Ruffians game played by gentlemen

[Iain]

Unfortunately the England team are so terrible that this is a clip from Wales beating Australia at the weekend

Open exciting rugby. Try finished by IRB world player of the year, Shane Williams with a good one handed take.

Jamie Roberts, who made the break at 0.44 and was brought down by the Ozzie number 15 had only just got to his feet after a clash of heads with Australia's Stirling Mortlock that sent Mortlock from the field. Roberts stayed on for another 10 minutes before he was forced from the field with a worsening headache. He'd fractured his skull, the fracture starting just above the nose and running right round to the back of his head.

Not that surprising when two 230lb athletes clash heads at speed. Roberts should probably have known better than to stay on though, he is a medical student.

Also fun to count the number of times the commentator says 'Jones'.

[Uncle Bubba]

I've never watched the game enough to make much headway in understanding it, but I damn sure enjoy watching it. Small wonder Our Cousins call American football players a bunch of ponces for wearing all that protective gear.

[Dannyboy]

Ooh, now we just need our resident self-righteous tool to come by and say rugby players are gay. :rolleyes:

No, wait.  No we don't.  It much cooler here without him.

I've always loved the sport.  I played for a while in the Army.  Unfortunately, speed will only do so much for you.  It doesn't feel good getting tackled by 200lb+ guys when you weigh 150lbs.

That was definitely good stuff there.  So, did Wales win?  I'm gonna take an educated guess and say, "no."  Of course, I haven't payed too much attention lately so I don't know if Wales has gotten better than they were a year or so ago. 

[MechAg94]

I used to know a guy who played rugby who was at least 30 lbs bigger than me and I am 200+.  He said he had to stop playing because the big guys hurt him.  :)  He just said you needed to be either really big or really fast. 

[crt360]

I used to know a guy who played rugby who was at least 30 lbs bigger than me and I am 200+.  He said he had to stop playing because the big guys hurt him.  :)  He just said you needed to be either really big or really fast. 

I think everybody gets their share of injuries.  I was recruited by my college's rugby team (UT) and after spending some time with them I declined to join.  Way back then, I was a fit 220-230, enjoyed the violent contact sports, as well as the requisite excessive beer consumption, but I decided I wanted to graduate and have most of my parts intact.

[Leatherneck]

My son-in-law, who is an Army Blackhawk pilot, is grounded and may not fly again following surgery to correct spinal injuries sustained over years of playing Army rugby. Be careful what you enjoy participating in. 

TC

[Iain]

That was definitely good stuff there.  So, did Wales win?  I'm gonna take an educated guess and say, "no."  Of course, I haven't payed too much attention lately so I don't know if Wales has gotten better than they were a year or so ago.

Right now Wales are the best Northern Hemisphere team. Scotland are improving but from a very low place, France are just France, Ireland seem to be struggling and England are just very very poor and getting worse it seems.

Wales beat Australia 21-18 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/7752340.stm - you may not be able to view the highlights that I can from that page.

----------------------------

Rugby claims to be a game for all shapes and sizes and whilst that is not as true as it was, it is still pretty true.

Take Jamie Roberts' position for that game - inside centre. There are different types of inside centre, some are creative tactical players, and some like Roberts or New Zealands Ma'a Nonu are more bash it up the middle types (crash ball). At the last world cup England played a guy called Mike Catt who was 5'9" and 180lbs, he was more the creative type. Roberts is 6'4" and 230lbs.

Then there are players like Worcester (and former All Black) centre Sam Tuitupou - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=M2P_ueM3rqs - who finishes the try at the start of this clip. He's 5'7" and 185lbs and plays crash ball as well as anyone.

Wales winger and IRB player of the year Shane Williams is 5'7" and 175lbs - 61 games 44 tries for Wales. I'm only a touch bigger than that (I'll hazard a guess that Williams is stronger and quicker than me) and have been played at flanker for my club.

[myrockfight]

I used to know a guy who played rugby who was at least 30 lbs bigger than me and I am 200+.  He said he had to stop playing because the big guys hurt him.  :)  He just said you needed to be either really big or really fast. 

LOL. Yeah that is exactly what it was like when I played. But I was always a wing. I didn't have to get into constantly with the biggins. But there were definitely some huge guys playing. A lot of older guys too. 40's and even a guy who was 50.

