Beach rugby

Beach rugby is a sport that is based on rugby union. Currently there is not a centralized regulation of the sport as in beach soccer or beach volleyball, but leagues are common across Europe. The sport is particularly popular in Italy, in the Balkan region and in Eastern Europe. Casual games are played around the world using different sets of rules. However, organized leagues use a field that is only a fraction of the size of a standard rugby field, far fewer players on each team, shorter matches, and a simplified scoring system.

Annual events are held by dedicated organisations in Italy, UK, USA, and Spain.

The inaugural European Beach Five Rugby Championships was held in Moscow in 2017 and is being held there since then.

In Beach rugby, rucks, mauls, scrums, gang tackles, kicks above waist heights, lineouts are outlawed.

The size of a beach rugby field depends on the decision of the league. The field is between 30 and 50 metres long and 20–35 metres wide, and the in-goals are 3–7 metres deep. There are no goalposts on the field, and the lines are usually marked with some sort of tape or rope.

Depending on the league and the field size, either 4 or 7 players are allowed on the field for one team at once. Between 3 and 7 reserves are allowed, again, depending on the league. Substitutions are often done "on-the-fly," similar to ice hockey or futsal.

A standard rugby ball is used, but many leagues will use a size 4 ball instead of size 5, the size used in all levels of field rugby above youth. A rugby ball is oval-shaped and made of synthetic leather panels that have small dimples to enhance handling.

Most leagues use a "one try, one point" scoring system, since there are no goalposts on the field. Occasionally, a sudden-death extra time period is used to resolve matches drawn at the end of regulation, but not all leagues use this rule.