Q 01/05

How many players does each side field in rugby union?

A) 11

B) 12

C) 15

D) 13

Answer · why

C) 15

Eight are forwards wearing 1-8 and seven are backs wearing 9-15; rugby league plays with two fewer.

Q 02/05

How many points is a try worth in rugby union?

A) Four

B) Six

C) Five

D) Three

Answer · why

C) Five

The conversion afterwards adds two, and a penalty or drop goal scores three; in rugby league a try is worth four.

Q 03/05

How many players are on each rugby league team?

A) 14

B) 15

C) 16

D) 13

Answer · why

D) 13

League split from union in 1895 over paying players; the NRL and Super League are its premier club competitions.

Q 04/05

By legend, what did William Webb Ellis do in an 1823 school football match to invent rugby?

A) Kicking the ball over the crossbar

B) Passing the ball backwards

C) Picking up the ball and running with it

D) Tackling below the waist

Answer · why

C) Picking up the ball and running with it

Catching the ball was allowed; running with it was not. He became a clergyman and died in France in 1872, leaving £9,000 mostly to charity.

Q 05/05

In which English county is Rugby School, where the game was supposedly born?

A) Lancashire

B) Warwickshire

C) Yorkshire

D) Somerset

Answer · why

B) Warwickshire

It was founded in 1567 with money from Lawrence Sheriff, a grocer to Elizabeth I, and reshaped by headmaster Thomas Arnold.