1. A
is made by letting the ball fall from the hands, and kicking it the very instant it rises.
2. A
is made by kicking the ball after it has been placed in a nick
made in the ground
for the purpose of keeping it at rest.
3. A
is made by letting the ball fall from the hands
and kicking it before it touches the ground.
4. Each shall be composed of two upright posts, exceeding 11 feet in height from the ground, and placed 18 feet 6 inches apart, with a cross-bar 10 feet from the ground.
5. A can only be obtained by kicking the ball from the field of play
direct (i.e. without touching
the ground or
the dress or person of any player of either side) over the cross-bar of the opponents' goal, whether it touch such cross-bar or the posts or not; but if the ball goes directly over either of the goal-posts, it is not a goal. A goal may be obtained by any kind of kick except a punt.
6. A is gained when
a player touches the ball down in his opponents' goal.
7. A match shall be decided by a majority of points; a goal shall equal three points, and a try one point. If the number of points be equal, or no goal be kicked or try obtained, the match shall be drawn. When a goal is kicked from a try the goal only is scored.
8. The ball is dead when it rests absolutely motionless on the ground.
9. A is when a Player, putting his hand upon the ball on the ground in touch or in goal, stops it so that it remains dead, or fairly so.
10. A is when the holder of the ball
is held by one or more players of the opposite side.
11. A takes place when the holder of the ball, being in the field of play, puts it down on the ground in front of him, and all who have closed round on their respective sides endeavour to push their opponents back and by kicking the ball to drive it in the direction of the opposite goal-line. A scrummage ceases to be a scrummage when the ball is in touch or goal.
12. A player may take up the ball whenever it is rolling or bounding, except in a scrummage.
13. It is not lawful to take up the ball when dead
(except in order to bring it out
after it has been touched down in touch or in goal) for any purpose whatever; whenever the ball shall have been so unlawfully taken up, it shall at once be brought back to where it was so taken up, and there put down.
14. In a scrummage it is not lawful to touch the ball with the hand
under any circumstances whatever.
15. It is lawful for any player who has the ball to run with it, and if he does so it is called a . If a player runs with the ball until he gets behind his opponents' goal-line and there touches it down, it is called a .
16. It is lawful to run in anywhere across the goal-line.
17. The goal-line is in goal, and the touch line is in touch.
18. In the event of any player holding or running with the ball being tackled, and the ball fairly held, he must at once cry down, and immediately put it down.
19. A is when
the ball is held inside the goal-line
and one of the opposing side endeavours to touch it down. Those players only who are touching the ball with the hand when the maul begins, and then for so long only as they retain their touch, may continue in the maul. The ball shall be touched down where the maul is concluded, and shall belong to the players of the side who first had possession of it before the maul began, unless the opposite side have gained entire possession of it, or unless it has escaped from the hold of all parties engaged, in which latter event it shall belong to the defending side.
20. —
Immediately the ball, whether in the hands of a player or not, goes into touch in goal, it is at once dead and out of the game, and must be brought out as provided by Rules 38 and 39.
21. Every player is , but is put if he enters a scrummage from his opponents' side, or being in a scrummage gets in front of the ball, or when the ball has been kicked, touched, or is being run with by any of his own side behind him (i.e. between himself and his own goal line). No player can be off side in his own goal.
22. — Every player when off-side
is out of the game
and shall not touch the ball in any case whatever, either in or out of touch or goal, or in any way interrupt or obstruct any player until he is again on side. In case any player plays the ball when he is off side, the captain of the opposite side may claim that the ball be taken back and put down at the place where it was last played before the off-side play occurred.