try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area (on or behind the goal line). Rugby union and league differ slightly in defining 'grounding the ball' and the 'in-goal' area (see next section).

The term try comes from try at goal, signifying that originally, grounding the ball only gave the opportunity to try to score with a kick at goal.[1]

A try is analogous to a touchdown in American and Canadian football, with the major difference being that a try requires the ball be simultaneously touching the ground in the in-goal area and an attacking player who is in the field of play or in-goal. (Oddly enough, the official name of the extra point in American football according to NFL rules is the try.) In the laws of both forms of rugby, the term touch down formally refers only to grounding the ball by the defensive team in their in-goal. Although occasionally people refer to a try as a 'touchdown', the correct usage for the action is 'grounding the ball'.