For me, the defensive rucking is what is holding back the gameplay right now. When you are attacking, the rucks are fun and generally quite quick. But when on defense, it feels like you’re doing nothing 95% of the time and just waiting until you get the ball back - this is really boring.
It would make for a better gameplay experience if there was more jackling or competing for the ball on defensive rucks. Would make the game more fun.
I agree, you can keep.pressing for players to join the ruck, but you never win the ruck, the game also freezes when doing the ruck tutorial on PS5
Add max players to the ruck then spam Y/triangle
Unless we are doing things wrong, it feels like rucks are completely random. Played through the tutorial, the passing the running, offloading, handoffs, sidesteps, ect, ect, all good enough to start with. The rucks at this point need a complete re-work, can honestly say one of the worst rucks systems I have ever played. The rucks are the heart of Rugby, do not dumb them down or simplify them by limiting 3 in a ruck, it changes the dynamic of the whole game, It seems agitating to play because of the ruck system at the moment. It is so robotic and slow, particularly on defensive rucks. Just copy and paste rugby 22 rucks and set plays and formation into the rest of Rugby 25 gameplay, and then it will be a fun game. U
Is it me but is it nearly impossible win a ruck when u defend
Just spam stealing button you will get a lot more ruck wins
I wrote the original post in EA4… and not a single thing has changed. Rucks are still terrible.
Rucks, along with passing, are the most common occurance in a game. If these two things aren’t fun - you’ve not got a good game.
The best way in my opinion :
So the “steal” button would only be usefull just after the tackle, the “contest” button when players join the ruck. The success rate depending on players stats.
But the point being there is absolutely no timing or skill involved just smash steal at random, broken system, that needs an overhaul. They have to put all attention to fixing the rucks, makes the game unplayable at the moment.
I just “tackled” this issue (pun intended) on the megathread:
Idealy would be to implement a system that merges Rugby challenge 3 ruck and Rugby 22 rucks features, or at this point just Rugby 22 rucks. Did the previous developers have a patent on that system, is that why it wasn’t used?, is Rugby 22 system not compatible with Rugby 25? Rugby 22 rucking system was not without its flaws, but much better system then current Rugby 25 system. Weird , I can understand if it was a legal issue.
But if they were allowed to use it because the publisher owns the rights , why not use a system that is working and expand on it? I don’t think the current Rugby 25 system is unfixable, but they need to add the ability to add up to 5 players, fix the Jackle, allow the offense to hold on with risk of holding on being called, allow hands in rucks, risk vs reward. And fix the three button system to work as intended and explained in the tutorial, because if it worked how the tutorial explains it then it should work as a decent system. Maybe, has not been fully implemented yet, because the tutorial teaches one thing and the game plays another. On a good note the offloads which are very difficult to get balanced right, they seem to be working fairly good, and the tackling although needs works has a good feel to it, you feel a sense of impact on them, I like how if you hold the shoulder button and B you attempt a standing tackle if in good position and it allows you stay on your feet for a quicker on your feet quicker jackle, (if implemented correctly), my gut feeling is , it may take some time, but Big Ant will fix the system. So for that, I will continue to support by purchasing on different systems. But will also provide feedback on how the system can be improved. js_dev_uk your deep dive on rucks explains it all, great work. 
Ruck speed on R22 was good but the overall system was bad. Ruck speed on RC4 was bad but the overall system was good.
Just merge the two, 100% agree with u
But not Rc4, they dumbed it down to max 3 in a ruck. Rc3 had a better system, let the player choose up to five on that rare occasion. In RC3 there where some good battles at the ruck, and you had to be careful not to get isolated. Now in saying that it had great sliders to fine tune it, another good recommendation for Rugby 25, sliders.
At scrums every time I get good but I can never push to win the ball every time i lose it, at rucks almost every time my ball is stolen, when I want to steal it it happens very rarely, rugby 2022 was very easy to play why did you have to complicate the controls so much?!
Rucking seems to have gone a bit backwards recently. Players dont seem to join the rucks quickly.
Exactly, I started losing the ball more and more often.
The latest patch 2/19/25 on both the xbox-s and steam seems to have improved the rucks some on defense, but on offense sometimes they delay to go into the ruck, almost like giving the AI a chance for a ruck win every now and then. The game seems to be improving but in very small steps. It feels like it takes 3 steps forward then 2.5 steps back, so the net improvement is minimum. But hey, at least moving in right direction. Developers, please explain the intention in the rucking system, because I don’t think anyone is sure of what they are doing correct in the ruck, the tutorial explains, and that system would be good if implemented into the game correctly. Because it does not function like the tutorial, the tutorial gives the impression that you have three ways you can get the possession of the ball at the ruck, quick steal with tackling player doing standing tackle(B with shoulder button)( Y) contested tackle never happens, animation is to slow) would be cool if it work, but the offensive player should be able to defend against with chance of holding on penalty. The bind B button , were your 2-3 players arrive at the ruck before the offensive players rucking , this would result in a push over(never happens in game only in the tutorial) and Steal which seems to be the only way once you have B binded to steal/jackle the ball, the steal should be able to be attempted any time with warning from the Ref, no hands , again risk vs reward , eather get penalized hands in ruck, or you sneak a jackle. System is there but needs to be implemented better, and again, up to 5 players in the ruck, would make the whole system make more sense, plus if someone spams the bind button, the player will get caught with fewer players defending. We are patient, as long as there are improvements, will play Rugby 25 as experiment project hobby with lots of possibilities for improvements, and play rugby 22 and Rugby challenge 3 to remind me what Rugby 25 needs to improve on.