A STRONG core is essential for both backs and forwards in rugby, so make sure you dedicate enough time to it in the gym. There are all sorts of exercises you can do to improve your core strength, but this drill is one you can practice with your team-mates in training. It’s fun and competitive, and also enables you to build on your contact work at the same time.

Demonstrating this drill is Parmiter’s School first XV, the winners of our Lucozade Sport Kit-Out Project competition. They won £3,000-worth of kit, plus nutrition and training advice as part of their prize, so we took a couple of experts down to the school to take a training session.

Coach Brett Davison, who has worked with England Sevens and Wasps, put them through their paces, while Lucozade Sport sports scientist Tom Brownlee gave them some nutritional advice. Click here to see what else they learned during the session.

The good news is, you can still enter Lucozade Sport’s Kit-Out Project, and get kit and training equipment for your club. Go to lucozadesport.com/kitoutproject and enter your team’s name. Then collect the codes off the side of the bottles when you drink Lucozade Sport, and enter them on the website. More codes equals more kit, so get all your team-mates involved!

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