Rugby union/league in UK/Britain/England

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


Sections:	Introduction
	Six Nations
	Rugby World Cup
	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 2011 will be in New Zealand. For details, see the tournament's official website: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com
The following teams automatically qualify for the competition: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, South Africa, Argentina.
Other countries take part in regional rugby competitions to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.

The Rugby World Cup 2015 will be in England.
The Rugby World Cup 2019 will be in Japan.

The Rugby World Cup 2007 was in France (with some games also in Cardiff and Edinburgh), starting on 7 September 2007.
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 was 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 were televised live on ITV1. For details, see: http://www.itv.com/Sport/rugbyworldcup

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

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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, 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 2009 competition are as follows:

Date	Matches (home team listed first; UK times)
Sat 7 Feb 2009	3pm England vs Italy ; 5pm Ireland vs France
Sun 8 Feb 2009	3pm Scotland vs Wales
Sat 14 Feb 2009	3pm France vs Scotland ; 5:30pm Wales vs England
Sun 15 Feb 2009	2:30pm Italy vs Ireland
Fri 27 Feb 2009	8pm France vs Wales
Sat 28 Feb 2009	3pm Scotland vs Italy ; 5:30pm Ireland vs England
Sat 14 Mar 2009	3pm Italy vs Wales ; 5pm Scotland vs Ireland
Sun 15 Mar 2009	3pm England vs France
Sat 21 Mar 2009	1:15pm Italy vs France ; 3:30pm England vs Scotland ; 5:30pm Wales vs Ireland

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, France in 2007, Wales in 2008.

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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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