AN ARTICLE OF HOW TO
PLAY A GAME OF RUGBY
The game of rugby has been enjoyed for many
years, but few people understand it. In
this article I will be explaining a few rules and terms that can help all of us
to enjoy the game more fully.
A game of rugby involves 2 teams of fifteen
divided into 8 players as forwards and 7 players as backs. A typical rugby kit consists of a jersey,
shorts, long rugby socks and boots with studs.
Players are allowed to wear extra padding at the head, shoulders and
collarbone. Players can also wear mouth
guards to limit the risk of mouth – related injuries during the game.
The game is played in 2 halves of 40
minutes with a 10 minute break. One of
the unique elements of rugby is a ball can be kicked forward, players can run forward
but the ball cannot be passed forward. The ball can only be passed sideways and
backwards. If the ball is passed forward
or deflected forwards (also known as a knock on), a scrum will be called and the opposition will
have the ball.
A scrum is awarded when there has been a
foul e.g. a ball is passed forward. The
scrum consists of 8 forwards from each side, coming together and the ball is
thrown into the middle. When the players
are in the scrum, they have got to keep pushing forward whilst staying on their
feet to gain as much ground as possible against their opponents. Once the
players are in the scrum they are not allowed to touch the ball with their
hands! Eventually the ball leaves the scrum, and it is the scrum half who gets
the ball and passes to one of his team mates to start the next attack.
One of the moves that the team can make when they are
attacking is called a maul. A maul is when the attacking team who have the
ball, are pushing against the opposition to try and gain as much ground as they
can. A tackle is when the player with the ball is brought to the ground by the
opposition. To try to stop an attack, what
the opposition will do then is try to tackle the player who is carrying the
ball. The tackle needs to be made from the waist down. Tackles above the waist can be considered as
dangerous play. The referee can show the
offending player a yellow card, which means the player leaves the field for 10
minutes. Referees can also give red
cards for serious offences like a tackle above the shoulders. When a player is shown a red card they have to
leave the field immediately and cannot rejoin the game. Once a player has been tackled both teams
pile on to try and get the ball, this is called a ruck.
There are a few ways of getting points on the score board during
an attack. For example, the player who
has the ball runs to the try line to get the ball over and if he does he will score 5 points. This is called a try. After a try there is an opportunity to get a conversion.
Which is when the ball is kicked from a
right angle position, 20 meters from where the try was scored. For a successful conversion the ball has to go
in between the goal posts, this is worth 2 points. If at
any time there is a penalty given then a team can choose to kick at goal, the number of points for that is 3 which is
the same amount awarded for a drop goal.
For a drop goal the player bounces the ball onto the ground then kicks
it between the goal posts.
I have really enjoyed typing up this article,
despite being a rugby fan myself, I feel that I have shown a lot of interest
when I’ve been typing it all up. It is amazing on what I’ve learnt myself when
I was doing the research. I hope you, my
friends and other people enjoy this amazing sport and understand it a lot
better when you are watching it.
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