Rugby offside rule?

Question

What is the offside rule in rugby?

Answer 1

Player should  not be found on the opposite side.always be on on line/behind your team  mate .Don't play  ball  on the other side when you are/  your team is not  on possession .Finding your self there show by all means that you are not interfering with play.

Answer 2

The offside in rugby is actually much more simple than the one in soccer.

When in possesion, all players much stay behind the carrier of the ball, at a ruck situation all players much be behind the ruck.

When not in possesion, at the ruck situation all players must be behind the ruck, in open play there is no offside line.

Exceptions to this are when player is inadvertenly got in an offside position but clearly indicate they know where they are and do not interfere with play no penalty is given.

Offsides are punishable by a penalty, however if the referee deems the offside as accidental he may only give a scrum.

Answer 3

Hi there scattycat.

There is a lot of confusing answers and some good answers as well, but I thought I will give my answer as well. So let try to make is as simple as possible.

At the start of a game all players are onside. As the match progresses players may find themselves in an offside position. Such players are then liable to be penalised until they become onside again.

Now there are two stages where offside can be called. GENERAL PLAY and SET PLAY.

General plays are when the ball is played after a set play have occurred and is in what is called open play. As you might of guessed set plays are the areas such as lineout, ruck, maul and scrum.

In set play a players is offside when that player crosses what is know as the offside line. This is an imaginary line that runs at the back of the last player of your teams feet at the set play.

In general play a player is offside if the player is in front of a team mate who is carrying the ball, or in front of a team mate who last played the ball.

Offside means that a player is temporarily out of the game. Such players are liable to be penalized if they take part in the game.

In general play, a player can be put onside either by an action of a team mate or by an action of an opponent. However, the offside player cannot be put onside if the offside player interferes with play; or moves forward, towards the ball, or fails to move 10 metres away from the place where the ball lands.

Now that we understand what offside is, how you can get penalised for it. Well here is how you can straight from the IRB (International Rugby Board).

PENALTY RULE FOR OFFSIDE

A player who is in an offside position is liable to penalty only if the player does one of three things:

- Interferes with play or,

- Moves forward, towards the ball or

- Fails to comply with the 10-Metre law

FACT FROM FICTION

- A player who is in an offside position is not automatically penalised.

- A player who receives an unintentional throw forward is not offside.

- A player can be offside in the in-goal.

Answer 4

It is very complicated and no one knows the laws, as they are known not rules. A typical example is the clown who refereed the Wales England game on Saturday. At every ruck and maul at least one Welsh forward was off side but because they raised their hands the fool let them get away with it. I am not saying this lost England the game because to be honest they were appalling but it helps if both sides are treated the same.

Answer 5

you must play the ball backwards , so if you are infront of the ball and your side have it you are offside.rucks and mauls the same rule apply. but in that backs must stay 10 yards back to give the atacking back a chance to run.

Answer 6

Also remember that if you happen to be in a scrum, ruck, or maul and the ball is passed out to your wing and then someone on your team kicks it, you are offsides as well... because you are infront of where the ball was played.  Therefore you must retreat to where the ball was kicked or the player that kicked the ball must run forward past you to put you onsides again.  you can not interfere with play/ tackle the opoposition until you are onside.  Punishable by penalty.

If a penalty is given to the other team, you must retreat 10 meters.  Look at the sir to tell if its a penalty for or against you... if it's for you he points your way ("armpit is good" is how i remmber it), but if he points away... retreat immediately.  if you do not retreat by the time the ball is set in play again by the opposition, and you interfere with play, another penalty will be awarded to the opposition.   this is an important one to remember for offensive and deffensive strategy- hussle either way, you will either catch someone off guard or be caught within those 10 meters!  if the penalty is against you, its perfectly ok to check with the sir for confirmation of 10 meters to make sure you're back far enough.  "10 meters, sir?"  just to make sure - sometimes the sirs have different perceptions of how far 10 really is.  Remember though, as long as you were back 10 meters when the ball was set in motion, you may advance immediatley afterward to attack.  Don't wait for them to come to you!  if you weren't back 10, get out of the way!  

If the penalty is for your team, you may choose to try to take it quickly to catch people that havent retreated 10 yet and to draw another penalty.

Answer 7

Thats a complicated one, and depends on the stage of play. The most basic description, is that the opposition players must remain behind the ball. In the case of a ruck or maul, the ruck or maul is counted as part of the ball, so you must remain behind that.

So, yeah. Hard to explain.

Answer 8

The offside rules are contained in Law 11 of the Laws of the Game. The link below will take you right there for the official version.