RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION

governing body of Rugby Union football (amateur rugby) in England, formed in 1871 to draw up rules for the game first played at Rugby School in 1823. Similar unions were organized during the next few years in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, France, Canada, South Africa, and the U.S. Among the Union's chief activities are conferences, organizing international matches, and educating and training players and officials. Publications include handbooks and guides for coaches. Headquarters are at Twickenham, Middlesex. Play of the game Field of play and equipment Figure 1: Rugby playing field, showing divisions and goals. Based on International Board rules, rugby is played on a rectangular field not more than 75.5 yards (69 metres) wide; the maximum distance between the goal lines is 110 yards (100 metres) and beyond each goal line the end zone, called in goal, extends not more than 24.07 yards (22 metres). At the centre of the goal lines are two goalposts 18 feet six inches (5.6 metres) apart with a crossbar 10 feet (three metres) above the ground. (See Figure 1.) The inflated ball is oval, less pointed than the U.S. and Canadian football. It is 11 to 11.8 inches (280 to 300 millimetres) long, 22.9 to 24.4 inches (580 to 620 millimetres) in circumference, and weighs 14.5 to 15.5 ounces (400 to 440 grams). The outside casing of the ball is usually of leather or plastic. The players wear jerseys, shorts, stockings, and studded (cleated) boots. Rigid protective equipment is not allowed. Principles of play Rugby Union The game is controlled by a referee assisted by two touch judges, and there are normally two periods of 40 minutes each. From the general free-for-all with hacking (kicking in the shins) and tripping that existed in the early days, the game was gradually refined until it reached its present state. When the first match between England and Scotland was played in 1871, there were 20 men on each team, and it was not agreed to reduce the number to 15 until 1877. Scotland won the 1871 game, scoring the only goal of the match. Scotland and England each achieved a try, but it was not possible to win a match in any other way than by scoring goals. A try, touching the ball down in the goal area behind the opponents' goal line, scored no points but allowed the player's team an unimpeded place kick at goal from a point on the field not farther from the touchline than the try had been scored. In 187576 it was agreed that if the number of goals (field goals) kicked by each side was the same or if no goal was kicked, the result would be decided by the number of tries achieved. Thus was the try (in U.S. and Canadian football, a touchdown), the scoring of which was to become the chief aim of the game, for the first time brought into the reckoning. A further refinement was introduced during the 188687 season with the adoption of the Cheltenham College rating, which had been in force at that college for some 20 years, making three tries equal to one goal. A number of changes to the scoring system were made over the next several years, but from 1905 the modern scoring values were essentially established, a try being worth three points, its subsequent conversion into a goal providing an additional two points. Dropped goals, then worth four points, in 1948 were devalued to three. In 1971 a try was revalued at four points and in 1992 at five. A dropped goal is scored by a drop kick from the fieldi.e., when a player, in play, lets the ball fall from his hands and kicks it at the first rebound as it rises so that it goes between the goal posts and above the crossbar. Three points may be scored by a successful penalty kick at goal awarded for an infringement of the laws by the opposition. Figure 2: (Left) Players in position for a scrummage. (Right) Positions of players for a line-out. The two basic set pieces, or formations, of the game are the scrum and the line-out (see Figure 2). A scrum is formed by the eight forwards of each side bending forward, binding one another with their arms, and pushing against the opposing eight forwards similarly bound in three ranks or rows. The ball is put into the tunnel between the two front rows, whose members use their feet to try to procure the ball for their team. A line-out is the method of bringing the ball back into play after it has gone out over the touchline (out-of-bounds). To form a line-out, at least two forwards of each team line up in single files in a line perpendicular to the spot where the ball crossed the touchline. A gap or space is left between the two lines of players, and the ball is thrown in above this gap so that the forwards of both teams may try to grab it or otherwise obtain possession of it for their team. While the forwards are forming a scrum or a line-out, the other players, normally divided into two halfbacks, four three-quarters (the left- and right-centre backs and left- and right-wing backs), and a fullback, take up position several yards apart in various formations between their forwards and their own goal line. For a line-out the three-quarters stay at least 10 yards back, the idea being that by passing or running or kicking the ball in the open field they may succeed in scoring a try or a dropped goal. Besides the scrum and the line-out there is also the loose maul or ruck. This occurs when, in the open field, the progress of the ball is temporarily checkedby a player dropping it, falling over while carrying it, or being held by an opponent while in possession of it, for instanceand two or more players gather round and struggle to procure the ball for their team. The maul or ruck is an especially profitable source of possession because the opposing defense is unlikely to be as strictly aligned as it is for a scrum or a line-out. Blocking, an integral part of U.S. and Canadian football, is not allowed. The game settled into the pattern of big forwards struggling for the ball so that their faster and more agile backs could pass it and run with it in the hope of scoring goals. But as players increased in pace through improved fitness, without a corresponding increase in the size of the field, the open spaces became fewer, defenses became more effective, and attacking moves were all too easily stifled. Play began to stagnate and to become dull, both for the player and for the spectator. In order to reverse this trend and to encourage the return of flowing movement to the game, the International Board made several important changes in the laws in 1964. It was ruled that while a line-out (putting the ball back in play after it had gone out-of-bounds) was taking place, each set of three-quarters must remain at least 10 yards nearer their own goal line than the point of the line-out, thus leaving a clear no-man's-land in which attacks could be developed; that backs must not advance beyond the hindmost foot of scrums until the ball was out; that forwards must not advance from a scrum until the ball was out; and that the team throwing in the ball at a line-out had the right to determine the shortness of the line-out, thus preventing opponents from straggling across the field in a defensive screen. Another change, in 1970, made it illegal for a player to kick the ball directly over the touchline or sideline except from within 25 yards (now 22 metres) of his own goal line; this latter move also was outlawed in 1992. One of the charms of the Rugby Union game is the infinite variety of its tactics. In a basic orthodox situation, like a scrum on the right-hand side of the field, the ball may simply be passed rapidly by hand through the halfbacks and the centre three-quarters to the left-wing three-quarter, each man running a few yards before parting with the ball. The wing may then be able to run past his immediate opponent by swerving or sidestepping or simply by using strength and speed; a try will probably be scored. But the attacking team may already have tried an orthodox move of this kind and may have discovered that the opposition is especially strong defensively and also possesses exceptional speed. In this case, the attacking team must depart from the orthodox and try to discover a chink in their opponents' armour elsewhere.