Six Nations Rugby

[Bonhomme Richard]

I guess this would be the best forum to post this.

BBC America is airing one game per round of the 6 nations tournament this year. Having never watched rugby before I wanted to give it a try, and although I really didnt understand some of the rules I thought it was a fun game to watch.

It was Scotland vs England, and from what I gathered both sides weren't very good. England is a young team and Scotland was totally inept moving the ball. They had a ton of chances and kept fumbling (?) on their shovel passes (?). England scored the only try (?) on what looked like a blocked punt, which was pretty cool.

I have to see what game BBCA is airing this week. Cool sport. The players are completely nuts.

[Bonhomme Richard]

Btw I don't understand the scrums at all -- what's going on in there and why is it happening? Is that how possession is determined?

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by Bonhomme Richard

Btw I don't understand the scrums at all -- what's going on in there and why is it happening? Is that how possession is determined?

Will respond to this later.

[sheptr]

Originally Posted by Bonhomme Richard

Btw I don't understand the scrums at all -- what's going on in there and why is it happening? Is that how possession is determined?

The scrum is a way to restart the game after the ball gets knocked on, which is essentially a forward fumble, or there is a forward pass.

It is made up of the forwards of both teams.
The front row, made up of 2 props and a hooker, bind on to each other,
the two second row players, aptly named locks, get behind and lock onto the front row players, and wedge their heads between the asses of the props and hooker. Then the flankers follow suite, and bind on beside the locks. The the last remaing "Forward", the Eight man, hangs back and tries to look pretty while not getting hurt.

The two packs will be about an arm's length away, and as they get set inch forward, official will give 3 commands, Crouch, players all crouch so backs are parallel to ground, Touch, the props use their outside arms to touch the opposing props outside shoulder, and then the sphincter puckering Engage!
and the two opposing front rows will interlock heads and start trying to push the other team back as the scrum half feeds the ball into the tunnel created by the front rowers legs. The hookers will try to hook the ball back with their feet and pass it behind them through their teammates, so the pretty boy No. 8 man can secure the ball and get it back into play.

[DrPepperFries]

Scrums are a set piece restart much like the line-out where one team gets to put the ball in play, then both teams have a chance to obtain possession. The ball is rolled into the scrum at "the tunnel" where both teams meet. The team rolling it in knows when it is coming and has an advantage at "striking" the ball back to their side. Striking is done by the players in the middle of the tunnel, a position called Hooker, because they hook the ball in the scrum.

Once the ball is in, both teams drive their feet to move the scrum to also attempt to gain possession of the ball, either by drive over the ball or rotating the scrum 90 degrees. While this is going on, the ball is passed back by feet to the rear of the scrum where the 8-Man and Scrumhalf manuever the ball out of the scrum by picking it up and/or passing it out.

I hope that helps.

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

Will respond to this later.

Actually no I won't.

Too lazy, and the other guys already answered.

[dublinjetsfan]

That was a complete shambles in Paris, Saturday night!!!!

Cancelling the game moments before kick off !!!!

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by dublinjetsfan

That was a complete shambles in Paris, Saturday night!!!!

Cancelling the game moments before kick off !!!!

Agreed and completely avoidable.

We've had rare sub zero temps for almost 2 weeks. All football night matches have been moved to 2 or 3 PM to avoid playing at night.

Moving the game to 3 PM was a no-brainer.

People are pissed, especially People who flew in from Ireland. I think they're announcing tomorrow the reimbursement plan (which may or may not include flights, hotels..).

[dublinjetsfan]

The game has been rescheduled for Sunday, 4th March.

I was very suprised to hear that there is no undersoil heating in the Stade De France !!

[Bonhomme Richard]

Originally Posted by dublinjetsfan

The game has been rescheduled for Sunday, 4th March.

I was very suprised to hear that there is no undersoil heating in the Stade De France !!

I was wondering what happened -- that was supposed to be the BBC America game of the week. I had the DVR set and when I went to watch it later it wasn't there. I thought I ****ed up the scheduling.

[ubrnostrum]

No matter how many times I watch Rugby, I still don't totally understand the rules of the game. I'm usually lost watching it.

[SDJETS]

Originally Posted by ubrnostrum

No matter how many times I watch Rugby, I still don't totally understand the rules of the game. I'm usually lost watching it.

Think of it like Soccer and football combined. It has the flow of soccer (no downs, players play offense and defense, ball is always live) but the basic rules of football (try to get the ball in the tryzone, use your hands to pass etc). No blocking and when you get tackled the ball is still live (thus, you see the guys pushing to prevent the other team from grabbing it).

Ball must always be thrown level or backwards. If you drop it forward, it goes to the other team, likewise, if it goes out of bounds it goes to the other team. If you do something wrong, you have to back up 10 meters and the other team gets the ball.

After a drop, there's a scrum. If it goes out of bounds, it's like a soccer throw-in. You can always kick the ball and its always live.

5 points for touching the ball down in the try zone, 2 more for the kick, kicked from the angle the ball was placed down on.

That's really all that matters. Everything else you see is basically related to a penalty.

