How long is a rugby match?
How long is a rugby match? The length of a rugby match is 80 minutes long with two halves of 40 minutes.
For decades, rugby matches have been eighty minutes long in the sport, allowing time for teams to fully get a mantle.
The half time interval in a match can be no longer than 15 minutes. At this time, players are allowed to leave the pitch and recover in their respective changing rooms.
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In rugby, unlike other sports such as football, once the clock timer hits 80 minutes, the game will stop once plays ends. There is no extra time added like in sports such as football.
A stoppage in the play happens either when the ball has left the pitch, or a player has made an error, such as knocking the ball forwards or making a forward pass.
To make sure that time is not wasted during the match, the referee can stop the game clock when he wishes. In other sports, the clock will instead continue to run and the time is added onto the end of the match.
Extra time can happen in rugby in knockout tournaments if both teams are still level. These periods are 10 minutes long and there is a 5-minute interval between halves.
In the very rare situation that the teams are still both level after extra time, there will be a penalty shootout style ending where teams dropkick between the post from 22 metres out.
We saw this happen in 2009 between Leicester Tigers and Cardiff Blues. The team from the midlands won that shoutout.
This article will be regularly updated if the rules ever change involving rugby matches and the length of a game.
