On Friday September 8, France meets New Zealand in the opening match of the World Cup. Far from being just a simple regional sport practiced south of a La Rochelle-Oyonnax line, rugby brings together its fans every four years, and it is in France that it is happening this year.
Les Décoders invite you to review some fundamentals to present in front of your friends to show that you know what a fork or a caramel is, while the Rugby World Cup is taking place in France, from September 8 to October 28.
1. Rugby is an English sport
2. Rugby is a sport played by fifteen (or thirteen, seven, etc.) players.
3. You can score points and pass the ball in two ways
4. There are a lot of forbidden gestures
5. The referee does not make traffic police gestures
1. Rugby is an English sport
Rugby was born in the town of the same name in England when its rules were codified in 1846. Initially a variant of football, the sport created its own federation in 1871, and it was during this period that it arrived in France, via the port of Le Havre and its English workers.
The English origin of this sport undoubtedly explains its complexity and its codification: rugby is a reflection of British society at the time, it is a “legislated game”. And so it was “amended” over time, as former international and flowery coach Daniel Herrero explains.
2. Rugby is a sport played by fifteen (or thirteen, seven, etc.) players.
Each team on the field consists of fifteen players who line up in lines. Often the strongest are in the first three rows, they are the ones who play the scrums, there are eight of them sharing the forward positions.
The other seven are often more “small” and are more responsible for moving quickly or organizing the game. They play behind the forwards.
But rugby can also be played with thirteen players. Clubs from the north of England are at the origin of this development. There was a secession in 1895 within the Rugby Football Union. The reason for the separation was the players’ – mostly blue-collar – demand for financial compensation for lost working hours which clubs in the south of England refused to pay. But the number of players did not increase from fifteen to thirteen until 1906. Rugby can also be played with seven, nine or even twelve.
3. You can score points and pass the ball in two ways
On the field, to score points, you must:
On the passing side, players also have two options:
4. There are a lot of forbidden gestures
As the rules of rugby have evolved, a large number of dangerous acts have been prohibited. Among the most common:
5. The referee does not make traffic police gestures
In front of a rugby match, the only way to understand what happened when the referee blew the whistle is to decipher the sign language:
For everything else, and in particular to find out who has a chance of winning this World Cup, all the information is in the guide below and the competition to follow for almost two months, on the Monde.fr website.