How Many Players in a Rugby Union Team?

In professional and semi-professional rugby union, there are fifteen players in a rugby team, with eight reserves, twenty-three in a matchday squad. The number of reserves varies on the level of rugby: junior age-group (school and club), or amateur (university, college, and club). The run-on team always consists of fifteen players. 

The eight subs can be any mixture of forwards and backs, but coaches never split the bench, the forwards always outnumber the backline players because of the set-pieces (kick-offs, drop-outs, scrums, and lineouts). Certain positions in the forwards and backline are specialised. 

The entire front row is specialised, although a tighthead prop can often play loosehead, while the latter cannot play the former. Although similar, the blindside and openside flanks are specialised. One attacks the rucks to slow the opposition down, while trying to turnover possession. The blindside flanker must be bigger, better at carrying and cleaning out the rucks.

Several backline positions are specialised. The two halfback positions, but versatile backline players can stand-in if they have the required skillsets of the scrumhalf and flyhalf. Fullbacks are experts under the high ball, good at reading defensive weakness, and often must be able to kick for poles and out-of-hand. SportsBoom breaks down rugby’s various codes to see how many players are in a rugby union team and across all the other codes.
 

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A History of Numbers of Players on a Rugby Team

Rugby football was codified in the mid-nineteenth century in England and Scotland. The first laws were written by students at Rugby School in 1845. Another important event in the early years of rugby is the decision by Blackheath F.C. to leave The Football Association (FA) in 1863. 

Rugby had up to twenty players per team until the mid-1970s until Oxford and Cambridge University decided to field fifteen players in a rugby union team in 1875. A year later International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) decided on this number indefinitely. In 1893 the IRFB battled a schism between an amateur and a professional game.

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Rugby union and rugby league split in 1895 to form two separate codes. League went professional three years later, in 1898. Union was an amateur sport for a century until after the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, when rugby union went professional. It wasn’t until 1906 that the Northern Rugby football Union (NRFU) changed the rules from fifteen to thirteen players. 

The NRFU also changed the breakdown rules from rucks to ‘play-the-ball’ after a player is tackled. Sevens rugby uses union’s rules, especially keeping the ruck instead of putting the ball between a player’s legs after being tackled. Touch rugby, however, uses rugby league-style rules of ‘play-the-ball’ after a player is touched by the opposition. 
 

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Rugby league has thirteen players in the starting team, with four substitutes. Sevens rugby has seven starters and five substitutes on the bench. All three codes have varying numbers of substitutes. Rugby 10s is an offshoot, played with 10 starters and five substitutes. Tens is played at junior level at clubs and schools, and in social tournaments for amateurs and retired professionals.

Touch Rugby is the non-contact version of the sport. There are six starters, but the substitutes vary and the rules of different competitions. Touch Rugby is a social game, often with unlimited subs, but for formal regional or world tournaments, the numbers of subs are usually limited to six. 

Beach rugby is another popular amateur pastime, like touch rugby. Beach rugby players vary from four to seven players, depending on the size of the pitch. Substitutes also vary depending on the tournament and numbers available. However, beach rugby must always have at least two subs in competitions. 

Image Credits: Mulu80 // Public Domain