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Rugby union (short for rugby union football and often referred to as simply rugby or union in countries familiar with rugby union and rugby league) is an outdoor sport played by teams of 15 players with a prolate spheroid-shaped ball. It is one of the two main forms of full-team rugby football, the other being rugby league. There is also a quicker seven-a-side sport called rugby sevens, which exists in both rugby union- and rugby league-derived forms.

The game was developed from the rules used to play an early form of football at Rugby School in England, hence the name. The crucial differences from association football (soccer) are that in rugby the ball is a prolate spheroid instead of a sphere and the players are allowed to handle the ball. The players progress up the field by running with the ball in hand or by kicking the ball, players may throw (pass) the ball from player to player, but unlike in American and Canadian football they may not throw it forward, the ball must only go backwards or laterally when thrown or passed.