Rugby league nines (or simply nines) is a version of
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in
rules
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule pertaining to the structure or behavior internal to a business
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and shorter games. Nines is usually played in festivals, as its shorter game play allows for a tournament to be completed in a day or over a single weekend.
In July 2021,
International Rugby League
The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. The IRL organises the Rugby League World Cup, the oldest international rugby World Cup, as well as the Women's Rugby League World Cup, Wom ...
(IRL) chair
Troy Grant stated that the organisation was considering a bid for rugby league nines to be played at the
2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane.
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...
, a similarly-condensed version of
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
, has been a core Olympic event since
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
.
Laws
The laws of the game are the same as
standard rugby league laws with the following exceptions.
* Each team is allowed a squad of up to fifteen players, with no more than nine players on the field at any time. Unlimited substitutions are allowed from a named bench of four players.
* The match lasts for 18 minutes, divided into two halves of 9 minutes. There is no half time interval but teams are allowed a maximum of 1 minute to change ends. Each half starts with a place kick.
* Scrums consist of no more than 5 forwards, with a maximum 3 in the front row and 2 in the second row. When the ball is in the scrum no more than 4 players from each team shall act as backs. The ball must emerge from behind the feet of the second row.
* Conversions after a successful try take the form of drop kicks. Players from the team that has conceded the score do not have to retire behind the try line but must not interfere with any conversion attempt.
* When points have been scored the team against which points have been scored will restart the game with a tap restart from the centre of the half-way line.
* When a team is awarded a penalty then play must proceed by way of a tap 10-metres in advance of where the infringement took place.
* In the event of misconduct by a player the referee can suspend for 5 minutes. In the
Carnegie Floodlit Nines, a major nines competition, this has been reduced to 2 minutes.
Tournaments
;Global
*
Rugby League World Cup 9s (defunct)
*
Super League World Nines (defunct)
*
Exhibition tournament at the
2018 Commonwealth Games (one-off)
;Regional
*
Rugby league at the Pacific Games
;Professional club tournaments
*
NRL Nines
The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus.
Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to P ...
(defunct)
*
RFL Women's Nines
;Other notable tournaments
*
Cabramatta International Nines (defunct)
*
London 9s (one-off)
See also
*
Rugby league sevens
References
{{Team Sport
Variations of rugby league