Q 01/05

Which rugby union players wear shirt numbers 1 to 8?

A) The backs

B) The forwards

C) The half-backs

D) The replacements

Answer · why

B) The forwards

The forwards wear 1 to 8 and the backs 9 to 15. Leicester long put letters on its shirts instead, until English Premiership rules forced the club to s...

Q 02/05

Which kick at goal follows a try in rugby union?

A) Penalty goal

B) Drop goal

C) Conversion

D) Field goal

Answer · why

C) Conversion

A conversion is taken in line with the spot where the try was touched down. That is why players who cross near the corner often run round towards the ...

Q 03/05

Which restart follows every tackle in rugby league?

A) A kick-off

B) A tap penalty

C) A drop-out

D) A play-the-ball

Answer · why

D) A play-the-ball

A play-the-ball: the tackled player stands, puts the ball down and rolls it back with a boot. After six tackles the ball goes to the other side, so te...

Q 04/05

By legend, how did William Webb Ellis invent rugby in an 1823 school match?

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

Picking up the ball and running with it: the tale rests on one man's account from 1876, four years after Webb Ellis died, and many historians call it ...

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

Warwickshire: the school stands in the town of Rugby, which gave the game its name, and in 1845 three of its pupils wrote down the game's first rules.