The Rugby Item

Nov 23 13:52 UTC 2003

This item is for discussing rugby. I'll start with an attempt to describe
Rugby, making reference where possible to how it differs from American
football.

Rugby is a game whose rules were first formalised in the 19th century in
England. The name comes from the town and school of Rugby, which played a
game on which many of the rules of modern Rugby are based. There is a
story that the game of rugby began when a pupil at the school (named
William Webb Ellis), who weas playing socer, "picked up the ball and ran
with it", and though this is considered to be false by historians, the
trophy fought for at the Rugby World Cup is called the William Webb Ellis
Trophy.

The story of Rugby is complicated by hte fact that there are actually two
different forms of rugby, called Rugby Union and Rugby League. The main
difference between the games is that Union teams usually field a team of
15 players, whereas League teams are thirteen strong. The difference
originally arose from a schism between the Rugby Union and the Rugby
League, originally called the Northern Rugby Union, over professionalism.
The Rugby Union (Southern England) teams were gentlemen amateurs who did
not get paid, whilst the working men's clubs in the North could not afford
to take time off work to practice and therefore became professionals,
forming the Northern Rugby Union, later the Rugby League. In what follows
I will mostly describe the game of Rugby Union, which is the form of the
game played in the recent World Cup 2003.

As I said before, a Rugby Union team ncludes 15 players, chosen from a
squad of up to 22. Other players (but not extra players) may be brought in
with the consent of the referee either as "replacements" for injured
players, or as tactical "substitutes", but only when the ball is dead
(i.e. when play has temporarily stopped). A player who has been sent off
may not be replaced, but players who have received minor injuries may take
over from their replacements if they arrive back on the field before the
ball is dead again.

Games are eight minutes long, with (in championship matches) extra time of
20 minutes (10 minutes per side) played if the game finishes as a draw. If
at the end of extra time the score is still a draw, "a golden score" is
played whereby the first team to score wins. (80, not 8).

The game is played on a 100-meter (roughly hundred-yard) long field or
"pitch", at each at end of which is an H-shaped goal and a 22-meter long
"in-goal" behind the goalposts. in front of the goal posts is another
22-metre long are called "the 22", thus in a theoretical game with England
and Australia playing, the 22 yards in fron tof England's goal are
"England's 22" and so on.

The object of the game is simply to score as many points as possible, and
of course, more than the other team. Points may be gained by scoring a
goal, a conversion, or a try. As I understand American football, these
terms have a different meaning in Rugby than they do in that game.

A goal is scored either as a result of a penalty being awarded by the
referee, or as a result of a drop-kick, where the player drops the
(ovoid-shaped) ball on the ground and attempts to kick it over the
crossbar of the goal. A penalty goal starts with the ball on the ground
(place there either by the kicker or by a "placer" from the kicker's
team), and again the kicker attempts to kick the ball over the goal. A
goal always scores 3 points.

A try is scored when a player reaches the goal-line at the opponent's end
of the field and grounds the ball in the opponent's in goal; a player may
slide the ball over the goal line and hold it in the in-goal. A try is
worth five points and may be followed by a conversion.

A conversion happens when a player, having scored a try, attempts to kick
the ball over the goal-posts. A successful conversion is worth a further 2
points.

The most distinctive feature of the game is the "scrum", in which the
eight members of the team who started off closest to the opponent's end of
the pitch (the forwards) huddle together with the forwards from the
opposing team, in an attempt to gain possession of the ball. Scrums always
happen after the ball is declared dead, or out of play. When in a scrum,
gaining (or attempting to gain) possession by using the hands is not
permitted, and results in a penalty (this is  how most of the penalties
scored against England by Australia were awarded in the recent World Cup
final).

Similar to the scrum are the "maul" and the "ruck". The ruck happens when
a player in possesion of the ball and one player from the oppoosing team
compete head-on for posession; the maul is similar but involves at least
three players  including at least two players from the opposing team.

The tackle happens when a player running towards the opponent's goal is
caught and held by an opposition player approaching from the rear (the
first player is always a player in possession of the ball). If the tackle
succeeeds, the player in possession must relinquish the ball, and play
restarts.

If the ball is kicked into touch, the players form a line-out, in which
the players stand next to eacxhother facing the opposing team, and one of
the players stands on the touch-line and throws the ball into the line-out
(a "throw-in"). Players are not allowed to lift the player in position to
catch the ball.

The final tactic is a mark, in which a player who is within his team's 22
catches a ball kicked by an opposing player and shouts "Mark". A free kick
is awarded for a mark.

Rugby is a fast-paced game in which a variety of tactics (including
blocking and passing the ball) are used in order to prevent either a score
by another team, or the other team taking possesion of the ball. The ball
can be passed backweards or laterally or across the field, but not
forwards (although it may be kicked in any direction), thus players musrt
run fast in order to make up lost time caused by pasing to a player
upfield and to try and aim for a break in the other teams' defence.

Rugby players wear little or no protection, the limitg usually being
inconspicuous shoulder and knee-pads and a soft cranial protector (not a
helmet). The only mouth guard permitted fits inside the mouth. This gives
rise to the myth among rugby players that American football players are
wimps. (It is not known how many rugby players have said this within
earshot of an American football player and survived.) Rugby typically
requires more strength and stamina than soccer, but is less violent than
American football.