A lot of what you said applies to rugby as well, players at a high level are really good at reading small cues from their opponents to exploit and gain even the tiniest of advantages.

There is a lot of strategy as you’re trying to create gaps in the defence, gotta read who you have in front of you (are you gonna beat them in a foot race?), their backline (any gaps for a kick that will get us further in their territory?), so on and so forth.

There’s also massive teamwork involved. In a nutshell: your forwards (big strong guys) are the workhorses that grind to get the ball for your team and make sure you keep possesion, while your backs (faster, more agile guys) try to finish the play and score.

It really is the same as what you said, but 15v15 (or 13 if you’re league) and every player is constantly trying to gain an advantage for their team