Glossary of rugby union terms player without showing a yellow card. Glossary of rugby union terms Rugby union is a team sport played between two teams of fifteen players. It is known for its rich terminology. This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of rugby union. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. 22 The 22 m line, marking from the tryline. 89 An "89" or "eight-nine move" is a phase following a "scrum", in which the "number 8" picks up the ball and transfers it to number 9 ("scrum-half"). 99
Scrum (rugby) to compete for the ball by trying to hook the ball backwards with their feet. A key difference between the two sports is that in rugby union both sets of forwards try to push the opposition backwards whilst competing for the ball and thus the team that did not throw the ball into the scrum have some minimal chance of winning the possession. In practice, however, the team with the 'put-in' usually keeps possession (92% of the time with the feed) and put-ins are not straight. Forwards in rugby league do not usually push in the scrum, scrum-halves often feed