Rugby in a Nutshell

Traditionally rugby union is played on a field or pitch, slightly longer and wider than a gridiron, with 15 players aside.  A singular, all-powerful referee oversees each match.  Talking back to the ref is simply not tolerated (Refreshing compared to most of today’s popular sports!).  The ball is slightly larger and more ovoid than a football, which facilitates handling and kicking.  A match is played out in two 40-minute halves, with a five-minute half time to regroup.  Only the referee on

the pitch keeps time.  No stadium clock exists in rugby.  Complete matches usually begin and end in the span of just ninety minutes.  Stoppages are permitted for injuries only.  As match play moves past full time, the referee may allow play to continue until a turnover or a score occurs. 

Substitutions, until just recently, were permitted solely for replacement of players deemed unfit to continue, with the referee having the final say.  This law helped develop rugby’s image as a tough man’s sport.  Today, up to six subs are allowed, but once subbed for, a player may not return.  Endurance remains a premium.

Possession as in any field sport, is the name of the game, with each turnover creating a rapid transition from an attacking offense to a curtain defense.  The level of fitness among today’s top club and international rugby players is unsurpassed by any team sport, as eight big forwards (averaging 6’ 3” tall and 250 lbs.) are called upon to remain in constant support of their swift back line at all times.  While dominant stars do emerge, rugby is truly a team sport.  Individual power, speed and stamina alone cannot overcome superior team skills for success in the game.

Scoring

Each team tries to score the most points in the following four different ways:

1.             Try (5 points)       A rugby try is similar to an American football touchdown, but with two key differences.  When the ball carrier crosses the goal or tryline, play continues.  The player must ground the ball, in full view of the referee, (often in the midst of warding off tacklers,) in order for a try to be awarded.

2.             Conversion (2 points)         The team’s goal kicker must then kick the conversion from the mark of the try along a line perpendicular to the tryline.  He brings the ball out along the try line as far as he chooses, where he then can place or drop kick it between the posts.  (Rugby goal posts are located on the tryline.)

3.             Penalty (3 points)                When a penalty is awarded, the captain may elect to “take the points” and give his kicker a shot at goal.  The ball must then be kicked through the exact mark given by the referee, again as a placed or dropped kick.  This could be a hard price to pay for being caught offside, playing the ball while on the ground, or being guilty of dangerous play (high tackling, etc.).

4.             Drop       goal (3 points)      Any player, may at any time, from anywhere on the pitch, attempt a drop kick.  This same rule still exists in the NFL, with the great Jim Thorpe the last to exploit it.  Although difficult and risky (since a miss generally results in a turnover), this form of scoring has broken many a heart.  Often used as a last resort in response to a solid defensive stand, an outstanding kicker can break an opponent’s back with a swift and accurate blow.  Many games have been won in this dramatic fashion, often at the final whistle.

Open and Set Play

A rugby ball may never be passed forward.  In fact, play may not occur in front of the ball.  Thus stringent offside rules keep things in order.  When a ball is accidentally fumbled forward, a minor infraction called a “knock on” has occurred.  At the referee’s discretion, however, play does not stop should the other team gain an advantage from the miscue.

The ball may be advanced by: running it forward, kicking it forward, or passing it laterally until an open running space can be found and exploited.  Kicks, unlike in American football, are never made to relinquish possession, but most often for strategic reasons.  Field position can be dramatically enhanced with tactically accurate kicking.  Balls are usually kicked to a part of the field left undefended, leading to a frantic foot race for possession. 

One of rugby’s most dramatic displays of individual skills and daring occurs when a ball carrier beats an onrushing tackler, by chipping the ball ahead, stepping around the now disarmed defender (who cannot play a man without the ball), and plucking his chip from the air or on the first bounce, all whilst on a full sprint.  Such a play never fails to bring a stadium of spectators to its feet.  A roar of approval will thunder from the crowd should the player field his chip ahead cleanly and score, a desperate sigh should he knock it on!

Perhaps the defining image of rugby, and a most confusing part of the game to novice fans, is that of the scrum.  Scrum play gave rise to gridiron’s line of scrimmage.  The referee awards scrums after minor infractions occur (such as a forward pass or knock on).  At the given mark each forward pack of eight players interlock, binding together, about an arms length apart.  As the two front rows engage, gripping up like Greco-Roman wrestlers, a tunnel is created, and a ferocious intensity is unleashed.  All 16 forwards push in unison, often less than two feet off the ground. 

On a hand signal from his hooker, the scrum halfback for the side awarded the scrum rolls the ball into the tunnel.  The ball is then “hooked” back with a well-timed foot strike (as hands cannot touch the ball in a scrum formation), or by sheer force one pack may push the other over and past the ball to gain possession. From above a scrum looks bit like a spider that cannot decide to move forward or backward, sometimes not moving at all or spinning one way or the other.  Like a football play from scrimmage, a scrum serves as a platform to develop plays.  The ball is picked up when it emerges at the last scrummager’s foot.

The second unique moment in a rugby match is the lineout, which gave rise to basketball’s jump ball.  Lineouts occur when the ball travels over the sidelines, or “into touch”.  Play is resumed from the mark where the ball went into touch, by the side not handling it last.  That side calls out a coded play and attempts to direct the ball to their assigned jumper.  The ball is thrown down the middle of two parallel rows of opposing forwards, standing a yard apart.  The advantage to the throwing side comes in knowing which jumper to favor, often hoisting him to breathtaking heights. The ball may be caught or tapped back, with creative attacks sometimes coming from a quick, unexpected tap.

Scrums and lineouts are all about possession of the ball.  The forward pack with dominant skills can overcome one of greater size.  A dominant forward pack can win most set pieces (scrum and lineout), and in so doing, neutralize an extraordinary runner or kicker in the opponents back line, by keeping the ball out of his hands. 

As the ball readies to emerge from the base of a set piece, a platform for transition into an attacking play exists.  That play may come from the forwards, or the scrumhalf may elect spin the ball out to his backs.  A scrumhalf is like a quarterback in his play.  He is often diminutive, quick, and always elusive, crafty and tough.  His underhand pass out to the back line may be a 15-meter bullet thrown while diving in the direction of his pass, fully stretched out and perhaps in the grasp of a desperate defender.