The spring season is here! Sports such as baseball, track and field, soccer, and softball are now in action. Little do you know that the boys’ rugby team is up and running as well. Rugby, a full-contact team-based sport, has very unique qualities, including physicality, strict camaraderie, and grittiness. Despite being less recognized than traditional sports, the boys’ rugby team grows more and more every day. Learn how the sport of Rugby is played and the unique qualities it has. Also, the perspective of a player and what it’s like to be part of a Rugby team.
How to play?
Rugby is played on a pitch that’s typically grass or artificial turf. Measuring at 100 meters long (328.084 feet) and 70 meters wide (229.659 feet), including goal posts that are H-shaped structures, located at the center of each goal line.
Each team has 15 players on the pitch at once (30 total). The objective is to advance an oval ball down the pitch by grounding it in the opponent’s end zone, or by kicking it through goalposts, which gets you a certain number of points. Whichever team scores the most points within 80 minutes is victorious.
Key rules while playing are that you can only pass backwards or laterally, if not that results in a turnover or a scrum. For the physicality aspect, players must wrap their arms around the ball carrier and bring them to the ground. Once tackled, the carrier must pass or release the ball immediately to a teammate, allowing both teams to compete for possession. Once this happens, a ruck is often created between the two teams.
Compared to other sports, the scoring is extraordinary. To begin with, a try is five points. It’s when you carry the ball over the endzone, kind of like a touchdown in football. A conversion is two points, a kick at the goal posts after scoring a try, just like in football after a touchdown. At last, there are penalty goals and drop goals, which both award you three points. It’s when you kick the ball in between the goal posts.
Overall, the idea of how to score is very similar to football but has its own unique variations. In general, the rules of rugby find a way to stand out, and it is very interesting to see how the game is played.
Sophomore and dual sport athlete, Moe Woll, is playing rugby for the first time. Woll first stated why he is playing this year, expressing “I’ve been playing football for 10 years, and I really didn’t have much to do over the off-season”.
Rugby is a perfect opportunity for athletes like Woll. “I was talking to a couple of people who actually play rugby, who play football, and they were telling me it’ll really help”.
Woll also believes that “it will help with my tackling, being able to consistently tackle people, and just in general with my cardio, because it’s definitely a sport where you have to be very active all the time”. These two sports definitely translate, so this will be a huge help for Woll while playing football.
Since rugby is a team sport, what Woll wants to learn from it is “communication skills, you have to communicate with all 15 pretty much at the same time, and I think that’ll make a big impact”. Many students at BHS may be unfamiliar with what rugby practice involves. Woll was able to describe what they do and how it’s organized for the Bears rugby team. “It’s a two-hour practice. We warm up by passing the ball and a couple of laps around the track. We then do drills involving passing and communication. After that, we do a scrimmage-like game, and then we do some conditioning. To wrap it up, we do an actual scrimmage with the whole team.”
As well as that, Returning player, junior, Max Giles was able to share his experience while playing Rugby. Giles expressed that “this is my second year playing and I enjoy it very much”. Giles even mentioned what he likes most about playing Rugby “ I love making friends while playing. Also, the contact, aggressiveness and quickness of the sport”. This seems to be a common theme on why so many people love the sport. On top of that, Giles finds Rugby very unique compared to any other sport. “It’s unique because it is nonstop, it’s always going. It’s high paced and difficult. The rules can be confusing, but it’s a lot of fun”. Giles really seems to enjoy his experience playing Rugby and has a lot of excitement about it.
Rugby stands out among other sports. The rules of the game and how it benefits the players are very special to the sport of rugby. How the game is played, and what it takes to be a player of the game is unique. For example, the gritness, aggressiveness and communication is a must.
