Art of Manliness - Latest Comments in A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Inner Prop — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 16:48:33 -0000

This article is old, but I wanted to bump it (if that's possible here).

In 2011 the All Blacks won the World Cup. In 2014 they won the Trinations (now called Championship Rugby) which they have won every time since Argentina was added a couple of years ago.

The next World Cup is in 2015.

I've been playing since 1985.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

john — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 07:33:15 -0000

I've been playing since I was five yrs old. WINGER ALL THE WAY BRAH

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Sammy Stone — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 10:38:47 -0000

Here's another primer, based on older rules. (Warning: funny and, if you play rugby, offensive!) http://dandygoat.com/what-i...

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

William Bortins — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:47:17 -0000

I have been playing rugby for the past year in high school and soon I will be playing in college. This is a real sport and the most manly sport of all! I will play until I am dead.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

chnnak — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:07:34 -0000

in rugby, we play for our brother at our left and right and for the fans at our back

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Tealoha — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:45:23 -0000

Rugby isn't only a guys sports, i'm a girl and I play rugby. Left wing to be exact ;)

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

cole — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:22:30 -0000

Great article. I actually started playing rugby back in june at the age of 26 with no experience in team sports. The game and the strange social aspect of rugby is amazing.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Rob — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:01:53 -0000

Great Article. With regard to the "make it, take it" kick off rule, it might beworth pointing out that there are benefits to both kicking off and receiving, as the players on the side kicking off are obliged to stay behind the kicker until he has kicked, and the ball must travel a certain distance forwards for the kick to be legal and another restart to be avoided.

Although kickers will try to get a lot of "hang time" on the ball to give their players a chance to compete for posession imediately after a kick off (and of course to allow them to smash whoever does catch the ball if they don't get it temselves) the normal result of a kick off is that the team receiving gets posession (good) in their own half (bad). The team kicking off therefore needs to secure a turnover before they have a chance of scoring.

In 12 years of playing, I've seen both receivers take the ball cleanly and run straight to a try, receivers hit so hard they drop the ball and allow the team kicking off to get two trie in twpo minutes and, perhaps most impressive of all, members of the team kicking off take the ball and run it straight under the posts.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

benjamin indwale — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:10:00 -0000

wow this is the best game ever am a 8 man

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

S A — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:01:18 -0000

You guys are obviously American!

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Tj — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:33:04 -0000

The fluidity of rugby and mental aspects of rugby are what I believe make it a gentlemens game. With only the captain being able to address the ref and only by "sir."
Also, taking the coaches out of it for the most part make me really enjoy playing and watching the game. With the last practice before a game run by the captain and the players calling what happens on the field, it leaves no open oppurtunity to berate anyone else after.
To see the Haka live at a tri nations match (vs South Africa) was something to remember and then have the player show up to the Holy Grail in Christchurch after was even better.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

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Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Jacob McPherson — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:04:20 -0000

Ya I've played rugby on a team and it's really fantastic. There is a feeling of camaraderie between the teams that you don't see in any other sport. Traditionally after every game the two teams will either go to the pub together, or for the younger players they share some food and drink at the pitch.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Shane — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:20:02 -0000

When I played rugby in college it was explained to me on the first day that soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen. Once I played the sport a little I gained a much greater understanding of the game and now it's one of my favorite sports to watch even though it's practically impossible to catch on TV here in the states unless you have ESPN 35 or whatever super premium channel it gets rarely shown on. One of my all time top sports watching expreiences occured two years ago when I was in Ireland and went to a pub outside of Dublin to watch Ireland play England in a Six Nations Tournament at Croke Park in Ireland. Croke Park was the site of an infamous massacre of Irish citizen by British soldiers in 1920. Needless to say it was very intense setting. In one of the most exciting games of any sport I've ever witnessed Ireland creamed England. I wish that rugby was bigger here in the states so I could watch more rugby rather than the one play and regroup for 10 minutes ass-draggery that is American Football.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Tim — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:20:01 -0000

Rugby is by far the best sport ever made.

