What is Rugby?

This section is a compilation composed of articles from Wikipedia which discusses Rugby Union, of which the CSULB Rugby team plays.

Method of play

As noted above, rugby union differs from association football in that the hands can be employed to move the ball. However, a player can only pass the ball backwards to another player or kick it forward. This means that the majority of progress made by an attacking team occurs through a leap frog cycle of passing the ball backwards, running to make ground, being tackled and repeating this process. Each of these cycles (greatly simplified) is called a phase of play.

The aim of rugby is to score more points than the opposition. Teams score in several ways:

Scoring

• Touching the ball down with downward pressure from any point on the body from the waist to the neck on or over the opponents' goal line (a try , worth 5 points).
• After scoring a try, the scoring team attempts a conversion : a player takes a kick at goal in line with where the touch-down occurred. Scoring the goal earns 2 points.
• Kicking the ball above the crossbar and between the uprights of a large 'H'-shaped set of posts. This may either occur from a penalty kick or kicked from the hand during play. In this case, ball must strike the ground before being kicked (a drop goal ). Both types of goal score 3 points.

Set-pieces

Various set-pieces occur in play, principally:

Restart kicks

At the start of each half, one side kicks off . One side, determined following the toss of a coin, takes a drop kick from the middle of the centre line to start the first half. The ball must travel at least 10 metres into the opposition half. The other team kicks off the second half. The kicking side frequently kick the ball high and aims to drop it just over the 10 metre minimum, which is marked by a dashed line across the pitch. This tactic gives their players time to chase the lobbed ball and hope to catch it before the defenders can do so. Alternatively the kick may be a long kick deep into opposition territory, sacrificing the chance to regain possession for territorial gain.

Similarly, there is also a 22 metre drop-out. This is awarded if the attacking side is responsible for sending the ball into in-goal, but instead of their player grounding the ball and scoring a try it is first grounded by a defender. If the ball is kicked into in-goal by the attackers and instead of being grounded there by either side it continues, under its own steam, through the in-goal area and goes dead by going out of play then the defenders have the option of choosing either a 22 drop out or a scrum at the place where the attackers kicked the ball. The 22 metre drop out is taken at any point along (or behind) the 22 metre line.

Note: in rugby union, unlike association football (soccer), the lines bordering the field of play are themselves regarded as out of play. Thus, a player standing on but not over the touch line is regarded to be "in touch".

Tackle

A player may tackle an opposing player who has the ball by holding him while bringing him to ground. If a ball carrier is held by an opposition player but still has forward momentum he may continue to slide over the goal-line and score a try. One knee touching the ground, or the ball touching the ground, is sufficient for a ball carrier to be deemed to be grounded. A tackled player must release the ball, and the tackler must release him and move away, allowing the ball to become available, or for a ruck to form. If the ball-carrier is held but is not on the ground, then it is not a tackle and a maul may form.

Players will often deliberately go to ground rather than allow a maul to form, to take advantage of the rules governing rucks and mauls. Once a player has gone to the ground and at least two others players are rucking (usually by locking shoulders and pushing each other, in an attempt to secure positioning), a ruck is formed. No player can advance past the back foot of the members of their team unless they are joining the ruck. If a player does so and interferes with the play, for example by touching the ball, the result would be an offside call. The ball is recovered from a ruck when a rucking player is able to get a hold of a ball and either make a run or pass the ball out of the ruck.

In a maul situation, the team not in possession is allowed to actively compete for the ball by trying to wrestle it from the carrier. Therefore, it is easier to retain possession of the ball in a ruck (in which the opposition cannot touch the ball) than in a maul, and a ruck will often allow a team to recover the ball quickly and move it on so as to launch another attack before the defenders have had time to re-organise.

There are a number of laws governing how to tackle, the most notable of which are that the tackler cannot tackle above the shoulder (the neck and head are out of bounds), and the tackler has to attempt to wrap his arms around the player being tackled to complete the tackle. It is illegal to trip a player using feet or legs, but hands may be used (this being referred to as a tap-tackle or ankle-tap).

Ruck

A ruck is a contest for possession. Once a tackle has grounded a player, he must release the ball and try to move out of the way, as must the tackler. The first player(s) arriving from either side may pick up the ball; however as soon as two players, one from each side, bind together — usually by locking shoulders as they face each other — with the ball at their feet they have formed a ruck, as more players arrive they may join the ruck, but must do so from their own side. In a ruck no player may use his hands to win the ball, instead each side attempts to push the other side back, and players use their feet to hook the ball backwards towards their own side — an action known as "rucking the ball" where it will be picked up by the scrum-half who waits behind the ruck. Players in a ruck may not deliberately go to ground themselves. If the ball becomes trapped in a ruck, the referee awards a scrum to the side going forward.

Most infringements occur in rucks. Players may seek to slow down the speed of the recycling of the opposition's ball or speed up their own by using their hands illegally, or by lying over the ball, or going to ground deliberately. Such infringements result in penalties.

If the attacking team loses possession by legal means, either because of the attacking player dropping the ball or a defending player stealing it, then the ball is said to have been "turned over". After a turn over play carries on as before, except that the attacker/defender roles of the two teams are switched.

Maul

A maul is formed if the ball carrier is held up after a tackle and one player from each side binds onto him and tries either to rip the ball away or push him forwards. Once a maul has formed other players may join in but, as in a ruck, they must do so from their own side. If the maul stops moving forward, then the referee awards a scrum to the side not in possession when the maul began. The tactic of the rolling maul occurs when mauls are set up, and the ball is passed backwards through the players hands to one at the rear, who rolls off the side to create a new maul. This tactic can be extremely effective in gaining ground and takes great skill and technique both do properly and to try to prevent. It's a tactic most commonly used when the attacking side is inside their opponents 22. It is illegal, on safety grounds, to pull down a maul, so that players fall to the ground. Referees are aware that many sides will try to stop a maul by deliberately collapsing it and will watch carefully for this illegal tactic.

