Rugby 101

Rugby: A sport native to England, but growing in popularity in the United States. According to a study conducted by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, in 2010, rugby advanced 8.7 percent in terms of popularity. But, what is the sport all about?

“It’s kind of like a hybrid between football and soccer—with the contact and ball carrying of football, but the characteristics of the free-flowing game of soccer. It uses the strategy that you find within a soccer or football game as well,” Christopher Newport University rugby co-captain Josh Self said.

In rugby, two teams face each other in a free-flowing, 80-minute match, made up of two 40-minute halves. There are 15 players from each team on the field at a time.

Each 15-person team is split into two subcategories—the eight pack players and the seven back players.

“The pack players are more of the power, heavy-duty players and the back players are more of the finesse, skill-based players,” Self said. “So, they each have a specific purpose and in those two individual subcategories also there are different positions.

The game officially begins with a kickoff—a drop kick from the center of the field. The ball must hit the ground before the kicker hits it with his foot, and it must travel a minimum of 10 meters.

After the kick off, players attempt to advance the ball down the field toward the try  zone, which is similar to the end zone in football. However, there is a catch. Players can only advance the ball forward by passing it backwards or laterally, running it or kicking it. There are no forward passes.

“You always try to retreat behind the ball,” Self said. “If you’re in front of the ball, you serve no purpose. Rugby is all about support and communication, so as long as you’re behind me supporting me, you’re an asset to the team.”

Play is continuous during a rugby match, unless a player commits an infraction or the ball goes out of play. A knock-on is an example of an infraction that would stop the play and cause a scrum. If the ball goes out of play, the result is a line out.

A knock-on occurs when there is accidental forward momentum on the ball by a player’s hands. At this point, the referee calls a scrum and the team who did not commit the infraction has the advantage of placing the ball in the scrum.

Scrum: “It’s essentially an eight-on-eight formation where the teams come together and fight for possession of the ball that is placed in the center of the scrum,” Self said.

“There are the eight pack players, and while those eight pack players are fighting over the ball, there are seven back players, or the faster guys, who are lined about wide to get the ball.”

A line out is another way of restarting the play. This formation occurs when the ball goes out of play. One player from the team who put the ball ‘into touch’ – rugby’s way of saying out of bounds – throws the ball to the line out, which consists of one jumper from each team being hoisted into the air by stronger players positioned one meter apart.

Ultimately, the goal of the match is to score the most points. The most lucrative way to do so is by scoring a try, which is worth five points. “You have to cross the goal line and force momentum down on the ball, touching it down on the ground in control,” Self said.

After a try is scored, the team gets to attempt a two-point conversion kick, the placement of which is directly in line with the location of the try.

As a result, players will attempt to ground the ball for a try in the center of the goal area because then the kicker will get to attempt the conversion kick from the center of the field. The kick must pass over the crossbar and through the uprights for the extra two points.

After a try, the team who scored has the ball kicked back to them—in a sense, it is a reset of the game.

“It’s a way to dominate the game,” Self said. “It’s very demoralizing when someone scores and you have to kick it right back to them.”

Although rugby players do not wear pads, Self said that tackling is highly regulated—a player can only be tackled below the shoulders, without a spearing motion and cannot be lifted off the ground during the tackle. Additionally, blocking is not allowed in rugby.

If being held down, a tackled player will attempt to release the ball to a teammate. From there, free play continues, which often involves another important feature of rugby, a ruck. In essence, a ruck is a smaller version of a scrum.

“A ruck is how you maintain possession of the ball in free play,” Self said. “The referee doesn’t generate the ruck as he generates the scrum, but he basically maintains the ruck.”

Overall, the game is extremely aggressive and takes a great amount of technique and understanding of fundamentals in order to avoid the elevated risks of injuries that stem from the lack of pads.

“It’s a bunch of guys running around trying to tear each others heads off, but at the end of the game, they’ll sit down with each other, shake each others’ hands and share stories about the game with mutual respect for each other,” Self said.

This must be why it is often referred to as a hooligans game played by gentlemen.

Posted by Corrie Mitchell on Oct 26 2011. Filed under Rugby, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.