Touch rugby

A formal, competitive variety, known as Touch, developed from rugby league and now exists as a sport in its own right.

Touch rugby has a number of differences from the traditional games, including its simplicity (it requires very little equipment or goalposts), its ease of learning, and the decreased likelihood of injury.

Typically, Australia and New Zealand have dominated as champions and runner-ups in each of the now 11 competitive divisions.

In 2019, the World Cup was hosted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and welcomed 28 participating nations.

The 2024 FIT World Cup had 4,000 players from 39 nations competing in 187 teams across 13 categories.

Touch rugby is often played informally, rather like a pick-up soccer or basketball game.

In addition to tackles being replaced by touches, the rules of both rugby codes are simplified, removing elements such as scrums, rucks, mauls, line-outs and kicks.

There is often no tackle count, meaning that almost the only way that the defence can obtain the ball is through offensive mistakes.