Thus the three-quarters found most of the brilliant attack fall to their share, and as they formed also the main defence of the field, the 'full-backs' had little to do. First one and then another club started the new custom of playing one back and three three-quarters. The Scotchmen and the North-country players began the practice before it was regularly adopted in the south; but by the winter of 1880 both teams in the North and South match played one back, although the Southerners still relied on a couple of three-quarters, while the Northerners played three. Soon after this, however, the second 'back' was generally dispensed with in first-class teams, and the field for many years was arranged in the following order: nine forwards, two halves, three three-quarters, and a back.

During the second stage of the game which we have just been describing, the merits and advantages of passing the ball were always admitted both by players and by writers on the game, and yet it is only in the last few years that the science of passing has been so far cultivated as to make the game of to-day distinctly different from what it was in 1880 or 1881. Again, we may say that it is difficult to fix a precise period at which the game changed, and quick and low passing into the open became the predominant feature of the play as it undoubtedly is at the present time. The style of playing a game alters so slowly, that probably the players themselves of the last few years have noticed less than the spectators how different the game of Rugby football is, as it is now played by the leading clubs, from the game exhibited before it came to be recognised as a leading principle that a player must 'pass' before he was in difficulties himself if his pass was to be relied upon to do good to his side.

Probably the playing public were converted to the new style by the wonderful play shown by the Oxford University team between 1882 and 1884. Certainly, since that time up to the present day, passing has been one of the most important points of the game, and one that has been practised until a wonderful amount of skill in the new game has been acquired. If one comes on to a field before play has commenced, the men waiting for the game are not taking drop-kick practice, or dribbling the ball about to 'keep their feet in,' as was their wont before the passing game came in, but are now to be seen playing at catch-ball, and slinging the ball from hand to hand, not high in the air, but about the level of the hands from the ground. The clever half-back, too, does not pick up the ball and then pass it to his three-quarter, but sweeps it off the ground straight into the hands of its destined recipient in one movement. Forwards, half-backs, and three-quarters, alike, vie with each other in their efforts to make brilliant 'passes,' the ball sometimes passing from hand to hand half a dozen times before it reaches the open, and an attempt is made by a player to have a clear run, and show his pace down the field.

That the game fails unless skilfully done is clear, but experience has conclusively shown that with good and well-trained teams the best way to score tries is for the players to have thoroughly mastered the modern scientific 'passing' game.

The introduction of the 'passing' game and its gradual adoption throughout the country has led to a further change in the arrangement of the field, or, to use the technical phrase, to the institution of the 'four three quarter system.' The system originated in Wales, where some of the leading clubs soon discovered that for a 'pass' to be accurate it must be short, and that four three-quarter backs who had learnt to back each other up and take short passes were almost irresistible in attack, and that they also afforded a formidable wall of defence against the runs of the opposing back players. For some years the Welsh clubs and the Welsh international teams appeared in the field with four three-quarters, but the rest of the country looked with some scepticism upon the practice, as it was pointed out how materially the forward division was weakened by the abstraction of the ninth forward. Gradually, however, the Welsh system gained favour throughout the country, first the North and then the South succumbing to the innovation. In the winter of 1892 the Northern team in the North v.

South match played with four three-quarters, and, although it was stated at the time by some of the Rugby Union committee that this was merely an experiment, little was then wanted to convert the innovation into an established practice. In the winter season of 1892-3 the Welsh international fifteen carried all before them, and administered a decisive beating both to England and Scotland, and this, no doubt, had an important effect upon public opinion; and the ensuing season of 1893-4 saw not only both Universities but all four international teams - England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales - with four three-quarters in the field. The new system is no doubt an inevitable corollary to the passing game, and is likely to remain an established part of the game, although a good many clubs who play the safer and old-fashioned game and rely mainly upon their forwards, are still content with three three-quarter backs and nine forwards.

One great charm to spectators about both games of football is the simplicity of the main outlines of the game. Although the actual rules as to small points may be hard to comprehend, a spectator, seeing the game for the first time, can understand at a glance the object for which each side is striving, and can follow with interest the varying fortunes of the struggle.

To describe the main features of the Rugby game in a few lines: two parties of fifteen face each other on a rectangular piece of grass, of about 120 yards long, and 70 yards or so wide-In the centre of the boundary line of each end (the goal-line) are placed two upright posts, 18 ft. 6 in. apart; ten feet from the ground these are connected by a cross-bar. The aim of each side is to kick the ball over the cross-bar of the opponent's goal. When the ball crosses the boundary lines of the sides (touch-lines) it is out of play, and has to be brought back into play. When it crosses a goal-line if one of the attacking side can 'touch it down,' i.e. place his hand so as to stop its rolling, he has gained a try, and his own side can take it out again into the field and have a free kick at goal. To gain a goal, either from the field of play or from a try, the ball must be kicked direct from the ground over the cross-bar, and to work the ball towards the opponent's line the player may run with it, kick it, or hand it to another of his own side.