USIAA Rugby Union (15's & 7's) Rules:
Scholarship and Roster Rules:
- All programs can only have a max of 45 players during the regular season; this limit is lifted to 155 players for preseason tryouts only.
- All programs can choose whether to allow athletic scholarships or not; start-up programs are given a max of 5 years to decide whether or not to provide athletic scholarships to players.
- All D1 scholarship programs can only have a max of 12 total scholarships, and a max of 6 full scholarship players.
- All D2 scholarship programs can only have a max of 10 total scholarships, and a max of 5 full scholarship players.
- All 44 players can be selected to either the 15's (25 players) and/or the 7's (15 players) active roster at any time during either season; All programs are required to give all inactive players free season tickets in the designated student sections for all home games.
- During the 7's season, each team has 8 substitutes and 4 interchanges per game (only 2 interchanges per overtime period).
- During the 15's season, each team has 10 substitutes and 8 interchanges per game (only 3 interchanges per overtime period).
- However, once a player is substituted they cannot be brought back onto the pitch except for one of two reasons: (1) blood injury which requires urgent medical attention (a “blood substitution”) or (2) a forward is required to come back onto the pitch to replace an injured front-row forward.
- A blood substitution will result in the injured player leaving the pitch and being replaced with another player until the injury/blood is taken care of. If the blood does not stop flowing, the blood substitution will become a normal substitution.
- A serious blood substitution can result in the player being off the pitch for up to a maximum of 15 minutes (actual time, not game clock), after which it becomes a permanent substitution. However, smaller cuts may be taken care of within a few minutes with a bandage or Vaseline to stop the flow of blood.
- Overall Dimensions: The length of the field (i.e. in-between the try lines) must be a minimum of 94 meters and a maximum of 100 meters (103-109yds), while the width (i.e. in-between the sidelines) must be a minimum of 68 meters and a maximum of 70 meters (74-77yds).
- Halfway Line: The halfway line marks the field in half regardless of the size of the field.
- 10 Meter Line: The 10 meter line is marked 10 meters from the halfway line on either side. The 10 meter line marks the distance that a kickoff must go before the opposing team may gain possession of the ball.
- 22 Meter Line: The 22 meter line is measured from the goal line (or try line). This is the line marks the spot play is restarted.
- In Goal Area: The “in goal” area is the equivalent of the end zone in football. It is marked by the Goal Line and the Dead Ball Line. The size of the In Goal area is not less than 5 meters and not greater than 22 meters.
- The Goal Post: The goal post in Rugby shares the same dimensions as NFL Football. In meters the goal is 5.6 meters wide and 3 meters high at the crossbar.
- 15's Matches:
a) 4 points for a win.
b) 2 points for a draw.
c) 0 points for a loss.
d) 1 "bonus" point for scoring at least 4 tries.
e) 1 "bonus" point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent.
f) 1 "bonus" point for losing by 8 points or less.
g) 1 "bonus" point for losing in overtime. - 7's Invitationals:
a) 4 points for 1st place.
b) 3 points for 2nd place.
c) 2 points for 3rd place.
d) 1 point for 4th place.
e) 0 points for 5th place or worse.
- All USIAA programs play either of the following:
a) an 11-game season (5h/5a/1n) beginning on the first Saturday of March and ending on the second Saturday of May, if they were selected for a regular-season bowl game.
b) a 10-game season (5h/5a) beginning on the second Saturday of March and ending on the second Saturday of May, if they were not selected for a regular-season bowl game. - All 4 non-regional 15's games are required to be against teams that are within 700 (D1) or 500 (D2 & D3/D4) miles of the program in question.
- The D1, D2, & D3/D4 Tournaments begin on the first week after the regular season and ending five weeks later.
- To be eligible for the post season:
a) all programs that participated in a regular-season bowl game must have a minimum record of 6-5 (or 5-6 with good academic standing), and not be on probation.
b) all programs that didn't participate in a regular season bowl game must have a minimum record of 5-5 (or 4-6 with good academic standing), and not be on probation.
- All programs play a 4-invitational 7's fall season (tournaments only - may only host 1) beginning in the last week of September and ending in the third week of October followed by a post-season in-conference tournament.
- All players must play in at least game in at least 1 invitational (i.e. serving as the JV season).
- All regular season invitationals can only have a max of 8 teams (2 4-team brackets, each team plays 3 games; top 2 teams in each bracket play a 4-team single-elimination tournament with a loser's bracket); all teams must be assigned to brackets randomly.
- All regular-season tournaments can only have teams within a 700 (D1) or 500 (D2 & D3/D4) mile radius of the host site.
- All post-season in-region championship tournaments after the final regular-season invitationals must have no more than 10 teams, with 2 5-team brackets (each team plays 4 games within their bracket, winners & runner-ups of each bracket move on to a 4-team single-elimination tournament).
- Once the fall 7's season is over, teams cannot participate in team-related activities until the following January, but still may workout individually.