Rugby union

Typical scenario during a rugby union match

New Zealand - South Africa in a line-out situation (2006)

Rugby Union (often just called rugby , union or rugby fifteen ) is a sport belonging to the rugby family. It is the most popular form of rugby in the world. In this ball game , two teams of 15 players each try in 80 minutes to carry the play equipment, the oval rugby ball , past the opponent or to kick it and thereby score points.

regulate

Goal of the game

The gate with the two times Tangen ( goalposts )

The aim of the game is to score more points than the opposing team. There are basically three ways to do this.

You can carry the ball past the opposing defense into the opposing in-goal area and place it there on the ground. Such so-called trial (English try ) counts five points. Then the team that made the attempt has the chance to increase (English conversion ) of two more points. The attempt is made to kick the ball from the floor from any point on the line (parallel to the touchline) on which the attempt was made, between the two posts of the H-shaped goal and over its crossbar.
Likewise, after a serious violation of the rules by the opponent, you can "put a penalty kick on the bars", which earns three points.
A technically difficult dropkick through the bars is also possible from the open game, which is also worth three points.

player

The 15 players of each team are divided into eight forwards ( forwards , jersey numbers 1 to 8) and seven back team players ( backs , jersey numbers 9 to 15). The players with jersey numbers 11 to 14 are often referred to as the "row players" or "three quarters", which are the opposite of the storm. The number 10 therefore has the name “connector” in German, as this player mediates between the storm and the row. The following sketch illustrates the line-up of the team, for example in the event of a crowd :

1 left pillar		2 hookers		3 Right pillar
	4 second row strikers		5 second row strikers
6 Left winger		8 number 8		7 Right winger

		9 scrum half
			10 connectors
				12 First inner three quarters
					13 Second inner three-quarters
11 Short outer three quarters						14 Long outer three quarters
			15 goalkeeper

number	Surname	English name	Group designation	English group name
1	Left pillar	Loosehead Prop	First row	Front Row
2	hooker	Hooker
3	Right pillar	Tighthead Prop
4th	Second row striker	Locks	Second row	Second row
5	Second row striker	Locks	Second row	Second row
6th	Left winger	Blindside flanker	Third row	Backrow
7th	Right winger	Openside flanker
8th	Number 8 / third row middle	Number 8
9	Half of the crowd	Scrum-Half	Half-player	Halfbacks
10	Connection half / connector / the ten	Fly-half / first five-eight	Half-player	Halfbacks
11	Short outer three-quarters / corner three-quarters	Left wing	Three-quarter row	Three-Quarter Line
12	First inner three quarters	Inside Center / second five-eight
13	Second inner three-quarters	Outside Center
14th	Long outer three quarters / corner three quarters	Right wing
15th	Goalkeeper / end	Fullback

Other names are often used for player (groups). For example, players 1 to 5 are referred to as tight five , 6 to 8 as loose forwards , as these are the first strikers to break out of the crowd. Players 11 to 14 are three-quarters (Engl. Three-quarters ), 11, 14 and 15, which are often left behind in enemy attacks due to the risk of kicks, also be baked Three mentioned.

Standard situations

A tackle

Standard situations in rugby union are the arranged scrum , with which the game is restarted after a minor foul , and the alley , with the throw-in of the ball after it was out of bounds. Another quasi-standard situation is tackling (or "holding down"), with which opposing players can be prevented from gaining space. Likewise, the penalty kick is a standard situation , which results from a serious rule violation (e.g. high tackle or similar).

Playing time

A game lasts two halves of 40 minutes, which are interrupted by a ten-minute break. At the end of the playing time, the game continues until the ball rests after touch, reproach, non-playability or points scored.

Competitions

International fifteen-a-side rugby

The Rugby Union World Cup takes place every four years .

year	host	World Champion	Result	2nd place	3rd place	Result	4th Place
year	host	final			Small finale
1987	Australia New Zealand	New Zealand	29: 9	France	Wales	22:21	Australia
1991	England	Australia	12: 6	England	New Zealand	13: 6	Scotland
1995	South Africa	South Africa	15:12 a.m.	New Zealand	France	19:15	England
1999	Wales	Australia	35:12	France	South Africa	22:18	New Zealand
2003	Australia	England	8:17 p.m.	Australia	New Zealand	40: 13	France
2007	France	South Africa	15: 6	England	Argentina	34:10	France
2011	New Zealand	New Zealand	8: 7	France	Australia	21:18	Wales
2015	England	New Zealand	34: 17	Australia	South Africa	24: 13	Argentina
2019	Japan	South Africa	32:12	England	New Zealand	40: 17	Wales
2023	France

The most important tournament in the northern hemisphere is the annual Six Nations (also known in German as the Six Nations Tournament ), which emerged from the Home Nations , the oldest rugby tournament in the world. The opposite of this is The Rugby Championship in the southern hemisphere .

