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Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in England in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
A scrummage, commonly known simply as a scrum, is a method of restarting play in rugby football that involves players packing closely together with their heads down and attempting to gain possession of the ball. Depending on whether it is in rugby union or rugby league, the scrum is used either after an accidental infringement or when the ball has gone out of play. Scrums occur more often, and are now of greater importance, in union than in league. Starting play from the line of scrimmage in gridiron football is derived from the scrum.
In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards and seven backs. In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16–23. Players are not restricted to a single position, although they generally specialise in just one or two that suit their skills and body types. Players that play multiple positions are called "utility players".
Hugo Porta is an Argentine retired rugby union player. Considered one of the best fly-halves the sport has seen, he is an inductee of both the International Rugby Hall of Fame and IRB Hall of Fame. During the 1970s and 1980s, he played 58 times for Argentina, captaining them on 34 occasions, including leading them during the first World Cup in 1987.
A rugby league team consists of 13 players on the field, with 4 substitutes on the bench. Each of the 13 players is assigned a position, normally with a standardised number, which reflects their role in attack and defence, although players can take up any position at any time.
Roy James Laidlaw is a former Scotland international rugby union player.
Terence David Holmes is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player who won 25 caps for Wales as a scrum-half, and later played rugby league for Bradford Northern.
Five-eighth or stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the scrum-half. Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional attacking 'back-line' play, the five-eighth would receive the ball from the halfback, who is the first receiver of the ball from the dummy-half or hooker following a tackle.
Sean Bernard Long, also known by the nickname of "Longy", is an English former professional rugby league footballer, who is the current head coach of Oldham RLFC in the RFL Championship. He has played in the 1990s and 2000s. An England and Great Britain international scrum-half, Long is regarded by many as one of the finest British players of his generation. He began his career with the Wigan Warriors, and also played for the Widnes Vikings and Hull FC, but is best known for his time playing for St Helens in the Super League with whom he won a total of four Super League championships and five Challenge Cups, as well as numerous individual accolades including the Man of Steel award, and three Lance Todd Trophies.
SANZAAR is the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from its member unions.
Andrew Gregory is an English former professional rugby league footballer. A Great Britain international representative scrum-half, he is an inductee of the Wigan Hall of Fame. He was the first player to win five Challenge Cup Final winners medals, first player to play in eight Challenge Cup finals and one of only two players to have played in six Ashes series against Australia, the other being Garry Schofield.
John Denning Robins was a Welsh international rugby union player who attained 11 caps for Wales between 1950 and 1953. A prop, he toured New Zealand and Australia with the British and Irish Lions in 1950 and became the first Lions coach, on the 1966 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand.
David Brynmor Williams is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player. A dual-code international, he won three caps for the British Lions and three for Wales in rugby union, and one in rugby league for Wales.
Between late 1957 and March 1958 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour encompassing Britain, Ireland, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and thirty-one minor tour matches. The Wallabies won 17, lost 16 and drew three of their games in total. They lost all five Tests of the tour.
Mini rugby, also known as New Image Rugby, is a form of rugby union designed to introduce the sport to children. It uses a smaller ball and pitch than standard rugby, and has eight to ten players a side.
Between October 1966 and March 1967 the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour on which they played five Tests and thirty-one minor tour matches. Under the captaincy of John Thornett they toured UK, Ireland, France and Canada winning nineteen matches, losing fourteen and drawing three. At one stage they failed to win in four successive matches although in the Test match against England they gave the home side its heaviest defeat in 16 years. The tour marked the climax of the successful "Thornett Era" of Australian Rugby, buoyed by the leadership skills of skipper John Thornett and the outstanding abilities of greats of the game like Ken Catchpole, Peter Johnson and Rob Heming. Dick Marks and Peter Crittle also toured and would later become among the most influential administrators of Australian rugby.
Paul Darveniza was an Australian rugby union player who played as a hooker. He played four tests for the Wallabies in 1968–1969. During the 1971 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia he was one of seven Wallabies players who refused to play the whites-only South African Springboks team and voiced their opposition to the continuation of sporting ties with apartheid-based South Africa. After his sporting career Darveniza served as a consultant neurologist at St Vincents Hospital, Darlinghurst for more than 50 years.
Howard Poole was a Welsh international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Cardiff. Although never playing for Wales he was selected to play in the 1930 British Lions tour of New Zealand and Australia.
Kevin Harkin is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Wide Bay Division, and at club level for Wakefield Trinity, Sunshine Coast, York and Hull FC, as a stand-off or scrum-half.
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