Touch Rugby may be the best inroad into getting rugby on the field this fall. 

High school and youth programs have probably been the first to officially get the OK to play touch rugby in a competitive format, but this certainly could be the way forward for college and club, as well.

Rugby Illinois actually lobbied the state to change the risk level for touch rugby relative to full-contact rugby. And they were successful—successful enough to make it possible for kids to play touch.

In Maryland, teams play touch Rugby League, which, in case you don’t know, is another code of rugby that counts downs, similar to American football. In League, when you’re tackled (or in this case touched), the defense retreats five meters, and the tackled player gets up and heels the ball back to a halfback to start the play again. No rucks, no mauls, no scrums, no close contact.

Supporters of the adjustments say the main thing is to get young athletes who have not been able to play sports much back on the field.

Playing touch rugby—a common training tool for rugby athletes at every level all around the world—allows athletes to work on their ball handling and support skills, their passing, and their communication and organization on defense. Plus, it’s fun.

Said one coach in another state, “we were talking about it after the games and someone asked me if we’d kept score, but we didn’t. We just played and I don’t know if the players knew who’d won or lost; it didn’t matter. Just being out there and playing rugby again was all we wanted.”