same steps back and across, same breath, same trigger thought, same swing. The routine is the skill, it is what holds up at 79:59 with the match on your boot. Build yours once, write it down, and never freelance it on match day.

Then measure. Feelings lie about where you actually miss: most kickers believe distance is their problem when the data says it is one side of the field. Our free goal-kick trackerlogs every practice kick on a field map and shows your make percentage by zone and distance, so next session’s reps go exactly where the misses live.

Every kick in the game, and when to use it

• Punt (spiral or end-over-end): the territory kick. Spiral for maximum distance into space; end-over-end for accuracy and easier chasing.
• Box kick:the scrum-half’s exit off the base of a ruck, high and short enough for the chase to contest. Height and hang time over raw distance.
• Grubber: along the ground, behind a rushing defence. The end-over-end tumble makes it sit up for the chaser.
• Chip: a soft lob over the first line for you or a teammate to regather. High risk, high reward, use against a flat, aggressive line.
• Cross-kick: flat and wide to an unmarked winger. The modern try-scoring kick.
• Drop kick: restarts and the three-point bomb. The ball must touch the ground at the moment of the strike, practise the low drop-and-strike rhythm before adding distance.

Kicking drills that build the skill

1. Ten-and-back ladder (goal kicking): five kicks from straight in front at 20m, then move 5m wider or deeper only after four of five. Earn every station; track it in the tracker.
2. Corridor punting: two players punt to each other inside a 10m-wide channel. Out of the corridor = a point to your opponent. Accuracy under a game.
3. One-step grubbers: attack a line of cones, grubber through a 2m gate off one step. Repeat until the weight is automatic off both feet.
4. Pressure sets: finish every session with six match-scenario kicks, tired legs, one attempt each, scores recorded. Practice must occasionally cost something.

Learn it from the professionals

Inside Rugby IQ, the kicking modules, goal kicking, kick-off restarts, high-ball catching, are taught by the professionals who do it for a living, including scrum-half box kicking with World Cup winner Faf de Klerk and the fly-half craft with Ruben Love and Kade Wolhuter (meet the full roster). Where kicking fits in the weekly plan is covered in the rugby training program guide, and the skills around it in rugby skills.