the members that all future matches would be played under the laws of the IRFB. In 1997, the IRFB moved its headquarters from London to Dublin and a year later it changed its name to the International Rugby Board (IRB); in 2014, it changed its name again to the current World Rugby (WR). Evolution of the laws of the game Changes to the laws of the game have been made at various times and this process still continues day Number of players The number of players on the field for each team was reduced from 20 to 15 a side in 1877. Method of scoring and points Historically, no points at all were awarded for a try, the reward being to "try" to score a goal (to kick the ball over the cross bar and between the posts). Modern points scoring was introduced in the late 1880s, and was uniformly accepted by the Home Nations for the 1890/91 season. The balance in value between tries and conversions has changed greatly over the years. Until 1891, a try scored one point, a conversion two. For the next two years, tries scored two points and conversion three. In 1893, the modern pattern of tries scoring more was begun, with three points awarded for a try, two for a kick. The number of points from a try increased to four in 1971 and five in 1992. Penalties have been worth three points since 1891 (they previously had been worth two points). The value of the drop goal was four points between 1891 and 1948, three points at all other times. Before the 1937–38 northern hemisphere season, whenever a team chose to take a penalty kick, the offending team formed up at the point of the penalty, with the kicker retreating. Ever since, penalty kicks have been taken from the spot of the penalty, with the offending team required to retreat at least 10 yards toward their own try line. The goal from mark was made invalid in 1977, having been worth three points, except between 1891 and 1905 when it was worth four. The field goal was also banned in 1905 after previously being worth 4. The defence was originally allowed to attempt to charge down a conversion kick from the moment the ball was placed on the ground, generally making it impossible for the kicker to place the ball himself and make