The Rugby World Cup

There are 15 people in a rugby team.

In rugby you are allowed to kick and carry the ball but you are only allowed to pass the ball backwards.

Just like football they have red and yellow cards. If you get a yellow card in rugby you get sent to the sin bin for only 10 minutes. If you get a red card then you are sent off.

What is the Rugby World Cup? The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament held every four years between the top international teams.

The Rugby World Cup starts on 18th September and runs through to 31st October.

This year it is being held in England. There will be exciting matches taking place all over England.

The Rugby World Cup has been played every four years since 1987.

How many teams take part? Sixteen teams were invited to participate in the tournament in 1987, however since 1999, twenty teams have taken part.

20 countries take part in the Rugby World Cup. In the first stage, the 20 teams are divided into 4 sets, each with 5 teams.

10 games are played in each set and teams get points. 4 points for a win 2 points for a draw 0 points for losing Teams can also get bonus points. At the end of the 10 matches, the top two teams in each set move onto the quarter finals.

When and how did it start? The tournament was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. The 2015 tournament will be held in England, while Japan will host the event in 2019.

The same whistle is used to start off the opening game of every Rugby World Cup Tournament. It is called the Gil Evans whistle and was first blown by Gil Evans in 1905 at the start of a match between England and New Zealand. Rugby Fact

The sport of rugby is named after Rugby School, where the game was first played. The game is said to have been invented in 1823 when William Webb Ellis caught the ball whilst playing football at school and ran it to the goal. Rugby Fact

Trophy The winners are awarded the William Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis, the Rugby School pupil who — according to a popular myth — invented rugby.

According to the Rugby World Cup Tournament’s record, Australia is one of the most successful teams in the Rugby Tournament’s history. Rugby Fact

The highest number of points in a Rugby World Cup game was 162. The match was between New Zealand and Japan in New Zealand beat Japan 145 points to 17. Rugby Fact

Rugby players mostly earn points by scoring tries. This is achieved by a player crossing the touchline with a ball and touching it to the ground. A try in the Rugby World Cup is worth 5 points. Rugby Fact

A try is called a try because originally you crossing the line meant you could 'try' for a kick at the goal. Rugby Fact

Jonny Wilkinson The record for most points overall is held by English player Jonny Wilkinson, who scored 277 over his World Cup career. Photo courtesy otheglobalpanoramaf - granted under creative commons licence - attribution

New Zealand famously dance the Haka before the start of a game of rugby. The Haka is a traditional war-dance which is sometimes seen as an attempt to intimidate their opposition. Rugby Fact

The oldest rugby club in the world is Dublin University Football Club. Founded in Rugby Fact

P2/P3 Competition Homework Design your own rugby kit.

P4/P5 Competition Homework To complete a rugby acrostic poem.

P6/P7 Competition Homework To complete a top trumps player card. It can be a proper world cup rugby player that you have researched or a player that you have created and made up. Your top trumps card should include players name, country, age, height and interests.

The winners of the competition will get this Rugby Trophy

Make sure you put your first name and surname on the top of your sheet!

We will put this PPT on our website HOLYROSARYPSBELFAST to help you with your homework. Good Luck Everyone!