Introduction to Rugby

Rugby is similar to American football, but it has been played much longer and has contributed more to the American game than soccer. It is considered by many to be even more physical than American football; there are fewer stoppages of play that would allow players to temporarily stop the intense contact.

  1. Players

    • Rugby teams normally field 15 players. Eight are called forwards and play similarly to American football lineman. The other seven are the backs, who are much like running back or receivers.

    Play

    • One team kicks the ball to the other to begin play, with the object being to either run the ball into the opponent's goal zone or kick it through their goal posts. All of this takes place with the ball still live.

    Moving the Ball

    • Players can kick, pass or run with the ball to advance it down the field, but they cannot pass the ball forward. A tackled player must release the ball for another player to take it. Play only stops if the ball goes out of bounds or for an infraction, such as an offsides call.

    Restarts

    • If the ball goes out of bounds, a player from the team who didn't knock the ball out throws it back in. The teams form lines one meter apart when this happens. A dead ball from an infraction results in rugby's most famous formation, the scrum.

    Scrum

    • In a scrum, players from both sides join together in a "tunnel," and the team that didn't stop the play rolls the ball into that tunnel. The scrum players all push forward until someone can kick the ball toward his teammates.

    Scoring

    • Teams get five points for running the ball into the goal zone, plus two more for a subsequent kick through the goal posts. A kick through the posts during live play scores three points.