How to ruck in rugby

ruck on Ireland's try line 

The main thing in a ruck is to get in a strong position, you always want to try to be in a lower position than the person your driving off, a good thing that could be used at any time is to grab the leg of the player your driving off and drive upwards as it puts him off balance.

General rucking rules:
I'm going to give a list of the most basic rucking rules as rucks, ruck are probably the most common time when penalties are given. If you already know the rules then skip this section:
1) You are not aloud to use your hands once a ruck is formed- so if your in a ruck and you see the ball on the floor in easy reach, don't touch it! your feet can be an important tool in getting the ball back to your side which many forwards seem to forget in the thick of the ruck.
2) You must come in from the back foot. This rule is a bit more complicated and may be confusing to new players but it just means you can't come in from the side of a ruck- you must come in straight over the player on the floor.
3)  When you are tackled and a ruck is formed you are aloud to place the ball back towards your side but after that you are not aloud to play the ball again.
4) The tackler must roll away, if the tackler gets in the way and blocks the way of the ball so the opposition can't get to it its a penalty.
5) When you drive over a ruck you must attempt to stay on your feet, if you start driving in a ruck and go straight down over the ball its considered dangerous and killing the ball and will result in a penalty.

General rucking:

A ruck is formed when a player is tackled, players from each team try's to drive the opposition off the ruck in order to gain possession of the ball, the team who has the possession of the ball usually manages to win the ruck and keep the ball as the ball is placed on their side.
The main thing in a ruck is to get in a strong position and drive players with your shoulders not your hands and arms!
You always want to try to be in a lower position than the person your driving off, a good technique that could be used at any time is to grab the leg of the player your driving off and drive upwards which puts him off balance and then making him easy to push off.

Grabbing your teammates shirt:
In situations where there's no opposition immediately coming over the ruck- this can be when your team has driven of the first couple of opposition off the ball or when your the very first to the ruck- then the best thing to do is instead of stepping over your teammate, which is pointless because your not driving any one off and there just end up going round you and taking the ball, just grab your tackled team mates shirt with both your hands and get in a strong position e.g. wide feet and low, this make you very hard to drive off as your in a difficult position to push against and you have the weight of your team mate on the floor to push against as well. This then secures the ruck and gives your scrumhalf time to look at his options.

What to do when they have the advantage on you:
In a ruck where the opposition forwards have the momentum and are coming over the ball in a lower position than you, one thing you can do is grab one of them from above wrapping both your arms round there waist from above and roll over on to your side using your weight to roll them over and out of the ruck with you, this might leave a gap for one of your teammate's to ruck through.
Another thing you can do is grab them by there shirt and pull them over (toward your side) and out of the ruck, This also can present an opening for you to drive through.

knowing when to get in a ruck:
If your a forward its important to learn which ruck you need to get into and which ones to leave and join your line, this is basically common sense but i thought i should mention it anyway.
Generally rucks you should leave are one's where it makes no difference whether you go in or not- this could be where you see that you already have loads of players in and they're winning the ball or where the opposition are in close support and have already secured the ruck before your players have got there and there's no chance of a counter ruck.

Counter rucking:
At the start of a match counter rucking can be hard, you often won't be able to do it if the team is decent, but when you get further into the match the opposition get tired and make mistakes, they may fail to get enough players to the ruck and leave gaps or some of there players may not get in a good position which  allows you to get the advantage and drive them off, judging a ruck and looking for a position to attack from is a great skill and you will find if you attack one weakness it opens up mores point of attack for your teammate's to drive through and you might win the ball or at least disrupt it.


Preventing the opposition ripping the ball from a tackled player:

When one of your team mates get tackled and the guy who tackled your player gets on his feet and try's to take the ball- which is legal because hes the tackler and the ruck hasn't formed yet- you need to get him off quickly.
If they manage to get there hands on the ball you need to hit the which should knock him over before he gets a decent grip on the ball

Ripping the ball:

Now I've given you some tips of how to protect the ball the ball from players trying to get the ball from the tackled player but you need to remember its also a great way to get the ball yourself! if your a flanker this is especially important to know and perfect.

So you can do this at any time if your the tackler or the first person to get to the ruck.
When you tackle a player and there forwards aren't close enough because there lazy you need to learn to get on your feet as quick as possible, release the player (even for half a second) and then your free to go for the ball from any position, try to get in a strong position over the ball so any forwards coming in will have a hard time getting you off the ball
Remember the tackled player has to release the ball!
So if he holds on to the ball don't say 'okay fine keep it'  keep battling for it and don't let go of that ball untill you get it or the ref pins the player on the floor for holding on!

This is a great instructional video were you can see it in action.