Rugby-does anyone play?

[Crawford]

Hey after watching the All Blacks kick off to an amazing start on their grand slam tour then watching Austalia's defeat to France I was wondering, how many people here have ever tried playing it?

Edit and if so how does it compare to other sports you have played?

[Crawford]

ahhh well I tried to start a thread that differed from certain depressing topics but must admit it was a poor thread starter- may try another one later.

Peace, love and hair grease forever

[berk]

I played a bit years ago (don't worry, I wasn't any good), but haven't touched a ball for over 10 years. Still my favourite sport to watch, though. I watched last weekend's two tests on-line. The All-Blacks awesome, but as some wit noted, don't they always look the best side in the world between World Cups? I always root for them, though, because I like their attitude to the game - always striving to be the best, but to be entertaining and innovative at the same time, in contrast to other sports where it's considered smart or even admirable to play a dull, safe game as long as it gets results ("Just win, baby"). France is my second choice for similar reasons - they're erratic, but almost always play an expansive, exciting style. They looked great last weekend as well. This new flanker, Nyange, appears to be a star in the making.

What's it like to play? I think it has the best, most balanced set of physical skills and abilities of any team sport I can think of. You need both explosive speed and power AND endurance. You need both hand AND foot skills. You need be creative offensively AND committed on defense. You need ... well you get the idea. And all that applies to EVERY player in EVERY position: even the big props have to be able to catch and pass and run with the ball; and even the smallest, fastest back has to be able to tackle effectively. I think rugby puts every other team sport to shame with the broad range of skills and fitness requirements it asks of its participants.

And to top it all off, all you need to play is a pair of cleats and a ball. Parents don't have to shell out thousands of dollars to fit their kids out with gear they'll grow out of in a year or two. I'd like to see Canada promote the game heavily at the school level for all these reasons.

[Crawford]

The All Blacks and France- amazing your opinions on them match mine exactly. I have to support the AB's as a kiwi but if there is any other team that I love to watch its those French. The expansive game they play and willingness to run the ball from anywhere if an oppurtunity is amazing.

Yeah the grandslam has started with a win which isn't bad at all but in trying to build depth and give young emerging players experience for the next world cup- they are fielding a completely different starting XV against the Irish. It's not a second string team which is the amazing thing so hopefully the Irish wont see it as a slight against them. Heck even if they do it would only serve as motivation I guess.

Bert what position were you? I was Fullback, no.15

As for the French flanker wow- he is a star on the rise definitely the speed to the breakdown and the strength are impressive- would like to see him against stiffer opposition though- the Australian defense was not up to their normal standards.

[king mob]

I've only got into rugby fairly recently.I used to live in Leicester and an ex-girlfriend was a massive Leicester Tigers fan , so i was dragged along.Apart from enjoying the heroic amount of booze rugby fans drink, i actually started getting into the game. Mainly due to the incredible amount of organised brutality the players would inflict upon each other.

[Wesley Dodds]

Hah! Not since high school.

It's great fun though.

[Sentry]

egg-chasers!!! on this board. Im off.

[Flawless P]

Whats the deal with rugby? I kinda want to play it but I hear it hurts more than it is worth.

[Motormouse]

I played at High school for 4 years and i've played sporadically for the last 9 (with 12 years of american football in between) Sure it hurts but it's fun. :eek:

[Xetal]

I played at school and in a small town team (wing forward) until retiring through injury. My son plays (prop) at county level and for his university: he's much better than I could have hoped to be.

I used to argue with gridiron players which game was hardest: more contact in gridiron - no armor in rugby. To be honest the games are not easy to compare, but the biggest difference is that in rugby you can only put a hit on a guy if he's got the ball (no blocking supporting runners.) As a result a rugby plays book is probably a lot less complex than a gridiron one and the game can flow better - especially rugby league, the 13-man version of the game where mauls are minimized (I think you play almost eclusively rugby union in North America.)

I'd recommend it in terms of the fitness you need to attain to play it well (see berk's post) 'A game for thugs, played by gentlemen' is a well-known description: it's still one of the indicators of 'class' in one's education to have gone to a rugby rather than soccer-playing school.

