Wheelchair rugby words · Beginner

A team sport for male and female athletes with a disability, played in wheelchairs by two teams with four players each on court. The aim is to score tries by crossing the opposing team's try line in possession of the ball, and the team with the most tries at the end wins. A game is four periods of eight minutes.

The way of scoring: a player in possession of the ball has two wheels touching the out-of-bounds area across the opposing team's try line, between the two posts. The player must have possession before either wheel crosses the line, and a ball rolling off the player is not possession. A try is worth one point.

Seven sport classes from 0.5 to 3.5, a lower number meaning greater impairment. An athlete who would be allocated 4.0 or more is not eligible and is classed Not Eligible.

The classification points of a team's players on court may not total more than eight. A team gets an extra half point for each woman on court classified 0.5 to 1.5, and an extra point for each woman classified 2.0 to 3.5. A team that can field only three players must keep their total below eight.

The wheelchair is part of the player, and one that does not meet the specifications is barred until it does. It has four wheels, two main wheels of at most 70 cm with spoke guards and push rims, and two casters on separate axles at least 20 cm apart. It is at most 46 cm long from the front of the back wheel and at most 53 cm high, and nothing may reach past the push rims in width.

A team in possession has forty seconds to score a try, timed by the forty second clock, which restarts whenever a team gains possession of a live ball. Failing to score before it expires is a violation.

An illegal action that comes from a genuine attempt to play. Committed by the team with the ball it costs possession. Committed by the defending team it brings a thirty second penalty served by the player who committed it, who is released if the opponents score a try. If a defender fouls an attacker making a clear attempt to score, the referee may award a penalty try instead.

Contact with an opponent's wheelchair behind either rear axle that makes it rotate in a way that puts the player at risk. If the first contact was in front of the axle and legal, and unbroken until the spin happened, there is no foul.