Rugby |OT| The one where everyone hates England

I have no idea how many people on here care about rugby, but for those of us who do, here's a thread to discuss it in. For our American friends, who are used to playing the world's second most interesting contact sport, there's a brief outline of the rules below. Please note, I am talking here about Rugby Union, the more popular variant. Rugby League has its own entirely different set of rules. Scotland for Six Nations champions!

Some sites of interest:
International:
ESPN's rugby site: ESPN Scrum
General Rugby blog / news site Rugby Dump

Domestic sites for AU / Super Rugby:
Foxsports AU
Rugby Heaven

How do you play rugby?

At its core, rugby is similar to American Football. You have an oval shaped ball. You have a pitch. You have to get the ball to the other end. However, there are a few key differences.

1) You can't throw the ball forward.
2) The game is 2 halves of 40 minutes each, and play only stops when the ball goes out or an offence is committed.
3) The game doesn't stop when someone is tackled. Instead, a ruck forms, where both sides try to make sure they get the ball. There are about a million rules about this, which I won't even try and explain here.
4) Due to the fact that the ball is contested in the tackle, rugby has a lot more kicking in order to get good field position.

The scoring system for Rugby Union is as follows:

5 points for a try (when you get the ball to the other teams in goal area and touch it down.)
2 points for a conversion (a kick at goal taken after a try is scored, from in line with where the ball was grounded.)
3 points for a penalty (a kick taken at goal after the other team has committed an offence.
3 points for a drop goal (a kick taken at goal out of hand during open play).

A rugby pitch looks a bit like this:


What are the positions?

Rugby has 15 players per side. The players on a team are broken down into two separate groups, the pack/forwards and the backs. Generally speaking, the pack consists of larger, more physical players who are equivalent to defensive lineman in American football. The backs are usually the faster, more maneuverable players comparable to the backfield and receivers in American football. Jersey numbers 1-8 represent pack players, and 9-15 are the backs. The diagram below illustrates the breakdown of the fifteen separate positions on the field of play:


Set pieces and offences

There are 3 set pieces you need to be aware of:

1) A scrum: This is generally given for unintentional offences (e.g. dropping the ball forward). This is where both packs push against each other, and the ball is fed into the middle for them to try and win by hooking it back with their feet. For a demonstration from a EA sports game from 10 years ago, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFXHRb-kHt8

2) A penalty: These are generally given for deliberate offences.The team who is awarded the penalty have the choice to kick at goal, run with the ball, have the put in to a scrum, or kick the ball out for a line out.

3 )A line out: These happen when the ball goes off the side of the pitch. One of the forwards throws the ball in, and both sets of forwards try to catch it. The throw goes against the side who knocked the ball out, i.e. if team A kicked it out, team B throws in (unless it was kicked out from a penalty, in which case team A throws in). For another incredible simulation of this, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkgINT70gCI

And those are the basics (unless I've missed anything) :)

Personally, I'm a long time Saracens/Scotland fan. It would be great to see anyone interested in rugby post in here! It's a fun game, and fairly easy to learn (mostly anyway)!