If you like playing rugby,
Rugby 2005 is for you. However, that’s about all the game has to offer.
Rugby 2005 has two main modes: Tournaments and World League. There’s also a Practice mode to go over basic training, scrimmage situations, and the like... but that’s it. Other features offered are the abilities to create a player and to check your rugby stats, but that’s hardly worth mentioning.
There isn’t an Online mode for Rugby 2005, which makes sense. No way is there a following for the Rugby series like there is for Madden. The only people I could see online would be die-hards and everyone else outside the U.S. (rugby is much bigger in Europe and Australia, you see...).
Something I think Rugby 2005 could have really benefited from would have been mini-games. I’m not sure what, but something that could help improve your skills for the actual matches would have been great. Perhaps passing or tackling drills of some sort... even kicking. Just something more to increase the number of game modes.
The game of rugby itself depends on how well you know the rules of the game. Make sure to work on your passing, scrum techniques, and tackles, because that’s the core of the game. I mentioned earlier the difficulty in tackling, but that’s really because your players are so much smaller than they are in Madden. You really have to be lined up next to the guy to put a lick on ‘em.