EA Sports Rugby features an enormous amount of real player names and likenesses, although some players tend to look nothing like their real-life counterparts (for example, Jonah Lomu looks like himself with his hulking frame and bald head, whereas Tana Umaga looks more like Darrell Gibson and is obviously missing his dreadlocks). Electronic Arts have done a great job securing licenses from 6 different Rugby Unions in order to make the game as complete and authentic as possible.

The players themselves are extremely well animated and the graphics overall are extremely sharp. As with FIFA 2001 the options menus preceding the main game stagger a little under some unknown frame-rate strain, but once playing the game it is a joy to behold and never slows down. The camera angle is set-up in such a way that you won't notice the crowd very much, who are so far in the distance that the developers have been able to use what looks like a standard crowd texture laid over the enormous stadium backdrops. Some stadium pitches are slightly different to look at when examined closely but for the most part you won't notice the subtle differences when the action starts.

The commentary is a mixed bag, and we would be lying if we didn't say that it was turned off after less than an hour's play. Bill McLaren is irritating (only a personal opinion, I know a lot of people love him) and he does get repetitive extremely quickly. Jamie Salmon isn't bad, but again he tends to say the same things over and over. What the game needed was commentary similar to that used in NHL 2001 in which the commentators put more time into just calling the players names than making inane and mistimed statements. The rest of the sound effects are excellent. Throughout the game you will hear players making a call (not often but it does happen), thudding tackle noises and grunts to go with them, shouts of frustration when you don't support a forward fast enough in a maul and he gets driven over, and a realistic-sounding crowd. Do yourself a favour and turn off the commentary as the sound effects go a long way to enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game.