With just under two weeks to go until the Rugby Tens Championship comes to South Africa, you may be asking yourself, what exactly is rugby tens?

A variant of rugby union, the game was developed in Asia in the late 1960s and has since become a regular feature at rugby tournaments in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Manila, and Stockholm.

It is now a professional sport thanks to the Rugby Tens Championship, with international franchises promoting equality for men and women players, and offering Academy athletes the opportunity to contribute to their team’s efforts in the Championship competition.

If you are new to the world of rugby 10s, here are 10 simple rules:

Rule 1: Each team has 10 players, five forwards and five backs

Rule 2: Forwards may include: 2 props, 1 hooker and 2 locks

Rule 3: Backs may include: 1 scrum-half, 1 fly-half, 1 center, 1 wing, and 1 fullback

Rule 4: Matches are 20 minutes (10 minutes each half)

Rule 5: Five rolling subs on the bench.

Rule 6: Conversion attempts are drop kicks and must be taken within 40 seconds

Rule 7: The team that scores takes the kick-off

Rule 8: There are no loose forwards in the scrum

Rule 9: A yellow card suspension lasts two minutes

Rule 10: If a match is drawn after 20 minutes, it goes to 5-min sudden death followed by drop kicking knock-out competition

The Rugby Tens Championship is going to be played in Pretoria [October 7-8] at Harlequin Rugby Club and Loftus Versfeld respectively, and in Stellenbosch [October 14-15] at Danie Craven Stadium, with five professional franchises fielding men’s, women’s, boys, and girls teams each weekend of action.

Not only competing to win the individual legs of competition in the two South African cities, but teams’ efforts will also be contributing to the Championship competition.

Gaining points from their positioning in the two stages, whoever ends Stellenbosch with the most points will find themselves the Championship winners. This adds another dimension to the competition, with everything on the line until the very final whistle.

Blending the two formats, as 10s combines the physicality of 15s with the skill and dynamic play of Sevens, there are plenty who see value in the newly professional format of the game.

Having had its first outing in Portugal last November, the inaugural edition of the Rugby Tens Championship attracted star names from across the world of rugby.

This included a variety of names who made their names famous globally in both the seven-a-side and 15-a-side game.

Among the playing group, 22 nations will be represented across all the teams. This includes a strong representation of players from traditional tier one and two countries, who often don’t get the opportunity to showcase their skill as a professional level.

You can learn more about the competition by visiting rugbytens.com, or on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.