Who Cares Who Wins? (boyxboy)

Chapter 15 Rugby Rules.

Author's Note ✍🏽

Ahead of the two chapters being published this weekend I thought this 'Very Basic Rugby Explained' (Courtesy of Wikipedia) would be quite helpful for future reference.

Rugby Union, widely known simply as rugby, is a full-contact team sport that originated in England in 1823. It is a game played between two teams using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. Rugby goalposts are H-shaped and are situated in the middle of the goal lines at each end of the pitch. They consist of two poles, 5.6 metres (6.1 yd) apart, connected by a horizontal crossbar 3 metres (3.3 yd) above the ground. The minimum height for posts is 3.4 metres (3.7 yd).

The most basic law of the game is that no player is allowed to throw the ball forward to a teammate. In rugby, passes have to be thrown sideways or backwards to a teammate while other ways to move the ball towards the opposition's goal line to score points is by kicking or running with the ball.

There are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1-8) and seven backs (numbered 9-15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players 'on the bench', numbered 16-23.

Forwards compete for the ball in scrums and line-outs and are generally bigger and stronger than the backs.

The Scrum. This is a contest used to restart play and must consist of eight players from each team: the 'front row' (two props, a loosehead and tighthead, and a hooker), the 'second row' (two locks), and a 'back row' (two flankers, and a number 8).

The players outside the scrum are called 'the backs':- scrum-half, fly-half, inside centre, outside centre, two wings, and a fullback.

Props push in the scrums, while the hooker tries to secure the ball for their team by 'hooking' it back with their heel. The hooker is also the one who is responsible for throwing the ball in at line-outs, where it is mostly competed for by the locks, who are generally the tallest players on the team. The flankers and number eight are expected to be the first players to arrive at a breakdown and play an important role in securing possession of the ball for their team. At the back of the scrum, the No.8 is the only player from the forwards who are allowed to pick the ball up from the base of the scrum.

A Maul. This occurs when a player with the ball goes into contact with a defender, and while both players remain on their feet, at least one more player from the attacking team joins the contact. At this point a maul is formed, and looks sort of like a scrum except with the ball in the player's hands instead of on the ground.

The Ruck. One of the biggest things that separates rugby from American football is that once a player is tackled, the game does not stop. In rugby, once a player is tackled to the ground, he/she is allowed to make one movement on the ground before they must release the ball. The point of this is to prevent tackled players from holding onto the ball and grinding the entire game to a stop.

So, given that a player who is tackled must let go of the ball, this opens up the opportunity for the defence to snatch the ball up when the player releases it. To prevent a defender from reaching down and grabbing the released ball off the ground, the teammates of the tackled player can engage the defender and attempt to ruck them off of the ball to maintain possession.

Substitutes. There is a maximum of 15 players from each team allowed on a rugby field at any one time. Substitutes, numbered 16 to 23, can either take up the position of the player they replace or the on-field players can be shuffled to make room for this player in another position. Typically, the forwards among the substitutes will have lower numbers than the backs.

Positions. There are no personal squad numbers and a versatile player's position and number may change from one game to the next. Players can also change positions during the match; common examples are the fly-half playing the full-back's position in defence or a prop taking the hooker's position at line-outs.

Different positions on the field suit certain skill sets and body types, generally leading to players specialising in a limited number of positions. Each position has certain roles to play on the field, although most have been established through convention rather than law. During general play, as long as they are not offside, the players may be positioned anywhere on the field. It is during the set pieces (scrum and line-out) that the positions are enforced.

Scoring. Points can be scored in several ways: a try, scored by grounding the ball in the in-goal area (between the goal line and the dead-ball line), is worth 5 points and the subsequent conversion kick (a free kick over the crossbar and between the two uprights that the team is awarded after a try) scores 2 points or a successful penalty kick or a drop goal each score 3 points.

Games are divided into 40-minute halves, with a break in the middle. The sides exchange ends of the pitch after the half-time break. Stoppages for injury or to allow the referee to take disciplinary action do not count as part of the playing time, so that the elapsed time is usually longer than 80 minutes. The referee is responsible for keeping time, even when, as in many professional tournaments, he is assisted by an official time-keeper. If time expires while the ball is in play, the game continues until the ball is 'dead', and only then will the referee blow the whistle to signal half-time or full-time; but if the referee awards a penalty or free-kick, the game continues.

As already mentioned, forward passing (throwing the ball ahead to another player) is not allowed; the ball can be passed laterally or backwards. The ball tends to be moved forward in three ways - by kicking, by a player running with it or within a scrum or maul.

Only the player with the ball may be tackled or rucked. A 'knock-on' is committed when a player knocks the ball forward, and play is restarted with a scrum.

Any player may kick the ball forward in an attempt to gain territory.

When the ball leaves the side of the field, a line-out is awarded against the team which last touched the ball. Forward players from each team line up a metre apart, perpendicular to the touchline and it depends on where the kick was taken from and whether it bounced out or not as to where the line-out is formed. The ball is thrown from the touchline down the centre of the lines of forwards by a player (usually the hooker) from the team that did not play the ball into touch. The exception to this is when the ball went out from a penalty, in which case the side who gained the penalty throws the ball in. Both sides compete for the ball and players may lift their teammates. A jumping player cannot be tackled until they stand and only shoulder-to-shoulder contact is allowed; deliberate infringement of this law is dangerous play, and results in a penalty kick.

Tackling in open play. A player may tackle an opposing player who has the ball by holding them while bringing them to ground. Tacklers cannot tackle above the shoulder (the neck and head are out of bounds), and the tackler has to attempt to wrap their arms around the player being tackled to complete the tackle. It is illegal to push, shoulder-charge, or to trip a player using feet or legs, but hands may be used (this being referred to as a tap-tackle or ankle-tap).Tacklers may not tackle an opponent who has jumped to catch a ball until the player has landed.

Replacements and substitutions. During the match, players may be replaced (for injury) or substituted (for tactical reasons). A player who has been replaced may not rejoin play unless he was temporarily replaced to have bleeding controlled; a player who has been substituted may return temporarily, to replace a player who has a blood injury or has suffered a concussion, or permanently, if he is replacing a front-row forward.

In international matches, eight replacements are allowed; in domestic or cross-border tournaments, at the discretion of the responsible national unions, the number of replacements may be nominated to a maximum of eight, of whom three must be sufficiently trained and experienced to provide cover for the three front row positions.

Prior to 2016, all substitutions, no matter the cause, counted against the limit during a match. In 2016, World Rugby changed the law so that substitutions made to replace a player deemed unable to continue due to foul play by the opposition would no longer count against the match limit. This change was introduced in January of that year in the Southern Hemisphere and June in the Northern Hemisphere.

Author's Note ✍🏽

I hope you feel enlightened by this and not too bamboozled. You probably don't need most of this information for reading this book so the main thing to remember is how the game is scored and who plays in what position.
If you have the chance to ever watch a game then hopefully these rules will give you some insight beforehand so that you will enjoy it more.

M xx ❤️❤️