What Is Rugby Union

The home of rugby union on bbc sport online.

What is rugby union. Both rugby union and rugby league have their origins in the style of football played at rugby school in england. In rugby union each side has 15 active players and 7 substitutions are allowed by each side during the course of the day. Touch rugby is widely played as a training activity for rugby union and as a non contact variant in schools and junior clubs and as an informal social sport in leagues or tournaments. There are several ways to score points.

Rugby union widely known simply as rugby is a full contact team sport that originated in england in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football it is based on running with the ball in hand in its most common form a game is played between two teams of 15 players using an oval shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. Rugby union is a contact sport so you can tackle an opponent in order to get the ball as long as you stay within the rules. Over 2 500 rugby clubs exist around the country including those of whom are part of college rugby.

The official site of world rugby the governing body of rugby union with news tournaments fixtures results world rugby rankings statistics video the laws of the game governance and contacts. Rugby football game played with an oval ball by two teams of 15 players in rugby union play or 13 players in rugby league play. The game of rugby was born or that s what the legend says anyway. Rugby union in the united states is the fastest growing sport in the nation rugby union at the youth high school college amateur club professional and international levels is governed by usa rugby there are over 125 000 players registered with usa rugby as of 2016.

There is a referee aided by two touch judges one on each side of the pitch to decide how the rules should be applied during a game. Rugby union historical background. Players aim to score points by touching the ball down past the opposing. Includes the latest news stories results fixtures video and audio.

According to the sport s lore in 1823 william webb ellis a pupil at rugby school defied the conventions of the day that the ball may only be.