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Touch rugby is a team sport that was derived from Rugby Union. In this sport, the tackling aspect of rugby is replaced with just a touch. The sport is played only at an amateur level, and games are conducted for men, women, and teams with players of both genders. The sport is also played at a junior level in schools. A similar sport is Tag Rugby. In this version, instead of a tackle, a tag attached by velcro is pulled off the ball carrier.

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Touch Rugby is played in several different formats without any standardized rules. Most formats do away with the physical aspects of the rugby, like scrums, rucks and mauls. The sport is a popular social sport in England and Scotland, and is slowly gaining attention in parts of Australia and the United States.

Some of the variations of touch rugby are:

• Several formats exist based on the field size and the number of players per team.
• Different formats exist based on the duration of each game.
• Formats vary based on how and where the touch happened. Some formats require a touch with a single hand while others enforce a two-hand touch. Some formats require a touch to be below the waist level to be considered as a fair touch.
• Formats of games are played without line-outs.
• Some games are played without any kicks.

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Similar Sports

• Tag Rugby — a team sport similar to touch rugby in which instead of a tackle, a tag attached by velcro is pulled off the ball carrier.
• Mini Rugby — a modified version of rugby union, to make the sport suitable to be introduced to children.
• Flag Football — similar to American football but instead of tackling players the defensive team have to remove a flag from the ball carrier.
• Touch Football — A version of American Football, where instead of tackling players to the ground, the person carrying the ball only needs to be touched.
• Walking Rugby — a variation of rugby in which players can only walk, developed for older people to keep active.
• Rugby Union — a football code played on a grass field by two opposing teams with two H-shaped goalposts at opposite ends.

Related Pages

• Complete list of sports
• Football Decoder — variations of what is called football around the world
• The Encyclopedia of Sports