To answer the guy below me's questions:

You're not allowed to have blockers. What you do is drop your shoulder and put the tackler on his ass or you get drilled.. Simple as that. If you plow him over, you'll have another guy shortly after you'll need to do the same thing to. If you get taken to the deck, you get your ass back up and keep playing.

The rucks are the best part. My favourite trick is raking guys in the ribs and back with my steel cleats when they're on the deck and covering the ball. Another regular occurance in the ruck is guys on the deck full on punching each other since the ref can't see in.

Awesome game.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Ian Jennings — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:08:37 -0000

Dave on March 16th, rugbyzone.com is what you want.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Dave — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:29:53 -0000

GREAT post. Have been meaning to look into rugby for a long time, but never got around to it.

Does anyone know where online we can watch current matches streaming here in the US?

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Kurt — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:49:12 -0000

That video of Lomu is fantastic. He was a one-man wrecking crew.

By the way, rugby is one of the only sports that can track it's origins precisely. The story goes that in 1823, in Rugby, England, William Webb-Ellis picked up football, and ran with it.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Josh — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:00:54 -0000

Really glad this was posted, I've been trying to figure out rugby since visiting Australia and New Zealand two summers (or i guess winters in the southern hemisphere) ago. Never was able to get into sports back here in the states other than MMA. Football was confusing, baseball and basketball both got boring after the first 10 seconds, but this was actually entertaining, even not having a clue as to what was going on.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Tim — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:17:52 -0000

A most excellent article. I played blindside flanker in high school and for my city team (winning the region that year), and was elected captain in HS as well. And although my first dislocation happened in a practice, and has fallen out almost 10 times since, I love the sport even though I can no longer play. The sport is big here in Canada, though that could be due to our strong ties back to the Commonwealth. Much more fun than American Football.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Dion — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:03:54 -0000

I have played rugby of both varieties (i live in Aus), and i have come to the following conclusions:

Union is a thugs game played by gentlemen. There are a plethora of legal ways to hurt a guy to your hearts content, and it is fun to rip a guy to the ground then legally stomp his head in when he doesn't let go of the ball (yes i have done this), but as a general rule the guys who play it are really nice, traditionally from upper class families. But i don't understand how i managed to screw both my shoulders completely in just two seasons. Oh well.

League is a gentleman's game played by thugs. It is a lot more structured with more rules to protect the player, but the hits are usually bigger with more head injuries. The players, however, are stereotypically and unruly bunch of beer-swilling, working class meatheads, who play the game because its easier to understand than union. That being said, it is an awesome game to watch, especially the State of Origin games, which players who started out in the states of Queensland and New South Wales battle it out for blood. These three games are watch more than any other league games, and if you only watch one game your whole life, make sure its and Origin decider.

That's rugby from the mind of an Aussie youngster.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Ian Jennings — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:38:55 -0000

Nice article! But one quibble - passes don't have to go backwards. They just may not go forwards. So if they're judged absolutely flat (ie "lateral", in American), they're ok.

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Sam — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:36:00 -0000

Great article, best one on rugby i've seen in a long time.
The sport is one if the most dangerous as well, a few of my good friends play it, they regularly break or injure themselves, but continue to play. The players are some of the most disciplined for any sport. For that, i salute them, i was always rubbish at it, but its a great watch!

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Liam — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:41:40 -0000

It's a great sport, my Stepdad is 48 and still plays for his veteran's team week in week out. I wish I had played at school, but being a state school we were played football, Every season I promise myself I am going to take it up, but in a country where most rugby players have been playing since they were 5 years old it's quite hard to get into as an adult. I love going down the club with my stepdad though, especially to watch the 6 nations, always good beer and good banter,

Re: A Primer on Rugby: A Man’s Sport

Chris — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:56:05 -0000

@picture?,

We're having some technical problems with the video embeds. Should be back up shortly.