Armchair Fan's Guide To Rugby
This rugby guide fills you in on everything you need to know to enjoy the glorious sport of Rugby. If you've ever wondered who all those little men are, and what they're doing exactly; now you know…
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Step 1:
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The Basics
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Firstly – the basics. The match is 80 minutes long – 40 each way. When the final whistle blows, the team with the most points wins. There's 15 players per team – 8 big ugly ones called forwards and 7 fast and agile ones called backs.
There's also a single referee and a couple of touch judges keeping an eye on things, and a video ref during televised matches who can watch things in slow-mo to make sure the right decision's made.
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Step 2:
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Scoring
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The main way to score points is by putting the ball down over the try line – that's a Try and it earns you 5 points.
Once you've done that, you've got the opportunity to ‘convert' it – that means plonking it down on the ground level with where the try was scored and kicking over the H, between the posts. If you manage it, that's another two points.
If the opposition screws up and commits a foul or something, that's a penalty. You can either run for the try-line with the ball, or you can kick for goal, which earns you three points.
The only other way of scoring is from a drop kick, during open play. That's another three-pointer, but it's not nearly as easy to pull off as it sounds.
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Step 3:
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The Action
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If you get hold of the ball, chances are you'll need to pass it on to someone else before you get pummelled. In rugby, you're only allowed to pass it to someone level with you or behind you; never forwards.
And try not to forget that every player on the opposing team will have one objective – to marmalise you and get that ball off you. Anywhere above the shoulders is dangerous, and is called a ‘high tackle'. Other than that, you're an open target. Oh, and when you're down on the ground after being bosched by some huge opposing player, you need to let go of the ball, otherwise it's a foul.
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Step 4:
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Scrums, Rucks and Lineouts
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The iconic image associated with rugby is the scrum. These take place when play has stopped and needs restarting. Each team's ‘forwards' – that's the big ugly lot – try and push the other team off the ball so they can give it to their backs to try and score.
Which is kind of similar to rucks. Essentially, they're just disorganised Scrums that happen when someone has been tackled and the ball is loose on the ground.
And if the ball goes off the side of the pitch, then it's a line-out. Teams line up next to each other and the ball gets chucked straight down the middle. They then jump in an attempt to either grab it, or knock it down to someone else on the team so they can do something clever with it.
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Step 5:
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Enjoy
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And that's it! In essence, it's all pretty simple really. All you need to do now is sit back, relax and enjoy the game…!