Scrum

Referees generally call scrums for knock-ons, where a player drops the ball forwards, or for other accidental misdemeanours. If a penalty is awarded for a more serious offence, the team to which it is awarded may elect to have a scrum rather than take a penalty kick. This is usually called for if the attacking team is close to the opposition's goal-line, and want to wrap up all of the defending forwards in one place to give the backs more space — or if they believe they can force the scrum over the goal-line and score a "pushover" try .

Before a scrum is formed the eight forwards from each team bind together in three rows (three players in the front row, two in the second row, and the remaining players behind them). The front row is composed of the two prop forwards (tighthead and loosehead) supporting the hooker; the second row forwards are more often referred to as locks; and the back row is made up of the two flankers (sometimes wing forwards) with the number 8 (named after the jersey number of the starter at that position) between them.

The front row are usually the stockiest members of the scrum. Hookers are normally smaller than props, though similar in build. Props and locks both need to be strong, but the positions differ in their main criteria for selection. Since props are more directly involved in wrestling for position and channelling the drive forward, strength and weight are of prime importance for them. Strength is also important for locks, since they also push; however, height is more important for them than it is for front-row players. Locks are virtually always the tallest players on the team; they are used as the primary contestants for possession in another phase of the game, the line-out. Flankers and the number 8 do less of the pushing in the scrum, and need more speed, because their task is to break quickly and cover the opposing half-backs if the opponents win the scrum.

The two packs of forwards approach to within a short distance of each other and crouch. On a signal from the referee the front rows engage with each other so that their heads are interlocked with those of the other side's front row. The referee often signals this with a succession of verbal commands, "down" (the front row bends down) and "engage" (the two sides interlock heads). The scrum half from the team that did not infringe then throws the ball into the tunnel thus formed, and the hookers (and sometimes the props) compete for possession by trying to hook the ball backwards with their feet, while the entire pack tries to push the opposing pack backwards. The side that wins possession usually transfers the ball to the back of the scrum, where it is picked up either by the number 8, or by the scrum half, who will either pass it out to the fly-half and the other backs, or kick ahead over the heads of the scrum, then running forward to put his or her forwards onside. On other occasions the forwards will hold the ball in the scrum and try to push the opposition backwards.

It is the scrum, and also the line-out, that gives rise to the simplified explanation of rugby union: "The forwards are there to get the ball back, and the backs are there to get the ball forward".

A team with a dominant scrum can tire the opposition's forwards, and ensure any ball the opposition get is of poor quality, whilst ensuring good ball for their own team.

Scrums are the most dangerous phase in rugby, since a collapse can lead to the hooker breaking his neck. For this reason, only trained players may play in the front row. If a team is without sufficient specialist props, for example due to injury or sin-binning, all scrums may be "uncontested scrums". In this situation, the packs engage, but do not push, and the team that still puts the ball into the scrum is allowed to win it without effort.

Line-out

When the ball goes into touch the referee calls a line-out . The forwards of each team line up a metre apart between 5m and 15m from the touchline. If the ball went out from a penalty, the side who gained the penalty throws the ball in, if not the other team does so. Both sides compete for the ball, and some players may lift their team mates.

Normally the line-out consist of seven forwards from each side, with the remaining forward, normally the hooker, throwing the ball in. However, the team whose line-out it is decides the maximum number from each team which will be in the line-out, there must be a minimum of two players from each side, and a maximum of fourteen (there are fifteen players per team and one must throw the ball in). The opposition must not have more players in the line-out than the team throwing in. The line-out players from each team line up in two separate rows across the pitch between five and fifteen meters in from where the ball went to touch. There must a one meter gap between the two rows of opposing forwards. The centre of this gap follows the "line of touch" which is an imaginary line extending the full width of the pitch, at right angles to the touch-line at the point where the line-out is formed. The hooker must then throw the ball straight, directly in-between the teams as high and as far as he likes. Members of the line-out are allowed to jump up and catch the ball or support their team-mates who have jumped to do so. Technically, players may not lift team-mates, but this regulation is honoured more in the breach than the observance.

A player in the line-out will either attempt to catch the ball or knock it down to a player of his own side, normally the scrum half, who is standing on his own side of the line-out in a position just near the line of players ready to receive such a ball. If the line-out player catches the ball he may hang onto it and allow a maul to form, or pass it to the scrum half. All of the other players, those not in the line-out and not acting as the scrum half must stay ten meters back from the line-out until it is over. The line-out is over when either the ball is tapped or passed out of the line, or a player carrying it moves out of the line-out, or any maul which forms has moved completely over the line of touch.

A Line-out code will usually be shouted by the throwing team prior to the throw to ensure that all players on that team know what it is intended to do, who the ball will be thrown to, what that player will do with it, and what follow up ploy they intend to try.

Players must not interfere with the opposition while the line-out takes place, they may not tackle a player who is in the air, nor may they close the gap nor enter the gap unless in the act of jumping for the ball. The ball must travel a minimum of five meters before being played. The ball may also be thrown completely over the heads of all players in the line-out and over the fifteen meter limit. A back may run up from his position ten meters behind the line-out to take a ball which is expected to be thrown beyond the fifteen meter limit. However if a player does so and the ball doesn't go over the fifteen meters then that player is penalised. The throw must be continuous and no feigning or dummy throwing action is permitted.

The non-throwing side may jump to compete for the ball, or may elect not to do so but to drive onto the catcher as soon as he returns to the ground, to drive play back. This tactic is commonly used when the attackers have a line-out close to the defenders goal-line.