Rugby union/league in UK/Britain/England


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< Up	Life / Sport / Rugby
Watch or play rugby in the UK


Sections:	Introduction
	Rugby World Cup
	Six Nations
	Vocabulary
	Further information
	Links

INTRODUCTION

British/Irish rugby team:
known as "the Lions"

"Parliamentary games" at Rugby School,
where rugby was started

Rugby union is the most popular version of the game in the UK and internationally.

You can find information about the main international games from the website of the national rugby union association of the country where the match is being played (or from its box office):
- England: Games are played at Twickenham, near London (the nearest railway station is Twickenham; there are buses the nearest underground station is Richmond). For details, see the website of the Rugby Football Union (RFU): http://www.rfu.com
- Scotland: Games are played at Murrayfield, Edinburgh. Scottish Rugby Union: http://www.sru.org.uk
- Wales: Games are played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Welsh Rugby Union: http://www.wru.co.uk

At the Scrum in the Park event in Regent's Park ...

... the England squad have a training session

England squad's George
Chuter signs an autograph

(c) Wales Tourist Board. All rights reserved

International rugby union:
Wales playing Australia

Every few years British and Irish players play together in a team known as the Lions, and go on tour in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. The national teams from these countries have the following nicknames: the Wallabies (Australia), the All Blacks (New Zealand) and the Springboks (South Africa).

Rugby league has different rules from rugby union and is more popular in north England. Rugby Football League: http://www.rfl.uk.com

Click here to subscribe online to: Rugby World magazine
	Know the Game: Rugby Union Author: Rugby Football Union Publisher: A & C Black Date: August 2003	My World Author: Jonny Wilkinson Publisher: Headline Date: October 2004
	Know the Game: Rugby League Author: Rugby Football League Publisher: A & C Black Date: September 2004	Living With Lions - The Complete Story (2 DVDs: Region 2) Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment Date: November 1999

RUGBY WORLD CUP

The Rugby World Cup competition is held once every four years.

The Rugby World Cup 2003 took place in Australia in October and November 2003, and was won by England.
In the final, England beat Australia: 20 - 17 (Jonny Wilkinson scored the winning drop goal in the last minute of extra time)
For photos from the "Sweet Chariot" victory parade in London in December 2003, see: Ideas/Album/SweetChariotParade

The Rugby World Cup 2007 is in France (with some games also in Cardiff and Edinburgh), starting on 7 September 2007.
For details of the competition and how to buy tickets, see the tournament's official website: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com.
20 countries take part in the final stages. 10 automatically qualify, and the other 10 are selected by regional qualifying competitions.

Teams were initially divided into 4 pools of 5 teams:
Pool A: England, South Africa, Samoa, USA, Tonga or Korea
Pool B: Australia, Wales, Fiji, Canada, Japan
Pool C: Italy, Romania, Scotland, New Zealand, Uruguay or Portugal
Pool D: France, Argentina, Ireland, Namibia, Georgia

Teams played each of the other teams in their pool. The top two teams in each pool went through to the quarter-finals, after which it is a knock-out competition.

The quarter-final matches were as follows (winning teams shown in bold):
Saturday 6 October 2007: Australia v England 10-12; France v New Zealand 20-18
Sunday 7 October 2007: South Africa v Fiji 37-20; Argentina v Scotland 19-13

The semi-finals were played on Saturday 13 October and Sunday 14 October:
Semi-final 1: England v France 14-9
Semi-final 2: South Africa v Argentina 37-13

The final was played at Saint-Denis (Paris) on 20 October 2007:
Final: South Africa v England 15-6

All of the above matches are televised live on ITV1. For details, see: http://www.itv.com/Sport/rugbyworldcup

The Rugby World Cup 2011 will be in New Zealand.

World Cup 2003 (book)
(the official account of England's World Cup victory)
Author: Team England Rugby
Publisher: Orion
Date: December 2003

Rugby World Cup - Official Review (DVD)
Studio: Lace International Ltd
Date: December 2003
Video version

SIX NATIONS

Six Nations
rugby contest

The Six Nations is a rugby union competition between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy. Each team plays one game against each of the other teams, over a series of weekends in February and March. The official website of the tournament is http://www.rbs6nations.com. For photos of Twickenham on the day of a Six Nations rugby union match (England v France), see: Ideas/Album/SixNations.

If a team wins its games against all of the other teams in the competition it wins the Grand Slam. If one of the four "home nations" (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland) beats each of the other home nations it wins the Triple Crown. The winner of the England vs Scotland game wins the Calcutta Cup (this is the oldest trophy in the history of international rugby, first won by England in 1880).

