We continue our journey through the universe of rugby rules
Of all the abundance of different rugby features and wisdom, capture is perhaps the main distinguishing feature of our favorite game.
Any layman, answering the question of what is rugby, will begin with a description of the capture.
Associations with the oval shape of the ball and the peculiarities of the direction of its passing will come to mind later.
Capture is the first and most important thing that identifies rugby in the line of other team game sports.
From the point of view of the rules of the game, grabbing is a way to keep a player with the ball and knock him to the ground. Seven words and three key meanings. The first is “a way to hold”, the second is “a player with a ball”, the third is “to knock him to the ground”.
The fact that forceful actions in an open game are allowed only in relation to a player in possession of the ball is a rugby alphabet. With “hold” and “knock to the ground” is more difficult.
Many inexperienced fans, and sometimes novice (and not only) players, forget about this and believe that any contact is a capture. The rules say that this is still not the case.
“To knock to the ground” in a free interpretation can be understood as forcing a player with a ball to lean on the ground with any part of the body that is not legs. “Hold” means to maintain contact with the opponent at the moment when he falls to the ground.
Only the combination of these two actions in rugby is understood as a capture, and the players participating in it are endowed with the duties described in the 14th rule of the game.
Source: rugger.info