- See touch football for a codified version of Touch Rugby derived from Rugby football and played under the auspices of the Federation of International Touch (FIT).
Touch rugby is a superfast derivative of Rugby football in which players do not tackle in the traditional highly physical way, but instead make light contact. Touches can be made on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball. In addition, the rules of rugby are simplified, removing elements such as scrums, rucks, mauls, line-outs and kicks.
Touch rugby is often played informally, rather like a pick-up soccer game might be played, since as a light contact sport there is no need for strict third-party refereeing.
A common time for it to be played is as an end of training session on the day before an important rugby game, to reduce to a minimum the chances of an accidental injury. Schools have also used touch rugby as part of their curriculum to avoid the injuries that would inevitably stem from playing the full-contact game.
Advantages
Touch rugby has a number of advantages over the traditional game, including the ease of learning and the ability to play it without fear of injury. As a result it is a popular social game; mixed-gender and women-only games are also very popular.
It helps to develop essential skills and fitness for use both in rugby and other sports. Touch rugby also has less required equipment. As kicking is not part of touch, posts are not required, and the game can be played with minimal facilities (a ball and a rectangular playing area). In South Africa, social games are usually played barefoot. Beach touch is also popular.
The game can potentially be adapted for those who are disabled or use wheelchairs: see Wheelchair Power Tag Rugby.
Rules
There is no single set of rules to touch rugby, though one of the most common is that developed by the Federation of International Touch (FIT). As this version was developed in Australia, the resulting version is often called touch football, and more information about this particular form of touch rugby wil be found in that article.
Other version of touch rugby are not fully codified, so when strangers wish to play together they have to revert to the early days of rugby and agree on the rules before they start. Often the game played by training rugby union players will be based on modified rules of Rugby Sevens or touch rugby league. One common variation is that a fair touch must be below the waist.
Until 2003/2004 the RFU in its junior development program called The Three Stages of the Rugby Continuum encouraged the playing of Non-contact/touch rugby in its under-eights competition, although in future it will promote Mini Tag instead.
Another variation in the touch rugby leagues of South Africa is "6 Down". This is a more structured form of the game and is more suited to mixed and girl teams. It works as the name suggests, a team of 6 is allowed a max of 5 touches before the ball is turned over to the other side.