The fixtures for the 2008 competition are as follows:

Date	Matches (home team listed first; winning team shown in bold; UK times)
Sat 2 Feb 2008	14:00 Ireland vs Italy ; 16:30 England vs Wales
Sun 3 Feb 2008	15:00 Scotland vs France
Sat 9 Feb 2008	14:00 Wales vs Scotland ; 16:00 France vs Ireland
Sun 10 Feb 2008	14:30 Italy vs England
Sat 23 Feb 2008	15:00 Wales vs Italy ; 17:00 Ireland vs Scotland ; 20:00 France vs England
Sat 8 Mar 2008	13:15 Ireland vs Wales ; 15:15 Scotland vs England
Sun 9 Mar 2008	15:00 France vs Italy
Sat 15 Mar 2008	13:00 Italy vs Scotland ; 15:00 England vs Ireland ; 17:00 Wales vs France

The 2007 competition was won by France (Ireland won the Triple Crown). The results of the matches were as follows:

Date	Matches (home team listed first; winning team shown in bold; UK times)
Sat 3 Feb 2007	13:30 Italy vs France: 3-39 ; 16:00 England vs Scotland: 42-20
Sun 4 Feb 2007	15:00 Wales vs Ireland 9-19
Sat 10 Feb 2007	13:30 England vs Italy 20-7 ; 15:30 Scotland vs Wales 21-9
Sun 11 Feb 2007	15:00 Ireland vs France 17-20
Sat 24 Feb 2007	15:00 Scotland vs Italy 17-37 ; 17:30 Ireland vs England 43-13 ; 20:00 France vs Wales 32-21
Sat 10 Mar 2007	13:30 Scotland vs Ireland 18-19 ; 15:30 Italy vs Wales 23-20
Sun 11 Mar 2007	15:00 England vs France 26-18
Sat 17 Mar 2007	13:30 Italy vs Ireland 24-51 ; 15:30 France vs Scotland 46-19 ; 17:30 Wales vs England 27-18

Games take place at the following locations:
England: Twickenham, London
Wales: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Scotland: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Ireland: Croke Park, Dublin [Landsdowne Road is under re-development]
France: Stade de France, Paris
Italy: Stadio Flaminio, Rome

The Six Nations competition was won by France in 2004, Wales in 2005, France in 2006, and by France in 2007.

Grand Slam Heroes (DVD)
(England's 2003 RBS 6 Nations Championship Victory)
Studio: Video Collection Int. Ltd.
Date: April 2003
Video version

Greatest Moments Of The Five And Six Nations (DVD)
Studio: Green Umbrella Productions
Date: March 2004

VOCABULARY

Some of the words you will hear if you watch a game of rugby union:

to score a try, to make a touchdown (5 points) ; to convert a try / to put over a conversion (2 points) ; to make a drop goal (through the middle of the posts) (3 points) ; dropout (wide of the posts) ; to put the ball into touch (to find touch) ; to keep the ball in play ; to clear the ball (to make a clearance) ; to catch the ball ; to offload the ball ; to release the ball ; to win the ball ; to pass the ball ; to chip the ball ; slow ball / quick ball ; the ball is held up ; to make a tackle ; to upend ; to kick the ball ; up and under ; to make a dummy run/pass ; to drive over the line ; to play advantage ; to knock on/forward ; to be offside ; to have possession (to be in possession) ; a set-piece ; scrum (scrummage) ; collapsed scrum ; turnover ; ruck ; maul ; penalty kick ; free kick ; drop kick ; forward pass ; to be in touch ; lineout / throw-in (thrower / lifter / jumper) ; a throw (long / short) ; overthrow ; underthrow ; pitch (field) ; midfield ; first half ; overtime ; half-time ; second half ; territory ; stoppage ; to make a substitution ; to come off / to go on ; to get slowball / quickball ; forwards (attackers) ; backs (defenders) ; front row ; second row ; back row ; pack ; captain ; referee ; linesman / touch judge ; TMO (television match official) ; coach ; man of the match ; on the bench ; foul play ; late tackle ; sin bin ; red card ; to be sent off ; substitution ; to win a cap

The diagram below shows typical positions and names for the 15 members of a rugby union team:

Positions (1-8 are in the scrum)

1 : Loosehead Prop
2 : Hooker
3 : Tighthead Prop
4 : Second Row
5 : Second Row
6 : Blindside Flanker
7 : Openside Flanker
8 : Number 8
9 : Scrum Half
10 : Fly Half
11 : Left Wing
12 : Inside Centre
13 : Outside Centre
14 : Right Wing
15 : Fullback

FURTHER INFORMATION

BBC Sport (rugby union): http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union
Rugby rules explained: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/rules_and_equipment

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LINKS

Photos of a visit to a Six Nations game: Ideas/Album/SixNations
Sweet Chariot victory parade: Ideas/Album/SweetChariotParade
Sport in the UK: Life/Sport
Monthly guide to events in the UK: Ideas/Events

Home page: Home

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