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Professional rugby is packed with killer athleticism and high energy. But if you’re a new Ilona Maher fan and find yourself a bit discombobulated watching the sport, you’re not alone. The game is fast-paced and consists of mauls, tackles, and scrums, but we’re here to break down everything you need to know about the rules of rugby.
Rugby debuted as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Olympics but was dropped from the Games after the 1924 Paris Olympics. A variation of the sport, rugby sevens, was then reintroduced at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 and is once again played in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The sport may seem complicated at first watch, but once you get the hang of the lingo, you’ll be a major fan. Ahead, we explain the rules of rugby and commonly used rugby terms.
Rules of Rugby
Rugby sevens is played with seven players on each team, as opposed to traditional rugby which is played with 15 players on the field. Each team consists of 12 players total and is permitted up to five substitutions throughout a match.
The objective of the game is to score more points than the opponent. Each team must advance the ball into their opponent’s area of the field (pitch) and touch it to the ground for a score worth five points (try). After each try, the scoring team is given the opportunity to kick the ball through the posts for an additional two points (conversion). Teams are also only allowed to pass the ball backwards or sideways. Blocking is not permitted, and kicking is the only way to move the ball forward.
Although rare, certain penalties also earn the non-offending team a kick through the posts, worth three points. At the end of regulation time, the team with the most points wins. If both teams are tied, a 5-minute overtime round is played, and the first team to score a point wins.
In a tournament, teams compete in a 14-minute match (two 7-minute halves) with up to three matches per day, according to USA Rugby. At the Olympics, this format is followed for all matches except for the gold-medal match, which is 20 minutes long (two 10-minute halves), with a three-minute halftime break.
In Olympic rugby, there is also a round of pool play, where 12 teams are divided into three pools of four. Teams in each pool play each other once, for a total of three games. Wins are worth three points, draws two points, and losses one point. The top two teams in each pool then advance to the knockout stage with the best two third-place finishers.
Commonly Used Rugby Terms
According to USA Rugby and the NBC Olympics, the following are common rugby terms you should know.
- Try: Similar to a touchdown, a try is the main objective of rugby when a team touches the ball down in the opponent’s in-goal area (tryzone) for a score worth five points. Unlike American football, the ball must touch the ground for points to be awarded.
- Pitch: A pitch is the field of play.
- Tryzone: A tryzone is the in-goal area where tries are scored.
- Conversion: A conversion is a kick worth two additional points offered to the scoring team immediately after a successful try. Conversions must be kicked in line with where a try was scored, and players must kick the conversion using a drop-kick (tossing the ball above the feet and kicking it before it hits the ground).
- Touchline: Like a sideline, a touchline is when the ball moves out of bounds.
- Penalty: A penalty is a kick worth three points awarded to the non-offending team when their opponent commits a penalty such as foul play or being offside.
- Tackle: A tackle occurs when the ball carrier is brought to the ground and held by one or more opponents. The ball carrier must be released immediately following a tackle and play does not stop.
- Ruck: A ruck happens when the ball is on the ground and at least one player from each team closes around it while on their feet. The ball cannot be handled on the ruck and players must move the ball using their feet.
- Maul: A maul is when the ball carrier is held by one or more opponents and one or more of their teammates bind on as well. The ball must be off the ground and a minimum of three players must be involved.
- Sin Bin: A sin bin is when a player is removed from the game and forced to sit out for two minutes for dangerous play.
- Scrum: A scrum is a way of restarting play after a minor infringement such as an accidental forward pass or offside. During a scrum, each team’s forwards bind together and connect with an opposing team’s forwards at the shoulders. The ball is thrown into the middle of the scrum by the non-offending team’s scrum half (the key player who throws the ball into the scrum), and members of both teams use their feet to try and move the ball back to where the scrum half can claim possession.
- Lineout: When the ball goes out of bounds over the touchline, play is restarted with a lineout awarded to the team that did not send the ball out of play. Three players from each team gather in front of the thrower, and two of the players lift the third up in the air. The thrower attempts to complete a pass to their team’s lifted player and the opposing team’s lifted player attempts to disrupt or intercept that pass. Whichever team manages to secure possession then begins an attack.
- Kick-off: A kick-off starts play at the beginning of each half and restarts play after a try or conversion attempt. The kicking team lines up just behind the halfway line, where the kicker drop-kicks the ball toward the opponents a minimum of 10 meters. Once the ball travels 10 meters, it’s considered a live ball.
Additional Key Rules of Rugby
- There are no pads or helmets worn in rugby. Any contact above the shoulders results in serious repercussions.
- The ball must be pitched backwards or sideways to your teammates, though a team can pitch the ball back and forth to each other as many times as they wish.
- Blocking is not permitted.
- When tackled, a player has one second to let go of the ball. They cannot touch the ball again until they’re up from the pile and standing on their feet.
Andi Breitowich is a Chicago-based freelance writer and graduate from Emory University and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in POPSUGAR, Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan, and elsewhere. She is a mass consumer of social media, former collegiate pole vaulter, and cares about holistic wellness and non-stigmatizing reproductive care.