Rugby Union was part of the Olympic Games four times between 1900 and 1924 .

Club and provincial fifteen-a-side rugby

The most important European leagues are the English Premiership , the French Top 14 and the Pro 14 with teams from Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy. There is also the Italian Super 10 . The best teams in Europe play the highest European cup in the European Rugby Champions Cup , and there is also the European Challenge Cup .

In South Africa there is the Currie Cup , in which the best province is chosen. Its counterpart in New Zealand is the Miter 10 Cup . In Australia there is no national championship, but only regional competitions, which are organized by the respective provincial associations, although attempts were made there in 2007 with the Australian Rugby Championship to establish a national provincial championship as well. However, it was only played one season because the attempt failed due to large financial losses. Provinces of these three countries play together with teams from Argentina and Japan in super rugby . Furthermore, there is the Argentine Nacional de Clubes in the southern hemisphere .

In Germany there is a 1st and 2nd rugby league , including regional and association leagues .

popularity

Rugby Union is particularly popular in the British Isles ( England , Scotland , Wales , Northern Ireland and Ireland ) and parts of the British Commonwealth ( New Zealand , Australia , South Africa and Fiji , Samoa and Tonga ), and in Europe also in France , Italy , Georgia , Romania and Spain . On the African continent, rugby union has a certain importance in Zimbabwe , Kenya , Namibia , Botswana , Madagascar , Tunisia and the Ivory Coast as well as in South Africa . In Asia, Japan is the leading country in rugby union, well ahead of South Korea and Kazakhstan . In South America, Argentina is the dominant country, followed by Uruguay , Chile and Brazil . In North America, the United States and Canada have relatively strong teams, while the sport is still underdeveloped in Central America and the Caribbean.

Situation in individual countries

National rugby union teams

literature

German

Ralf Iwan: Rugby - Everything you need to know. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 2019, ISBN 978-3-8403-7647-4 .
Denis Frank: 111 reasons to love rugby - a declaration of love to the greatest sport in the world. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-86265-800-8 .
Ralf Iwan, Mark Sandmann u. Jan Treuholz: Rugby - athletic training. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 2019, ISBN 978-3-8403-7646-7 .
Beka Poupard: Rugby - rules, basics and game idea of the fascinating sport. Copress, Grünwald 2017, ISBN 978-3-7679-1206-9 .
Dieter Kuhn u. Marcus Rosenstein: Rugby - fight in alley and crowd. 3rd edition, Weinmann, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-87892-060-1 .
Günter Berends u. Fabian Saak: Rugby at school. Hofmann, Schorndorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-7780-0221-6 .
Dieter Kuhn u. Peter Ianusevici: Rugby - frame training concept for children and young people in competitive sport. Limpert, Wiebelsheim 2002, ISBN 978-3-7853-1650-4 .
Claus-Peter Bach: Rugby - The official rules. Falken, Munich 1997, ISBN 978-3-8068-1216-9 .
Claus-Peter Bach: Rugby made understandable. Copress, Munich 1992, ISBN 978-3-7679-0388-3 .

English (selection)

Tony Collins: The Oval World - A Global History of Rugby , 2nd ed., Bloomsbury, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-4088-3157-1 .
Tony Williams et al. John McKittrick: Rugby Skills, Tactics and Rules , 4th ed., Bloomsbury, London 2015, ISBN 978-1-4729-1372-2 .
Cick Cain et al. Greg Growden: Rugby Union for Dummies , 3rd ed., Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2011, ISBN 978-1-119-99092-5 .
Huw Richards: A Game for Hooligans - The History of Rugby Union , Mainstream, Edinburgh 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-255-5 .

Web links

Commons : Rugby Union - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

International Rugby Board
FIRA Association Européenne de Rugby
German Rugby Association
German rugby youth
Swiss Rugby Association
Austrian Rugby Association
History of rugby (English)
The rules of rugby sport (official, international rules in German)
Rugby for dummies - the one-time rugby! ( Eurosport , accessed September 22, 2015)