Andrew Charlton: Rugby Positions

Rugby is an exciting sport that is comprised of players who display strength, endurance, agility and teamwork as they try to drive the ball into the opponents try zone while also defending their own try zone. There are fifteen players on each team when a game is in play; and those fifteen can be divided into two groups that re described below:

Forwards

There are eight forwards in play at all times for each team. The job of these forwards, also known as the pack, is to drive the opposing team backwards, make defensive plays and recover dropped balls. Most of this is accomplished within the scrum, where each pack acts as a unit to drive back the other pack.

Generally the forwards are larger in size than the backs, as they use their weight and strength to overpower the opposing line.

The forwards consist of a loose head prop (also identified as a “1”), a hooker (2), a loose head pop (3), two locks (4 and 5), two flankers (6 and 7) and the number eight.

Backs

There are seven bucks to a rugby team; and they are there to use their speed, agility and ability to evade opponents to make plays and get the ball down the field so they can score points. Black's move the ball amongst each other to create holes in the defense, so they can break past the sacrum area.

The backs are led by the scrum half (9), and then it goes flying half (10), left wing (11), inside center (12), outside center (13), right wing (14) and full back (15).