It was fun. Drank A LOT. But I had to quit. If my fingers broke it was going to cost me my job and livelihood. Needless to say, I quit. It also sucks that when you have amateur player in that sport, a lot of guys are literally playing just to hurt people. They'll cleat people in the face, etc. And it isn't regulated very well which lends itself to that kind of misconduct.

[Uncle Bubba]

A friend of mine told me about a young woman who works for him that plays rugby. She got into it in university and continues now in her late twenties. He said she was talking to him one day about playing and said, "I'd really like to gain about ten or fifteen pounds so I could play better on the inside." He said he almost fell over because that was the first and only time in his life he'd heard someone of the female persuasion say she wanted to gain weight.

[Cromlech]

My sister played Rugby for years, she started when she was 13. A good portion of the stereotypes are true, half of them were literally Lesbian beefcakes. The other half were very athletic and attractive. They ALL were mad drinkers and party girls. They fought on the pitch far more than the guys.

[thebaldguy]

I don't know if this is true, but I've always heard that rugby was a gentlemans' game, and soccer (football) was a working class game. The idea was that gentlemen playing rugby wouldn't crush each other to bits. I'm not sure this is true.

I played soccer for years during high school and after high school. I was always too small/short for American football. After seeing rugby players always getting injured, I decided against that.

I think it is much more brutal than American football.

[Cromlech]

It depends on the game really. It seems to me, that fast and hard full-on collisions occur more frequently in American Football, even if they do wear more padding. I have seen some damned hard hits in Rugby though, there are some compilations on YouTube.

[Regolith]

It depends on the game really. It seems to me, that fast and hard full-on collisions occur more frequently in American Football, even if they do wear more padding. I have seen some damned hard hits in Rugby though, there are some compilations on YouTube.

Yeah, look up "great rugby hits" and "great football hits" or something similar.  The pads allow pretty much full speed collisions, with people flying in every which direction, where as if you tried that in rugby you'd end up dead.  That being said, the absence of pads DOES allow for more injuries. So, it's a toss up.

 I remember in one of the rugby compilations the announcer stated that the tackle that had just happened was probably the hardest hit he'd seen all season.  In terms of American football, it was a fairly textbook open field tackle (if a fairly hard one).  Nothing special, at least had both players been wearing pads. Probably a bit different when neither person is wearing any, though.

Here's what I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU4P6oifNio&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zauXOo9ZXpc&feature=related

[agricola]

I don't know if this is true, but I've always heard that rugby was a gentlemans' game, and soccer (football) was a working class game. The idea was that gentlemen playing rugby wouldn't crush each other to bits. I'm not sure this is true.

I played soccer for years during high school and after high school. I was always too small/short for American football. After seeing rugby players always getting injured, I decided against that.

I think it is much more brutal than American football.

The old adage is (as Iain states) that rugby is a ruffians game played by gentlemen, and football is a gentlemans game played by ruffians.

Right now Wales are the best Northern Hemisphere team. Scotland are improving but from a very low place, France are just France, Ireland seem to be struggling and England are just very very poor and getting worse it seems.

Wales beat Australia 21-18 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/7752340.stm - you may not be able to view the highlights that I can from that page.

Indeed, it looks very good for the next six nations.  My main fear as a Welshman (albeit one from the non egg-chasing part of the country) is that when/if Johnson is sacked the RFU will steal Shaun Edwards and go on to great things. 

Wales' win aside, the best moment of the entire Southern Hemisphere tour was clearly this:  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=676f_3Op55M

That is edited down, in the full version after about thirty/forty seconds of staring at each other (and hearing the ref bleating at them to stop staring at each other), the All-Blacks blinked first.

 

[Regolith]

What were they doing?  Looked like the All-Blacks were trying to re-create something out of "Zulu"...

[Iain]

It was the Haka.

Regolith - there is a major difference in the laws around tackling in both games - in rugby (at least rugby union) you have to wrap the arms around your victim. Shoulder charges are a penalty offence.

[280plus]

 

in rugby (at least rugby union) you have to wrap the arms around your victim.

Sounds gay to me... 

 

[Manedwolf]

I've heard rugby described as a riot with a ball.

[agricola]

What were they doing?  Looked like the All-Blacks were trying to re-create something out of "Zulu"...

As Iain notes, this is the Haka.  The All-Blacks claim they get to do this before every game as a challenge, but are very touchy about people responding to it in negative ways (by beating them for instance), and they whined at Wales after this (despite them beating Wales), accusing them of "disrespect".

There is a longer version here:  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uvsqc2WSP2g&feature=related