When you do finally get to grips with the control scheme, Rugby 22 offers several modes: Quick Match, Online Match, Career, and League. I spent most of my first match randomly pressing buttons to see what they would do – something you shouldn’t have to do minutes after a tutorial. It doesn’t teach you how to kick in-play, it doesn’t teach you how to properly maul, and it doesn’t teach you how to fend off defenders in attack. Then, when you’re done with the tutorial, you’re thrown into your first game against AI – without any formal introduction to the full control scheme. There’s no real attempt to explain these situations, and given the breakdown is probably the most confusing part of a rugby game, not explaining what a jackal is, let alone when you should attempt one, is going to end up frustrating more players than not. While I’ve got a reasonably good understanding of rugby from my playing days, I worry about how Rugby 22 is going to be received by new players. In line out training, you’re taught how to throw the ball to each of the pods, but not really how to select which player to lift during an opposition throw in.

In ruck training, you’re taught how to add players (which is as simple as hitting B/Circle and thrusting your right analogue stick forward) but not how to jackal. What it doesn’t show you, especially in the later stages, is how to actually compete for the ball – something which is pretty important in the grand scheme of modern rugby. You’ll learn how to make both short and long passes, how to throw players into a ruck, how to scrum, and how a line out works. The tutorial is designed to walk you through the basics of rugby, in the same way your first training session would. I’ve put about 12 hours into the game so far across the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, and despite playing through the tutorial three times, it took me about two attempts – and one online game with a friend – to work out how jackaling works.

Its control scheme, which you’re not fully introduced to – even in the game’s dedicated tutorial – is far too complicated, leaving you in the lurch in pivotal moments. While it’s worth saying that Rugby 22 is an improvement over Eko’s last game, Rugby 20, it still leaves a lot to be desired.

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