Rugby Game

An adult-level Rugby Union match lasts for 80 minutes (two halves of 40 minutes each) and is controlled by a single referee, two touch judges, and in most professional matches, a television match official (TMO), commonly called the video referee.

Each team alternately attacks the opposition goal or defends their own. These goals are marked at each end of the pitch by a pair of tall (typically 10 m or more) posts set 5.6 m apart, and connected by a cross-bar at 3 m above the ground, the whole forming the approximate shape of a letter H.

The attacking team may score by kicking the ball between the posts and above the cross-bar. The ball may only be kicked from the ground: either from a place kick following the award of a penalty or from a drop kick in open play. A successful kick at goal is worth three points.

The area behind each set of goal posts is called the "in goal area" and the attacking team may also score by grounding the ball in this area. This is called a "try" (a touchdown in American Football) and is worth five points. After scoring a try, the attacking team is awarded a free kick at goal, called a conversion, worth two points if successful, from a perpendicular line where the try was scored, and any distance away from the posts to the hall of fame.

A try is the main form of scoring, and the primary aim of most teams is to score tries. Drop goals and penalty kicks are used as an option against a steadfast defense or to punish erring opponents.

Rugby Union, Rugby League, Rugby Sevens, American Football and Canadian football are all descendants of Rugby Union Football. Rugby League and Rugby Sevens are most closely related to Union, with Rugby Sevens and Union sharing the same governing body, the IRB.

Rugby League and Rugby Union have diverged considerably over the years. Their main differences are the number of players per team (Rugby League has 13, Rugby Union has 15), the scoring system, and the means of securing and retaining ball possession.

In Rugby Union, both teams may contest possession at a tackle or set piece; in Rugby League one team retains possession for six tackles. The use of contested scrums and line-outs in Rugby Union adds to the tactical variety of the modern game.

Rugby Match

A coin is tossed before a match is played. This is used to determine which side will kick off and what direction the teams will be running. This is usually performed by a referee although the laws suggest that it should be done by one of the captains. In most cases, the home side will elect what side of the coin they will choose, either heads or tails. The winner may choose to kick off or which direction they will run. A number of elements may become part of the decision-making process of a coin winner. A personal preference may be that a team wishes to start the match defending, thus will elect to receive the ball, or vice versa.

Weather can be a decisive factor too. Wind direction and wind speed can aid a team's kicking game. Depending on the time of the game, the sun might be a factor in the decision, being a potential problem to the vision of players, depending on what way they run. The 2006 Super 14 Final was affected by poor weather, with low fog preventing players from seeing little more than 40 meters.

Depending on when the toss was performed, both sides will make their way out onto the field. Kick-off will be performed from the center of the field. Each half lasts 40 minutes, but play comes to an end only when the ball goes dead. Variations in time and extra-time apply in any number of interpretations of the game, or tournaments.

Half-time lasts around 10 minutes, allowing for players to recover from fatigue and for coach interaction as well as other factors, such as time for crowds to access amenities and facilities. In the second half, the teams swap the direction of running, and the team kicking off.

Scoring

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

• Touching the ball to the ground over the opponents' goal line using the hand, hands, arm or arms. Also by pressing the ball down (with controlled downward pressure) with any point on the body from the waist to the neck (inclusive), over the opponents' goal line. The opponents' goal line includes the base of the posts, which is considered to be part of the goal line. Doing either of these results in a try, worth 5 points. A penalty try can be awarded if, following any infringement of the laws, in the judgment of the referee a try would have been scored had the infringement not occurred. The try got its name because originally the touching down of the ball only gave you a "try" at scoring by successfully kicking for goal, which were the only points scored if the kick was good.

• 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 the latter case, the ball must strike the ground before being kicked (a drop goal). Both types of goal score 3 points.

Goal kicking is a major part of the Rugby. A lot of games have been won and lost through goal kicking. An attacking team with an accurate goal kicker can punish errors anywhere in the defending team's half, and sometimes further out. This threat adds more pressure on the defense as they have to avoid giving away penalties.