New to the game? Tired of nodding along when someone screams "knock-on!" at the TV? This is your complete guide to 15-a-side rugby union, the lightning-fast sevens game, and where it all began — in plain English.
Carry the ball over the opposition's try line and press it down for a try (5 points). Then take a kick at goal for 2 more.
You can only pass backwards or sideways. You can kick the ball forward, but your team-mates must stay behind the kicker until put onside.
Defenders can stop the ball carrier by tackling below the shoulders. Once tackled, the ball must be released straight away.
At every contest for the ball there's an invisible line you can't be in front of. Get it wrong and it's a penalty.
Only the captain is supposed to question the referee. Rugby's respect culture is a huge part of what makes it special.
Rugby grew out of the rough village football games played across Britain for centuries. What turned it into a sport with rules, clubs and a World Cup took about 150 years.
Ancient ball games existed across the world, but the direct ancestor of rugby was "folk" or "mob" football in medieval England — huge, chaotic games between neighbouring villages with almost no rules, where carrying and kicking the ball were both allowed.
The story goes that a pupil at Rugby School, William Webb Ellis, "with a fine disregard for the rules of football, took the ball in his arms and ran with it." It was only written down decades later and historians doubt it happened exactly that way — but Ellis was a real pupil, and Rugby School really is where the game got its name.
Pupils at Rugby School wrote down the first set of rules for their version of football, allowing the ball to be carried and players to be tackled. Other schools and clubs began to adopt and adapt them.
When the Football Association was formed in London, a bitter argument over "hacking" (kicking opponents' shins) and carrying the ball split the game. Rugby-style clubs walked away, and football and rugby became two different sports.
The Rugby Football Union was founded in London in January 1871. Just two months later, on 27 March, Scotland beat England at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh in the very first rugby international. Each side had 20 players.
A Melrose butcher named Ned Haig came up with seven-a-side rugby to raise money for his local club, and the first Melrose Sevens was played. The same year, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland played the first international championship — the ancestor of today's Six Nations.
The International Rugby Football Board was formed to settle disputes over the laws — the great-grandfather of today's governing body, World Rugby.
A touring British Isles team visited South Africa and played the country's very first Tests, winning them all. The green and gold would soon become one of the most feared jerseys in the sport — the Springbok nickname itself dates from the 1906 tour of Britain.
Northern English clubs wanted to pay players for time missed from work. The RFU refused, and on 29 August 1895 twenty-two clubs met at the George Hotel in Huddersfield and broke away. They formed what became rugby league, a separate 13-a-side game. Rugby union stayed strictly amateur for another century.
Rugby union appeared at four early Olympic Games. It then vanished from the programme for 92 years before returning in a new form (see 2016).
Co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia, the first World Cup was won by the All Blacks. The tournament turned rugby into a global spectacle.
South Africa hosted the World Cup for the first time after apartheid and won it at Ellis Park, with Nelson Mandela presenting the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar. Months later, in August 1995, rugby union officially became a professional sport.
Rugby sevens made its Olympic debut in Rio. Fiji won the men's gold — their first Olympic medal of any kind — and Australia won the women's title.
South Africa won the World Cup in 1995, 2007, 2019 and 2023 — four titles, more than any other nation (New Zealand have three).
World Rugby keeps trialling changes to make the game safer and more entertaining. One of them, the 50:22 kick — the law that gives this podcast its name — was trialled in 2020 and is now part of the Laws (more below).
Rugby union — the "15s" game — is played between two teams of fifteen. The aim is simple: score more points than the other team in 80 minutes.
Up to 100 m long and 70 m wide between the touchlines, plus an in-goal area behind each try line (up to 22 m deep). The posts are H-shaped, with the crossbar 3 m off the ground and the uprights 5.6 m apart.
An oval ball roughly 28–30 cm long (a size 5). The oval shape makes it bounce unpredictably — and easier to tuck under your arm.
Two halves of 40 minutes, with a half-time of up to 15 minutes. The clock only stops for things like injuries and TMO reviews. When time is up, play carries on until the ball next goes dead.
15 players on the field: eight forwards and seven backs. Professional and international teams name a 23-player match-day squad, with eight replacements on the bench.
The game starts with a kick from the halfway line, which must travel at least 10 m. After a team scores, the team that conceded restarts with a kick-off.
