Rugby league and union?

Question

what is the difference between the two? how many players play on the field? and the national teams how comes there is a england and great britain team?

Answer 1

There are quite a few differences, but I'll try to summarise the most obvious ones.

The original game was what is now called Rugby Union. The competition for Rugby was strictly amateur. Due to a desire to establish a professional competition, a breakaway group established the game of Rugby League, with slight variations in rules, teams of 13 players instead of 15, and the players could be paid as professionals. These days the amateur restrictions on Rugby Union no longer apply, but both games still exist with their subtle variations.

The most significant and visible difference is that when a player with the ball is tackled in Union, play will continue, generally developing into a ruck (where the ball is on the ground) or a maul (where a player is still on his feet holding the ball and moving) - in either case several players from both teams will join the pack around the ball attempting to move it forward towards their respective goal lines. Incidentally, it is these sort of plays that lead to the common joke amongs Australian Rules Football fans that Rugby is "Cross Country Wrestling"

In Rugby League when the player carrying the ball is tackled, play stops and is resumed by the ball carrier doing what is termed "dummy halfback" which basically means the ball is on the ground in front of him and passed behind with his foot to a teammate. After five tackles possession of the ball passes to the opposite team.

Another obvious difference is that in Rugby Union, if the ball is kicked over the sideline play resumes with a "lineout" Basically this is where a player from the team who did not put the ball out of bounds passes the ball back into play between players from both teams lined up opposite one another. As the ball is passed in the players will jump and try to catch it to gain possession.

In answer to the final part of your question, the Great Britain team can include players from all the individual countries making up the commonwealth of Great Britain, namely England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In other competitions each of these countries will field their own separate teams.