The 2019 Rugby World Cup is being hosted by Japan right now. There are 20 nations playing and there have already been two major upsets. I thought that American readers of this blog might enjoy seeing highlights of the two games below. There has been little coverage of this tournament in the major US media, which is a bit surprising given that the US is fielding a team and is currently ranked #13 in the world, which is not too shabby. They have played just one game so far, losing badly to England 45-7.
The biggest upset was by the host nation ranked #9 that beat #2 ranked Ireland, a perennial rugby powerhouse, 19-12.
This followed another major upset earlier when Uruguay (#19) beat Fiji (#10) 30-27.
In rugby, a ‘try’ is similar to a touchdown in American football except that the player holding the ball has to actually touch the ground with the ball for it to be a score. A try scores five points and a conversion following a try (a set-piece kick that passes through the uprights) gets another two points. A penalty goal (that also requires a set-piece kick that passes through the uprights but is awarded when a serious infringement occurs) gets three points. Conversion kicks have to be taken from a point along a line that runs parallel to the sidelines and passes through the point where the ball touched the ground for the try. (Think of Euclid’s parallel postulate.) This means that if a try is scored close to the sideline, the kicker has a very difficult task, since the angular width through which he has to thread the ball is so small. (Look at the conversion attempt at around 2:30 of the first video after the try scored at about the 1:30 mark.) So if at all possible, after he crosses into the end zone, the ball carrier will try to get close to the uprights before touching the ball on the ground to score the try, to make life easier for the person who has to attempt the conversion.
Rugby seems on the surface to be similar to American football but is played at a much faster pace and with far fewer stoppages and set pieces and much more opportunity for improvisation by the players on the field. Despite the fast pace and the fact that there are 30 players on the field, the game is controlled by just a single referee with occasional assistance from the two touch judges who patrol the sidelines to gauge where the ball goes out of bounds. Notice that players do not argue with the referee.
There’s also the drop goal, worth three points. The hardest rugby skill, IMO, since it’s scored from open play, often at the run and under pressure.
The biggest upset was by the host nation ranked #9 that beat #2 ranked Ireland, a perennial rugby powerhouse, 19-12.
I have only had a chance to see a couple of games but I saw Ireland vs Scotland and the Irish were amazing, up against some very tough opposition. It was amazing to hear that. Japan had beaten them. It has been clear for some time that Japan is is becoming a force to be reckoned with the Rugby World but that was a real upset.
In rugby, a ‘try’ is similar to a touchdown in American football except that the player holding the ball has to actually touch the ground with the ball for it to be a score.
As a former rugby player I am always a bit bemused when I hear the the announcer call a touchdown in an American football game. It is “not” a touchdown, the player just carried the ball across the line. Heck I’ve done that and had the opposition actually carry me back of the endzone unable to touch the ball to the ground.
Those links you supplied don’t work in Canada, blast it.
Rugby seems on the surface to be similar to American football…..
I don’t see that at all. I know that rugby was the parent of American football but similarities? I don’t see it at all. Certainly though, rugby is a much faster game.
One of the biggest difference between American Football and Rugby is that rugby (union, not to be confused with rugby league, a very different game) has an offside line, as in soccer but different :), and players must always pass the ball backwards -- a forward pass or knock of the ball forwards by the hands or arms results in turning the ball over to the other team, and a scrum. They can kick it forwards, but chasers must start behind the kicker, resulting in a lot of high kicks to provide time for the chasing players to catch up.
When players can’t help themselves and try to argue with the referee about a penalty, the referee makes a talking symbol with one hand (clapping thumb and fingers together) and immediately marches the penalty point 10m (33 feet) down the field. Entertaining to see, and the player’s protest is drowned out in the rush from the opposition players to move up to the new penalty point and the other team’s attempt to get back onside before the penalty is taken.
Enough rugby 101 for now. Go the mighty All Blacks!!!
@jrkrideau #2
The main similarity is that they’re both team contact sports, a rare discipline. But they have evolved in quite different directions.
The second bit completely explains the first bit. Americans are psychologically unsuited to and uninterested in sports where they can’t completely dominate. As bad losers, they give Australia a run for their money. Contrast New Zealand, who on being beaten by England in the single greatest cricket match in history, declared the England captain Ben Stokes New Zealander of the Year (he was born in Christchurch NZ) -- classy move Kiwis! 🙂
I am very happy Japan beat Ireland, because that makes it more likely the All Blacks will meet Ireland instead of Japan is their first quarter final knock out game.
And it would feel a bit impolite to knock the hosts out then, but appropriate to put Ireland out instead -- and put paid to those silly world rankings which NZ has been laughing at (the world organization has some silly system that rates teams which seems to be bolstered by the amount of games European nations play against each other and has resulted in Ireland and Wales jockeying for first place -- which New Zealander’s consider absurd and won’t accept until both of them manage to regularly beat us, which Ireland is showing some promise of).
Rugby and American football aren’t that different -- except for the pace of play and two specific differences in rules (1. The ball may only move forward by being carried or kicked and 2. Only the player with the ball may be tackled).
There are a lot of fine rules that differ (rucks, malls, scrums, how to tackle etc) but they’re not the major part of the differences.
If you watch a game of Rugby notice how when a player is tackled the teams quickly form what is comparable to the lines of scrimmage in American rugby -- a bit differently organized but functionally similar -- and done on the move while play continues.
I’ve always thought the reason U.S sports and others drift apart is because U.S sports become increasingly organized so that decisions made on the sidelines influence the game more -- allowing investment in team organization and support to improve performance and is therefore likely a symptom of the financial pressures and dominance in their games.
Way back in the day — before even I was born — American football was even more like rugby. A touchdown originally did require the ball to be touched down in the end zone (hence the name), and the forward pass was illegal.
The game evolved.
jrkrideau @2
It’s a game with a name that belies how rarely the ball actually touches feet, so of course a touchdown would not require the ball being touched down.
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I wonder if rugby would be more popular in the US if it was played exactly the same but the players had to wear big bulky helmets and all sorts of padding.
Not enough stoppages -- when would they run the adverts?
For an outsider like me the main difference between rugby and handegg is that the first is easy to understand (carry and kick forward, throw backward) while the second isn’t. I enjoy rugby most when it’s raining and the field is muddy.
“I just think it’s rather odd that a nation that prides itself on its virility should feel compelled to strap on forty pounds of protective gear just in order to play rugby.”
Rupert Giles
(Because there’s a BtVS quote for every occasion)
Canadian football still retains some of rugby’s rules, unlike the american game. Punting the ball is permitted in every situation, on any down. It’s just rarely done because most think in terms of US rules.
f13
LOL. I’m going to go ahead and say that they are pret-ty damn similar, actually.