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
Conversion (gridiron football) still used in American football rule books), and thus early scoring rubrics for the game gave more points to the subsequent kick than the actual advancement of the ball over the goal line. The related term "conversion" is still used in both rugby union and rugby league to refer to extra points scored by kicking the ball through the posts after a try has been scored. By the start of the 20th century, touchdowns had become more important and the roles of touchdown and kick were reversed. By this time the point value for the after-touchdown kick had reduced to