Rugby Football- Only the Best Sport Ever.

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Rugby Football- Only the Best Sport Ever.

For those of you who aren't familiar with rugby, it is a contact game where you wear no hard protective gear (like in football) except for a mouth guard and sometimes soft foam shoulder pads or a scrum cap. Around where I live, we're not big on American football, but we do have rugby!

Rugby is my passion- I'm the captain of my school's team and I also play on my community's team, and hopefully on the Varsity team in university next year. I am writing this article to help explain the wonderful game of rugby.

First off, the game is played 15 on 15. Eight of the players are what you call "forwards". These are stereotypically the "big burly brutes". The forwards compose the scrum, and are the main battering rams in ruck and do much of the hard tackling.

The scrum is the mass of forwards of both teams, who create a tunnel in which the ball is thrown into. The two teams try to kick back the ball into their possession. The scrum is composed of three front row forwards: two props and a hooker. The props are on either side of the hooker, and literally support the hooker when contesting for the ball. The hooker's main job is to "hook" their foot back with the ball to their team's side to gain possession.
Behind the front row, there are four more players. On the far sides of the scrum, there are two flankers. The flanker's main job is to tackle anyone on the other team who has the ball, and are to participate in the rucks. Between the two flankers are two locks; these people drive and push the scrum. Locks often jump in line outs (when the ball goes out of bounds) and are lifted up to contest for the ball when it is thrown back in.

The final forward (my position!) is the eight man, who is behind the locks. The eight man controls the direction of the scrum, and helps to protect the scrum-half. The eight man, like all other forwards is responsible for rucking and participate in the back of the line outs, as they are usually one of the tallest players.

A "ruck" is when a player gets tackled with the ball, and two or more players contest for the ball by trying to kick it back with their feet, similar to the scrum. This is the perfect place to get trampled on!

Enough about the forwards! There is a whole other back line. The "backs" are the faster (and usually smaller players) who are most likely to run up and score "trys" (points). First off, there is the scrum-half. The scrum half can be compared to what the quarter-back is in football. Their job is to distribute the ball to other players.
Next to the scrum-half is the fly half, or halfback. The fly half gets the ball often, and will often kick the ball out of bounds if the opposition is closing in on their side.
Beside the fly half is the inside center. This player is usually a bit larger, and they should be good tacklers. Beside the inside center is the outside center. The outside center is usually one of the fastest, and should have good handling skills.
There are wingers on the far left and far right of the field. These guys are stereotypically the smallest, and should be some of the fastest, as they will often have to chase kicked balls. A winger will sometimes have to substitute as a full back if the actual full back tries to come up and score.

The full back is the last line of defense for a team. They are behind all of the other backs, and are responsible for making crucial tackles, catching kicked balls and kicking them. A full back should accept being gang tackled.

I hope I gave you some insight to my favourite sport! There is so much to talk about, but I really could only give an extreme brief overview of the sport!

If you have any questions or comments, do so! I wrote this article here because there is no rugby section!

Average Grade: A