Fear not – The Sporting News is here to walk you through the basics of rugby union so you can sit back and enjoy the action. MORE: How to watch Rugby World Cup 2023 in the UK: Live stream, TV ...

A competitive rugby union match is played ... and backs and can control the ball at the back of the scrum, ready to launch an attack. The positions numbers 9-15 on the field are called the backs.

they're not always looking to just smash the opponent back. At the tackle area or a ruck situation, you're talking about a 50-50 ball, and often a tackler will be willing to sacrifice a few metres to ...

In rugby there’s invariably counter-balancing when it comes to players returning from injury being interfaced with players ...