My First Rugby Match

February 15, 2008

[Photoset]

A local New Zealand friend, knowing I’m a sports nut (baseball anyway), insisted we accompany her to the season opener of the local rugby team last night. Wow, that was cool! It helped that the Canterbury Crusaders (local team) beat the snot out of the Aussie Brumbies 34-3 in the chilly rain. It had rained all day and while it appeared it was going to let up for the match, it started coming down again more often than not. I found my favorite kind of wine (Marlborough Sauv Blanc) in the beer fridge of the fish n chips/hotdog stand, so I was happy! My local friend gave us a rundown of the rules on the short drive to the stadium. Players don’t wear padding or helmets (and are quite proud of that fact when comparing it to American Football). They can only kick and run with the ball forward, but can only throw backwards (away from their goal line or whatever it’s called). Interesting! The match is 80 minutes long with a halftime at the 40 minute mark. There are no timeouts. Play keeps going even when the ball hits the ground - it’s fair game for whoever gets it. So the clock just keeps running (and counting up rather than down). There were no scoreboards around the stadium — just a video board with the score and timer in the upper corners like on TV.

I found it far easier to follow and definitely more interesting than watching football (where action stops constantly). This particular match was probably even more entertaining because of the field conditions - think “Slip N Slide”! Players skidded all over the field, tripped, fumbled the ball on passes, etc. Quite fun! They sure had impressive leg muscles. I guess the better to scrum with (where it’s a brute strength thing because they have to kick the ball out of the scrum to their teammates with both sides trying and pushing each other). Scoring a touchdown is actually called a “Try” and is 5 points - during which the player has to touch the ball to the ground across the goal line while it’s under control. The extra field goal is 2 points. Taking a field goal attempt instead of a try is 3 points if successful. Because the Crusaders scored four tries, they also get a bonus point for the series or something. Obviously, I didn’t pick up on all of the rules in one evening, but hopefully I wasn’t too erroneous in my description here.

Fans were interesting to watch. I had gotten the impression the crowd would get really rowdy and noisy, but they were actually pretty tame, showing their fandom in attire and headgear. I mean they cheered and stuff, but there weren’t many jeers or screaming matches. Mostly, we all gasped when someone slipped or fell funny because of the rain. Instead of waving foam fingers, fans waved foam swords. I almost picked one up (and a jersey), but I was glued to my seat for the duration. The pre-game ceremony included singing the team song, knights riding horses around the stadium, torches, and cheerleaders (or dancers might have been the proper term). Guys in drag played the role of Clint, shooting t-shirts into the upper deck. Awesome!

Now back to the accounting stuff on another chilly rainy day…

Posted in Sports - Other