The beer-consumption is legendary, of course - and you'll get to learn some of the vulgarest, rudest songs in the English language while downing it!

[Erebus]

Played once, when I went to England. Got 6 bruises and a sprained ankle. Best game ever.

[Winslow]

Hi there XetaL!

I played for a few years after college and loved it.

I played Wing 'cause I was the fastest guy on the team- which wasn't sayin' a whole lot.

We almost exclusively ran the ball, because as Americans our hand-foot coordination sucked.

I don't watch much rugby since it rarely gets televise dover here.

One of my favorite games to play is "7's" A lot of running - but great fun.

[berk]

I played wing and a bit of centre. I don't envy Midnighter playing fullback - last line of defense and all those high balls to catch!

Looking forward to the matches this weekend, but I don't hold out much hope for Canada against France. The game is still at an semi-amateur level here and the professionalism of the top countries has left us even farther behind than we were 10 years ago.

NZ vs Ireland should be fun to watch. Too bad O'Driscoll's out, though.

EDIT: forgot what else I wanted to say - that I agree about the flow of the game being one of the most attractive aspects of the sport for me, both as player and as spectator. One thing it eliminates a lot of the silly "macho" posturing you get in American football after a tackle or "touchdown" (what a misnomer). In rugby you don't have time to strut around after a big play because you might have to make another one the next second. It's amazing to see the international-level players on tv making a heavy tackle and then immediately getting back to their feet to make another one or try to get the ball or run to follow the play etc, etc. When you see top guys like McCaw do it all in one smooth motion, it always impresses me.

[Trystenn]

Travelling in a train were a Wallaby, an All Black, a spectacular looking blonde and an older lady. After several minutes of the trip, the train happens to pass through a dark tunnel, and the unmistakable sound of a slap is heard. When they leave the tunnel, the All Black had a big red slap mark on his cheek.
(1) The blonde thought - "That horrible All Black wanted to touch me and by mistake, he must have put his hand on the lady, who in turn must have slapped his face."
(2) The older lady thought - "This dirty All Black laid his hands on the blonde and she smacked him."
(3) The All Black thought - "That bloody Wallaby put his hand on that blonde and by mistake she slapped me."
(4) The Wallaby thought - "I hope there's another tunnel soon so I can smack that stupid All Black again."
__________________

[Trystenn]

You like that one? Heres another!!!

Q. What do you call 15 guys sitting around the T.V watching the Rugby World Cup final?

A. The All Blacks

[Trystenn]

So how many Aussie Rugby fans are there?
This ones For you!

Little Brucie was in his junior school class when the teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up;-

Fireman, policeman, salesman, politician; Brucie was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father.

"My father's an exotic dancer in a gay club and takes off all his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes, if the offer's really good, he'll go out with a man, rent a cheap room and let them sh*g him."

The teacher hurriedly set the other children to work on some colouring and then took Little Brucie aside.

She asked him, "Is that really true about your father?"

"No," said Brucie, "My father plays rugby for Australia, but I was just too embarrassed to say".

[Xetal]

After today's game (England won) even more so! :D

[Trystenn]

Well that didnt seem to get your blood boiling.

Try this one on for size.

The Australian coach, Eddie Jones, received a phone call from his New Zealand counterpart after the All Blacks lost the last game against Australia in Dunedin.

He wanted to know what training methods the Aussies use to be the "world beaters" that they are.

Eddie Jones said: "Oh, that's no secret, I'll tell you! We take 15 40gallon drums, paint them black, and train against them."

The All Black coach then decided to do the same. They will only have to paint them Gold and Green.

A week later, he phoned Eddie back and said: "Eddie, I have used your secret training method, but I need help, ... the drums are winning 15-0."

[Nate C.]

Was on the USM rugby team 1994-95.

Played wing.

Never felt more scared or alive in my life.

[Crawford]

Well that didnt seem to get your blood boiling.

Try this one on for size.

The Australian coach, Eddie Jones, received a phone call from his New Zealand counterpart after the All Blacks lost the last game against Australia in Dunedin.