Not that it will help

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by dublinjetsfan

The game has been rescheduled for Sunday, 4th March.

I was very suprised to hear that there is no undersoil heating in the Stade De France !!

Considering we have maybe 5 days in the year with sub-zero temperatures (rarely during the day), I don't think any French stadium has a heated field (I could be wrong). We had around 10 straight day with temps between -1° and -10°, which is really out of the ordinary.

They covered the field a week before and had hot air blowing underneath it. Players said when they came out for warm ups the field was fine and in a matter of minutes parts of it had frozen. They did everything right except they should have moved the gametiem to midday where temps were around -1. At 9PM they were already at -8°. Inexcusable.

Are all NFL fields heated?

[Bonhomme Richard]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

Considering we have maybe 5 days in the year with sub-zero temperatures (rarely during the day), I don't think any French stadium has a heated field (I could be wrong). We had around 10 straight day with temps between -1° and -10°, which is really out of the ordinary.

They covered the field a week before and had hot air blowing underneath it. Players said when they came out for warm ups the field was fine and in a matter of minutes parts of it had frozen. They did everything right except they should have moved the gametiem to midday where temps were around -1. At 9PM they were already at -8°. Inexcusable.

Are all NFL fields heated?

NFL fields aren't heated, but I don't think that matters. They'd play on a frozen ground anyway (most fields nowadays are synthetic, so I don't think that's much of an issue).

So blocking isn't allowed in rugby? I was wondering why the team his doesn't set up a screen pass style offense, but I guess they're not allowed. Can a player running with a ball try to juke or stiff arm an opposing player? It always seems like the ball carrier just runs right into the defense and falls down. Like they're not trying to avoid a tackle.

[DrPepperFries]

Originally Posted by ubrnostrum

No matter how many times I watch Rugby, I still don't totally understand the rules of the game. I'm usually lost watching it.

Yet you understand Australian Rules Football?

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by Bonhomme Richard

NFL fields aren't heated, but I don't think that matters. They'd play on a frozen ground anyway (most fields nowadays are synthetic, so I don't think that's much of an issue).

So blocking isn't allowed in rugby? I was wondering why the team his doesn't set up a screen pass style offense, but I guess they're not allowed. Can a player running with a ball try to juke or stiff arm an opposing player? It always seems like the ball carrier just runs right into the defense and falls down. Like they're not trying to avoid a tackle.

Absolutely no blocking is permitted.

In football everyone is after the ball carrier. In rugby, you can’t do that or you’ll be out numbered all over the field. You get the impression they’re always running into guys, which is true compared to the NFL. You’re basically trying to wear down the defense, trying to make them use more guys around the pile than you have so you can send the ball wide to your backs .

[DrPepperFries]

Originally Posted by Bonhomme Richard

So blocking isn't allowed in rugby? I was wondering why the team his doesn't set up a screen pass style offense, but I guess they're not allowed. Can a player running with a ball try to juke or stiff arm an opposing player? It always seems like the ball carrier just runs right into the defense and falls down. Like they're not trying to avoid a tackle.

Stiff arms and juking are allowed and very common.

Stiff arms in rugby are used more like battering rams to drive defenders back and create space for the ball carrier while moving forward. They occur in most tackles but are less likely to break the tackle.

Jukes in rugby are more subtle than in football. Players use quick cuts to keep moving at a fast pace and manuever between small windows between defenders. They use few head fakes, spins, or double moves.

Ball possession is more important than gaining an extra 5 meters. So a team will take the ball into a tackle and ruck to recycle play until they get the defense to make a mistake and allow for a long run.

Mostly, you'll see a player take the ball into one hand, turn his body to keep the ball away from the defender, then extend the opposite forearm to drive the defender back. This puts the offensive player in control of the tackle and helps maintain possession of the ball.

If a player is wrapped up and held up from the ground, the defense may have an opportunity to strip the ball. The offensive player will force his lead shoulder towards the ground to rip free of the defenders grip, maintain the ball, and get to the ground. The defensive player is left standing flat-footed and is easily rucked out of the way by the offensive player's teammates.

[SDJETS]

And adding to what's been said, the main strategy in rugby is very similar to a traditional football running approach, except that play doesn't stop so it happens a lot faster. Basically, using the inside plays to set up an outside overload.

In football, you pound the ball up the middle and start to suck the LBs in and then bounce it outside or pass deep. In rugby, you use your forwards and centers to run inside a few times and hope to suck the defenders in, making them cheat inside and over-commit to tackles and rucks, and when they do, they won't leave enough defenders covering the outside, so that's when you pass it off and hope to get it wide fast.

Most scoring plays in rugby come from such overloads or missed tackles.

[Bonhomme Richard]

Ohhh I see. Thanks guys. The rules aren't very hard but I really wasn't understanding the strategy. That's helpful.

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by Bonhomme Richard

Ohhh I see. Thanks guys. The rules aren't very hard but I really wasn't understanding the strategy. That's helpful.

They're actually quite complicated around the breakdown point I find. They change often and aren't applied the same way around the globe.