Rucking is not a term used in any other sport, so what is a ruck? A ruck is formed after a tackle when the player who gets tackled presents the ball back to his team. A player from the offensive team can "ruck" over the tackled player to protect the other team from stealing the ball. The defending team can also contest the ruck, meaning there are two (or more) players pushing against each other over top of the player who was tackled.
This is what a ruck looks like in fifteens rugby:
The ruck is very technical part of rugby, so here are some key rules:
The offensive player defends the ball after a tackle
The defensive player can try to clear the ruck and push through the offensive player rucking
The defensive player can only enter the ruck through the front (can not start pushing from the side or back).
This is called entering through the gate, where the gate is the width of the player laying on the ground.
If there is no offensive player defending the ball, the defensive player can perform a move called a "jackal"
or a "steal", as long as they are on their feet, enter through the gate, and dont touch their hands to the ground.
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