He wanted to know what training methods the Aussies use to be the "world beaters" that they are.

Eddie Jones said: "Oh, that's no secret, I'll tell you! We take 15 40gallon drums, paint them black, and train against them."

The All Black coach then decided to do the same. They will only have to paint them Gold and Green.

A week later, he phoned Eddie back and said: "Eddie, I have used your secret training method, but I need help, ... the drums are winning 15-0."

mate where are these old old jokes coming from? bahahaha stink one bruva

[berk]

anyone see NZ vs England last weekend?

[Cam63]

Australia has some serious work to do before they can compete in the next World Cup.

[Messchird]

Glory!
We'll host the 2011 world cup at last! We're still guessing where to hold rugby matches but Eden park is a certainty. Keep your eye peeled for record ticket sales... Oh I forgot to say, Go the All Blacks and the Australians should not gloat so much ;)
Don't worry, I love our transtasman relations... See ya at the barbie.

[Crawford]

We? wow is there another kiwi on these boards? Good stuff bruva, me I am still just loving the Grandslam results and the Tri-nations league results!

[Xetal]

You're certainly the best in the world right now (England matched you up front, but fell embarassingly short in creativity at the back. Only South Africa come close to you at the moment.)

It's a big ask to sustain that dominance all the way to the world cup when every other team has that long to coach themselves into a system for playing (today's) All-Blacks. If you win it even so, you'll deserve far bigger plaudits even than the ones you're rightfully getting now.

[Messchird]

Yeah, we won the first world cup and we hope we'll win it again this time.
Graham's doing a good job as far as I know.

[Crawford]

You're certainly the best in the world right now (England matched you up front, but fell embarassingly short in creativity at the back. Only South Africa come close to you at the moment.)

It's a big ask to sustain that dominance all the way to the world cup when every other team has that long to coach themselves into a system for playing (today's) All-Blacks. If you win it even so, you'll deserve far bigger plaudits even than the ones you're rightfully getting now.

Yes well to be sure I am hoping for an AB world cup win and that they can sustain their current level- but at the same time I think that the rugby France have been playing isn't to far off and as for South Africa they were the only team to beat us this year and on the return bout we just narrowly pipped them at the post.

As for England, they have enough money and the sheer numbers playing to field a decent team for the World cup and to be fair they are the current World champions.

I really hope that George Gregan the Aussie captain pulls through this bad patch. It's weird but he was always the Aussie I love to hate. The sheer respect he commands here in NZ is amazing and I hope that his game picks up again before he gets the axe.

[berk]

I don't think Australia's recent poor results are down to Gregan, He isn'y playing badly at all as far as I can see. I think it's the forwards who aren't competetive any more with the best nations - NZ, SA, England & France. They're getting badly pushed around in the scrums, and just aern't functioning as a unit. I think it's down to the coaching, because they have some great individual performers, in the forwards and the backs.

What did everyone think of the 2nd half of NZ/England? Did the All-Blacks scrape a victory by playing on the edge of the rules, or were they denied a more emphatic win by poor refereeing? (I'm leaning towards the latter opinion myself, but it's not always easy to tell, even on video). And Xetal, are there any alternative choices for some of the back positions for England? They badly need some creativity back there to match their forward drive.

[mgs]

Pat Fitzgerald used to play, he loves playing the sport.

[Crawford]

Well to be honest I agreed with two of the three yellow cards completely- especially as the ref doesn't have a replay option to go to. The other call on the flanker was, well I don't want to judge. What I didn't agree with was that England were guilty of the similar offences but were not pinged in preceeding phases consistency is always nice.

All in all It was good solid win that showed a lot of heart for the player left on the field. Before and afterwards I found it more sad that the english media seemed more focussed on a public trial for the haka.

Yeah the Aussie forwards need some work- without a good go forward platform securing and providing quality ball to feed the backline the it renders their backline pretty ineffective. And that's saying something with all of the class that they have there too.

Man as for Canada- that's one of the teams I root for when the Sevens comes to town.