Rugby - a Beginner's Guide

Index

• The Game
  • Duration
  • Players
  • Officials
• Scoring
  • Try
• Six Nations Results for 2002
• References

The Game

Duration:

A game of rugby consists of two halves of 40 minutes with injury time added on at the end of each half. This is not as long as you might expect because physiotherapists are often allowed onto the pitch while play continues.

Players:

Each side consists of 15 players, divided into eight forwards and seven backs. A total of seven substitutes are allowed for international matches. (There are also seven and 10-man versions of rugby union, played almost exclusively at tournaments.)

Officials:

There is one referee assisted by two touch judges, who mark where the ball goes out of play, adjudge kicks at goal and inform the referee of foul play. A fourth official controls replacements and substitutes. Video referees have recently been introduced to Super 12 and Tri-Nations rugby, but will not be used during the Six Nations championship.

Scoring

The object of the game is to score more points than your opponents. There are a number of ways to achieve this.

Try:

A try is worth five points. It is scored when a player places the ball on the ground with downward pressure in the in-goal area between the try line and dead ball line of the opposition's half. Tries can be scored in a number of ways, other than running over the try line and putting the ball down. They include the pushover try, scored by driving the opposition's scrum back over its own line; the momentum try, where a player slides into the in-goal area; and the penalty try, awarded when a team illegally obstructs the opposition to prevent a certain try from being scored. There is no such thing as an "own try". If you touch the ball down in your own in-goal area, it results in a kick or a scrum.

Garvey scores a try for Gloucester¹

Marcel Garvey gave a short interview with the Gloucester Citizen :

“Well, it were a team effort really, squire. Henry Paul passed the ball to me and I had to shift it like to get round the other winger. But I made it!”

Six Nations Results for 2002

References

1. link for Garvey scores try http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/2273814.stm