Laws of rugby union Laws of rugby union The laws of Rugby Union are defined by World Rugby (originally the International Rugby Football Board, and later International Rugby Board) and dictate how the game should be played. They are enforced by a referee, generally with the help of two assistant referees. When playing a game of Rugby Union the overall objective is to score more points than the opposition through tries and goals. A try worth five points is scored when a team grounds the ball in the opposition's in-goal. A conversion (kick at a goal) is then attempted by either place- or drop-kicking
William Cross (rugby union) William Cross (rugby union) William Cross (circa 1851 - 16 October 1890) was a Scottish rugby internationalist. He is notable for scoring the first conversion in international rugby in 1871 in the match between and , after Angus Buchanan scored a pushover try, and he also 's second ever try later in the match. Cross represented Scotland in 1871 in the first international match. Of the Scottish score, one of the English players wrote: At the time, conversions and goals, not tries produced a score, so in fact Cross, not Buchanan was the first to put points on the board.