Exercise 3: Sports | Rugby
Rugby is a game that uses an oval-shaped ball. Many people believe that rugby developed from football. In 1823, William Webb Ellis from Rugby School carried the ball during a football match. This ball-carrying play by Ellis spread to a number of other English public schools. In 1839, students at Cambridge University tried it and called it ‘Rugby’s game’, referring to the name of the school Ellis attended.
Today, the game is most popular in countries like Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, Italy, Argentina and France. The game is played with 15 men on each side. The aim of the game is for each side to attempt to ground the ball beyond their opponent’s goal line and score the most points in the match.
A rugby match is played on a field that extends no more than 100 meters in length from one goal lines to the other. A goalpost stands in the centre of each goal line. Rugby matches are made up of two 40-minute periods of play, with a rest period of not more than five minutes between each half. At the start of a match, there are eight forwards and seven backs on each team. Substitutions are allowed during the match. However, if a player leaves the match by order of the referee for an infraction of the rules, his team must play with one less player. This means that the team would be at a disadvantage. Thus, players are careful not to foul their opponents.
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