Rugby Rugby Rugby

So I figured I'd make one of my infrequent posts and admit one of my great blessings, which is being able to play rugby on Saturday mornings. Now this is not the full-contact scrum, ruck and maul type rugby where I'd end up bloodied, bruised, missing teeth and needing ACL surgery...I play an less violent touch form of rugby. This link explains the basic concepts, though we play a variation of those rules which I'll explain. http://www.touchrugby.com/what_is_touch
The way we play is teams have 6 touches to score. Think of a touch as being similar to downs in football. Like rugby, you can advance the ball by running, kicking or passing it backwards to another teammate (or the opposite team if you like...not recommended though :)) You score by crossing the try-line with your hand/body touching the ball touching the ground. That is a hard one to pick up when you are used to playing football and only the ball needs to cross the plane. Another hard thing to pick up is not being able to block for another teammate, thats cheating you know.
The idea is easy enough...you want in on the secret to playing rugby? Lean in close and I'll tell you. DO NOT EVER EVER EVER DROP THE BALL, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT DROPPING THE BALL. There I said it. That seems easy enough eh? Oh and never run out of bounds. Or throw the ball forward. Or start within 5 metres of the line of scrimmage when on defence. They are all bad bad things. Dropping the ball when on offense is like kicking a defenseless kitten, it's just in poor taste. Plus your team loses possession. But, what if you drop the ball and pick it back up because it only bounced once on the ground? Well then all bets are off and you can keep possession! I mean its only fair after all. The one bounce rule is freakin awesome I must say, you see it can catch the opposing team off guard and you can gain a great advantage.
Once you get the hang of the little intricacies of the game it is absolutely a great game to play. If I only had the natural athletic talent, then I could really wow people. I did have one great move once. You remember how when you have the ball you can run or kick it? and you remember the one bounce rule? Well I was running with the ball and I needed to get past a defender so I sort of pooch kicked it just past him, used the kick to catch him off guard and ran past him, caught the ball on one bounce and was off to the races! Well, until he caught be about 15 yards later. You see I do not have what people call break-away speed. I have what people call break-down and cry speed. It's not a pretty sight I'll grant you, but I'll take glory anyway I can.
Another nice thing about touch rugby is for all the intense running, you do get breathers now and then. You can see here it looks like I am getting a nice rest because I am defending the field far away from where all the action is.
I even had time to dress up for the occasion!
By the end of the game, I am usually dead tired, well I am dead tired by about 20 minutes into the game, but thats another story.
I have now been playing rugby for almost a year now and I actually love getting up at 7am for my weekly stress release!



Okay, you can really see me in action in the pic to the left. I am the goofy one in green looking like he is lost.