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Rucks
The ruck situation is without a doubt one of the most nebulous and complicated parts of rugby union so pay close attention when learning the rules here. Rucks are incredibly frequent in today's modern game and referees love to award penalties from the ruck situation. Here is a quick working definition of what a ruck is exactly and some of the rules that apply to it.
In rugby union, when a tackled player goes to ground, they must release the ball immediately. As soon as that happens, the defense will obviously want to get their hands on the ball and the offense will obviously want to stop that from happening.
The official definition of the ruck states that "the ruck is a phase of play where one or more players from each team, who are on their feet, in physical contact, close around the ball on the ground". In other words, to maintain or gain possession both teams try to drive the other off of the ball which has been set to try and secure it for their team, similar in some ways to a scrum down or a tip off in basketball. Whichever team is currently positioned OVER the ball is considered in possession of the ball. If the ball comes out from underneath everyones feet (i.e. the ball is resting in open ground with no one above it), the ruck is considered over and can now be played by anyone without regards to the offsides line.
Here are two good videos from the IRB on the basics of the contact and ruck situation and what it should look like:
Hands in the Ruck
No player can play the ball on the ground in a ruck. To move the ball by hand they must be on their feet and not bound into the ruck (you are bound in when you are pushing against an opposition player or if you have one arm bound onto someone on your team who is pushing an opposition player). If a player who is laying down or on a knee attempts to move the ball to his side, he has his "hands in the ruck" and is committing a penalty.
Joining the Ruck
Similar to a maul, a player must come through the figurative 'gate' at the center back of the ruck in order to join in without a penalty. Coming in from the sides is a penalty.
Rucking and 'Giving the Boot'
When the ball gets stuck under a pile of bodies as it inevitably does at some point during the game, players are allowed to try and move the ball to a better position using their foot or boot. This is called 'rucking' and obviously where the name comes from. You are not, however, allowed to make contact with anyone's head or tread or stamp on anyone intentionally (though 'giving the boot' is a common practice if someone is smothering the ball). You may only ruck the ball backwards using a horizontal (i.e. no vertical stomping) raking motion.
Diving In
When joining a ruck, a player must keep their feet and should not dive over the ruck or leave his feet to lunge into one. This is called 'diving in' or 'diving over' and is a popular penalty in refereeing circles.
Ball Not Free
During a ruck, if the ball gets stuck under a pile of bodies and cannot be gotten out, the referee will award a scrum to whichever team he deems to have been winning the ruck or who has the most forward momentum.
Have a question you want answered but didn't see here? Got something to add or that you want to see amended? Let us know about it at RugbyGuide@365-inc.com!
