Glossary of Rugby Union Terms - P

P

Passing

A pass is to transfer a ball to a teammate by throwing it. Passes in rugby must not travel forwards. There are different varieties of pass, including the flat, direct spin pass; the short, close-quarters pop pass; and the floated pass - a long pass which an advancing player can run onto at pace.

Penalty

Penalties are awarded for serious infringements like dangerous play, offside and handling the ball on the ground in a ruck. Penalties are signalled by the referee with a straight arm raised in the air. Players can also receive red and yellow cards, as in Association football.

The offending team must retire 10 metres (or to their goal line if closer) for both penalties and free kicks. A team can either kick for goal, tap and run the ball, take a scrum or kick directly into touch with the resulting line-out awarded to them.

Penalty kick

If a side commits a penalty infringement the opposition can take the option of a place kick at goal from where the infringement occurred (or, if the offence occurred when a player was in the process of kicking the ball, the non-offending team can opt to take the kick from where the ball landed which may be more advantageous). This is called a penalty kick. If successful, it is worth three points.

penalty try

A penalty try awarded if the referee believes a team illegally prevented a try from probably being scored. Penalty tries are always awarded under the posts regardless of where the offence took place. (This gives the non-offending team the opportunity for the easiest possible conversion kick meaning that a penalty try is generally a certain 7 points for the non-offending team.) Generally a penalty try is awarded when the try-preventing offence cannot easily attributed to a single individual, such as when a team repeatedly deliberately collapses a scrum near its own tryline. When the prevention of the try is due to an individual, a yellow card is a more common punishment.

Phase

A phase is the time a ball is in play between breakdowns. For example, first phase would be winning the ball at the lineout and passing to a centre who is tackled. Second phase would be winning the ball back from the ensuing breakdown and attacking again.

Place kick

The place kick is a kicking style commonly used when kicking for goal. It typically involves placing the ball on the ground. To keep the ball in position, a mound of sand or plastic tee is sometimes used.

Professional foul

A professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play, usually to prevent an opponent scoring.

Prop

They are the players wearing shirts number 1 & 3. The role of both the props is to support the hooker in the scrum and to provide support for the jumpers in the line-out. The props provide the main power in the push forward in the scrum. For this reason they need to be exceptionally big and strong.