Players wear numbers 1–15. The numbers 1–8 are the forwards (the "pack"), who win and contest the ball. The numbers 9–15 are the backs, who use the ball to create and finish attacks. Replacements wear 16–23.
| The forwards (1–8) | What they do | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loosehead prop | Scrummaging power. Lifts and supports jumpers in the lineout, and carries and tackles in open play. |
| 2 | Hooker | Throws the ball into lineouts and "hooks" the ball back in scrums. Also carries and tackles like an extra loose forward. |
| 3 | Tighthead prop | The anchor of the scrum — usually considered the hardest position to play. |
| 4 5 | Locks | The tallest players. They jump for the ball in lineouts and form the engine room of the scrum. |
| 6 | Blindside flanker | A big ball-carrier and defender, often a lineout option as well. |
| 7 | Openside flanker | The ball-hunter. Races to the breakdown to steal possession — the "jackal". |
| 8 | Number eight | Controls the ball at the back of the scrum and is often the team's most powerful runner. |
| The backs (9–15) | What they do | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Scrum-half | The link between forwards and backs. Feeds the scrum and passes the ball from rucks, mauls and scrums. |
| 10 | Fly-half | The team's playmaker: makes the key decisions, directs the attack and usually does the kicking. |
| 12 | Inside centre | A second playmaker who also has to be strong enough to run through and stop big runners. |
| 13 | Outside centre | Creates space for the wings and organises the defence in midfield. |
| 11 14 | Left & right wing | The finishers. Quick, elusive and expected to score tries. Also defend the edges and chase kicks. |
| 15 | Full-back | The last line of defence. Catches high kicks, counter-attacks and joins the backline as an extra runner. |
Ground the ball with downward pressure — using your hands, arms or upper body — in the opposition's in-goal area. A try is the most valuable score because it also earns the right to a conversion.
After a try, the scoring team kicks at goal from any point in line with where the ball was grounded, so wide tries make for harder kicks. The kick can be a place kick (off a tee) or a drop kick, and the ball must go over the crossbar and between the posts. The kicker has a strict time limit.
A penalty goal is a kick at goal awarded after an opposition offence. A drop goal is scored in open play by dropping the ball, letting it bounce and kicking it through the posts as it rises. Both are worth 3.
If a team would probably have scored but for foul play by the defenders (a collapsed scrum near the line is the classic example), the referee awards 7 points automatically — no kick needed.
In competitions like the URC, Rugby Championship and World Cup pools, a win is worth 4 points and a draw 2. There are also bonus points: one for scoring four or more tries, and one for losing by seven points or fewer. That's why teams keep attacking even when they're winning comfortably — and why you'll hear commentators talk about "the bonus point".
Rugby's rulebook is called the Laws of the Game (not "rules"), and it's long. Here are the ones you need to follow a match. Tap any heading to open it.
The ball can only be passed backwards or sideways, never forwards. To gain ground you either run with it, or kick it.
Deliberately knocking the ball on or throwing a forward pass to stop an attack is a penalty offence and can lead to a yellow card.
A tackle happens when the ball carrier is held by an opponent and brought to the ground (a knee, their backside or their body touches the turf). Once a player is tackled:
A ruck forms straight after a tackle, when the ball is on the ground and at least one player from each team is on their feet and in contact over the ball. From that moment, no one may use their hands to pick it up.
A maul forms when the ball carrier is held by one or more opponents and at least one of their team-mates is bound on — so at least three players, all on their feet. Unlike a ruck, the ball stays off the ground and can be handled.
A scrum is a way of restarting play after a minor infringement — a knock-on, a forward pass, or when the ball is trapped in a maul or ruck. The eight forwards from each team bind together in three rows — the front row (props and hooker), the second row (locks) and the back row (flankers and number eight) — and push against each other.
When the ball or the player carrying it goes into touch (over the touchline), play restarts with a lineout. The two teams form parallel lines, and the hooker throws the ball in straight down the gap between them.
Once the ball is caught, teams often set up a rolling maul and drive towards the try line.
Kicking is a huge part of modern rugby. Common kicks include the box kick (scrum-half kicks high over the ruck), the up-and-under (a towering kick to contest in the air), the grubber (along the ground) and the cross-field kick to the wing.
If a team kicks the ball from inside their own half and it bounces in the field of play before going into touch inside the opposition's 22, the kicking team gets the throw-in at the lineout. It rewards clever kicking and forces defenders to keep players back, which opens up space. It was trialled in 2020 and is now part of the Laws.
