Rugby Union Gameplay - Typical Course of Play

Typical Course of Play

A typical passage of rugby union takes the following form. One team will initially gain possession of the ball, either from the kick-off, a restart kick or a set piece (scrum and line-out, see below). Although the team in possession may choose to advance by kicking the ball forward, from the hand, they will usually seek to progress toward the opposition by running forward while carrying the ball. The ball may be thrown from one player to another (passing) but must not be thrown forward, that is towards the opposition dead-ball line. Any teammate ahead of the ball-carrier is offside and must not interfere with play, which means that American football style blocking is forbidden. The team not in possession attempts to stop the ball-carrier by grabbing and bringing them to ground (a tackle). A tackled player, once having been brought to ground, must immediately pass or release the ball, allowing the two teams to contest possession of the loose ball; if the attacking player is tackled but the tackler releases the ball carrier the ball carrier may get up and continue the play. Play does not stop unless there is an infringement of the Laws, the ball/ball-carrier leaves the field of play, or the attacking team scores points by either touching the ball over the goal-line (a try) or drop-kicking the ball over the crossbar. If the ball or ball-carrier goes into touch (out of the field of play), the game restarts with a line-out. If the game stops due to an infringement, play restarts with either a scrum, free kick or penalty kick (depending on the nature of the infringement) to the non-infringing team.