The World Cup's finished but soon you'll be able to recreate those nail-biting matches courtesy of EA's debut in the world of rugby sims, Rugby 2000.
Andy Smith

Rugby games? Didn't Codemasters do one of those?
A couple of companies have tried to produce rugby games in the past, but with the notable exception of Codemasters' Jonah Lomu Rugby a couple of years ago, they were pretty lame efforts.

Why?
Rugby's game dynamics don't easily lend themselves to computers. There's so much going on in such a structured way it's hard to recreate the sport and actually make it fun to play - i.e. bring some element of skill to the game.

So why are EA bothering?
Because, as Codemasters proved, with some good game design and attention to detail it can be done, and done well. There's a massive potential audience, too - after all, there's a world full of rugby fans out there.

Of course there are. They've just had their World Cup, haven't they?
Sure have, and this is an officially endorsed product of said event. The game contains an Official Rugby World Cup Tournament Mode where all the teams and players are present and correct. The designers have also managed to recreate 25 famous stadia from around the world, including all the ones used in the World Cup.

Impressive. What else?
As well as the World Cup, you can recreate leading northern and southern hemisphere tournaments (no northern hemisphere team has yet won the World Cup) and, of course, have 'friendly' internationals.

What, with teams like 'French' and 'Western Samosa'?
Not at all. There are 20 real-life teams in there and some 600 real-life players too.