Rugby in Dublin

Rugby is a very popular sport in Dublin. This can seen when Ireland are playing an important international match and the city comes to a halt. The international team plays in Lansdowne Road in Dublin, which is the oldest International Rugby Stadium in the world today. At present however the IRFU (The Irish Rugby Football Union), the FAI (The Football Association of Ireland) and the government are looking into building a new national stadium for the two sports. This howver is still in the pipeline at time of print. The international team competes in two main tournaments, the World Cup (which is held every four years, the next one being in the year 2007) and the Six Nations Tournament (a yearly league competition in the Spring held between Ireland, England, France, Scotland, Wales and Italy). The team also play a number of friendlies(or Tests) each year.

The Main Rules of Rugby

To write all the rules of rugby here would take too long as it is a complicated game, but here we will attempt to give a brief overview of the rules....

Rugby is played on a pitch similar in size to a football pitch, but it has different Goals. The Goals in rugby are in an H shape with two post and a crossbar. The ball is also different and is in the shape of an oval instead of a circle. The two opposing teams consist of 15 players each. The basic goal of the game is to pass the ball up to and over the opponents endline which is called a try and is 5 points. The team then gets to kick a conversion, which is a kick at goal that must go between the two posts and over the crossbar, this is 2 points. When going forward however the ball can only be passed backwards. If the ball goes out of play on either side of the pitch, a lineout is awarded to the other team, in which they throw the ball in a straight line between two lines of the players from each team.

When an infringement occurs during play either a scrum or a penalty is awarded, depending on the offence. A scrum is where two rows of each team face each other and clash shoulder to shoulder. A penalty is where the team gets a kick at goal like a conversion but with 3 points awarded for a successful kick. A drop goal can also be scored, which is a goalkick in open play which goes over the bar and between the posts. The ball must however, touch the ground before the kick is attempted. These rules might all sound confusing, but it is only a start. The complete rules can be found on the International Rugby Boards Laws and Regulations Site

Dublin Rugby Teams

Dublin being the capital city, has a number of senior rugby teams that play in the AIB Irish Rugby League. In European competition and the Celtic League, Ireland is broken into provinces, so the players from Dublin teams all play for Leinster. At present the most famous of these players is the current Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll who plays for Blackrock and Leinster. Below are listed the main Dublin Rugby teams and links if available to their sites or to the information page for each club on the IRFU site...

The Main Rules of Rugby

Dublin Rugby Teams

International Links