Rugby Rules - Your Online Source for Tips on How to Play Rugby
Rugby Rules Are The Laws Of The Game
If you want to enjoy playing or watching rugby, it really helps to know some rugby rules. The game of rugby has some of the same features found in both American football and soccer, but there are differences that have their basis in the rules or laws of rugby.
Although rugby is similar to American football, game play is continuous more like what you see in soccer. Any person on the rugby team can play the ball, and playing the ball according to rugby rules means running, passing and kicking. Whoever has the ball is responsible for leading the team on the attack. Should that person be tackled, however, that player has to move out of the way and allow the other players to continue the play.
When a player is running the ball, they keep going until they get tackled, run out of bounds or run past the goal line for a try, which scores them 5 points.
When passing in rugby, the ball cannot be sent forward, it can only be passed backward or laterally to an open player. The player with the ball will usually pass it to keep the ball in play and push it further down the field.
Another way to move the ball down the field toward the goal is by kicking. The ball can be kicked forward at any time during the game, and there is no stop in play when a player kicks the ball. A kicked ball can go to a fellow teammate or to someone on the opposing team. A player may kick the ball to a player on the other team when they have bad field position and want to get out of it.
There are only two times that play is stopped during a rugby game: when the ball goes out of bounds or for an infraction of the rugby rules or laws. If the ball goes out, the ball is put back into play with a line-out. In a line-out, the teams line up and a player on the non-offending team calls a play and throws the ball in the air. The players than jump up to retrieve the thrown ball.
When a rugby law is broken during the game, the ball is put back into play with a scrum, a player formation that is unique to rugby. In the scrum, the players group together to create a type of tunnel with the opposing team. A player from the team not responsible for the rule breaking rolls the ball into the middle of the scrum and the players push and struggle until one they can get the ball to a player on the back row and back into play.
One of the most interesting – and toughest – rugby rules is that there are only five substitutions allowed during a game. That means no more than five players can be swapped out, and this includes injuries. So, if a rugby player gets hurt during a game they may have to play injured or leave their team a player short.