The Rules

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Permalink Reply by Anthony on June 30, 2008 at 11:20pm

I'll try to explain this wonderful sport with my words, and if something isn't clear or doesn't make sense, i have an excuse ( im french) lol. Anyway i'll try to give the main rules and not all of them cause i don't even know all the rules in details.
And feel free to ask all the questions you want.


Rugby is an outdoor contact sport played with an oval ball, with 2 teams of 15 players, on a rectangular pitch ( 100x50 m ).This game is played with both hands and feet. The match is controlled by 1 referee, who is assisted by 2 touch judges. Nowadays there is also a fourth referee who is a video-referee. Unlike football the video can be used to confirm a try or a foul. That is to say the referee is allowed to take a decision by watching the video only. A rugby game lasts 80 mins (2x40mins) with a half time.

The team in possession of the ball moves the ball up the field in an effort to ground the ball over the opponents' goal-line in order to score a try until such time as the ball carrier is tackled. The ball may be passed from one player to another as long as the ball is not thrown forward
Points are awarded for scoring a try (that is to say flatten the ball behind the opponents' goal line). When a try is scored, you have the right to do a conversion ( you place the ball on the ground and try to kick it between the 2 perches ). You can try to do a conversion ONLY when you've scored a try.
During the game you can also do a drop kick ( let the ball drop on the ground and kick it between the poles) , and when the opponent team does a foul... the referee whistle and give you the chance either to do a scrum, to play quickly ( the opponent team must be 10m away from where the foul had been commited, or the referee can whistle again and tell them to move back 10 more meters), to kick the ball in order to find an outline (and the team who kicked , recovers the ball where it went out of the pitch) or a penalty ( you put the ball wherethe foul has been commited and you try to kick it between the poles ).

A try is worth 5 points, its conversion : 2 points, a penalty or a drop goal : 3 points

All the team mate of the carrier of the ball must be behind him, if they're not they're OFFSIDE and mustn't interfer with the ball cause if they do, the referee whistles a penalty.

The team who's defending has the right to tackle the carrier of the ball, that is to say to grab him and make him fall on the ground. You can tackle someone from the feet to the shoulders, if you tackle someone higher than the shoulders the referee gives a foul for the other team.
A tackled player must pass or release the ball, allowing the opposition to contest possession of the loose ball.


If the ball goes into touch (out of the field of play), the game restarts with a line-out. If the game stops because of an infringement, play restarts with either a scrum or a penalty kick (depending on the severity of the infringement).

Tries are the main form of scoring, and the primary aim of most teams is to score tries. Drop goals and penalty kicks are usually augmenters, a safer option against a steadfast defense or to punish ill-disciplined opposition. On some (usually rare) occasions, a team may be awarded a penalty try, if their opponents commit a foul which is deemed by the referee to have prevented a probable try, for example collapsing a scrum close to the try line.

If a team do an important foul, the referee can give a player a yellow card ( off of the pitch for 10 mins) and for a very important foul, a red card can be given ( off of the field for the rest of the match).

Here are the main rules of rugby.

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