When a kick goes into the in-goal and the defending team grounds it or it goes dead, play restarts with a drop-out by the defending team, kicked from their 22 or from their try line depending on how it happened. In 2026, a few rare situations (like a charge-down going dead) moved from a 22 drop-out to a try-line drop-out to make the laws more consistent.
A player who catches an opposition kick inside their own 22 and calls "mark!" earns a free kick.
Being offside means being in front of where you're allowed to be when you take part in play. The rule changes depending on the situation:
Offside is one of the most common penalties in the game, because it can happen all over the pitch.
The referee awards a penalty for serious offences (offside at a ruck, not releasing after a tackle, collapsing a scrum, dangerous play). The non-offending team can choose to:
A free kick is awarded for lesser offences (such as a team taking too long to form a scrum). It works like a penalty except that you can't kick directly at goal and the opposition must retreat ten metres.
The referee may also play advantage — letting play carry on if the non-offending team is benefiting — and only come back for the penalty if no advantage comes from it.
In most professional and international games, teams name eight replacements (numbers 16–23). Coaches usually bring on fresh front-rowers in the second half — the famous "Bomb Squad" of the Springboks is built around a powerful bench. Injured players can be replaced at any time, and a player who has been substituted usually can't return (with exceptions for front-row injuries, blood injuries and red cards).
Rugby is a full-contact sport, and the laws work hard to keep players safe. Here's how the referee punishes dangerous play.
The player is sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes and their team plays a man down. A second yellow card in the same game becomes a red.
The player is sent off for the rest of the match. In elite rugby, since 1 July 2026, the team is allowed to bring on a replacement after 20 minutes — but the sent-off player can never return, and can be banned for weeks afterwards.
Any player who is suspected of having a concussion must leave the field immediately. Professional matches use a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) carried out by independent doctors, and a concussed player cannot return to the match. Players must then follow a strict return-to-play process. It's one of the most important safety rules in modern rugby.
World Rugby's Council approved several long-running trials as full laws from 1 July 2026: the 20-minute red card replacement (elite level), the streamlined role of the TMO, restrictions on water carriers running on to the field, and the scrum "brake foot" safety measure. Amateur rugby also got a lower legal tackle height, and a handful of in-goal restarts became try-line drop-outs.
Laws are reviewed every year, so always check World Rugby for the very latest.
Sevens is a faster, shorter, spectacular version of rugby. It's played on the same full-size pitch as the 15s game, but with only seven players a side — meaning huge amounts of space, non-stop running and scores that come thick and fast. South Africa's national sevens side are the Blitzboks.
Sevens was invented in 1883 in Melrose, Scotland, by a local butcher and rugby player named Ned Haig. The local club needed to raise funds, so Haig suggested a tournament of shortened matches to fit a whole event into one afternoon. The Melrose Sevens is still played every year.
The Hong Kong Sevens (first held in 1976) turned the game into a party-atmosphere global event. There was a Sevens World Cup from 1993, a global circuit now known as the SVNS series, and — after decades of trying — sevens became an Olympic sport in 2016, with both men's and women's competitions.
| 15-a-side | Sevens | |
|---|---|---|
| Players on the field | 15 (8 forwards, 7 backs) | 7 (3 forwards, 4 backs) |
| Match length | 2 × 40 minutes | 2 × 7 minutes (some finals: 2 × 10) |
| Half-time | Up to 15 minutes | About 2 minutes |
| Scrum | 8 forwards each | 3 forwards each |
| Conversions | Place kick or drop kick | Drop kick only, taken quickly (about 30 seconds) |
| Kick-off after a score | The team that conceded restarts | The team that scored kicks off |
| Yellow card | 10 minutes | 2 minutes |
| Replacements | Up to 8 (23-player squad) | Up to 5 (12-player squad) |
| Draws in knockout games | Extra time (exact rules vary by competition) | Sudden-death extra time in 5-minute periods — first to score wins |
| Scoring values | Try 5, conversion 2, penalty 3, drop goal 3 | Same |
The words commentators throw around, translated.
Now that you know the laws, tune in to the 50:22 podcast — every week we break down the big matches, the controversial calls and everything in between.
Listen to episodes Read match reviewsThis guide is a plain-English summary for fans and new players. It isn't a substitute for the official law book — for the full detail, see World Rugby's official Laws of the Game.
