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eugeneandresson
·Anyone follow this epic series of matches over the last month that ended in Baltimore last Saturday? This being a predominantly Australian-run forum, with a ton o Brits (the Pom Squad!), and some Scots ... I would find it difficult to believe that nobody has ... USA has a rugby team competing in the next Rugby World Cup ... any American friends watch rugby?
I have been following soccer world cups since the 90's, but I got wholly sucked into rugby in a big way during the 2015 Rugby World Cup when New Zealand won their first back-to-back World Cup. Best team of all time imo ... but that may change at the next RWC. I tried hard to follow the 2026 Football World Cup, and I must admit, I found it yet again rather one dimensional and boring...mostly. Don't get me wrong, there were some good games. But generally speaking, it was uninteresting : the lack of sportsmanship on field, the bickering and simulation to get the ref's sympathy, the prima donna's on field, watching 120 minutes for 1:1 and then everything to be determined by rolling the dice (aka 'penalty shootout' ... I know there is stress involved, but still ...) ... that final was a waste of time I can never get back. But that 3rd/4th playoff was beautiful (France/England) ... 10 goals ... France down 4:0 at half time ... the swing of momentum, the second half with England trying to slow the game down, and then a momentum shift ... France shifting into a higher gear and scoring 3 quick goals and starting to believe ... England stealing the momentum back ... more counter goals ... an absolute cracker of a game ... after watching that game I realised that most of the things I loved about that game is akin to what makes Rugby so good.
Rugby is not soccer. Soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans. Rugby used to be a thugs game, but now it is a hooligans game play by gentlemen. There are a lot more rules in Rugby than any sport I have ever followed ... especially in the rucks and mauls and scrums - it is a full contact sport with no protective gear, with a high degree of danger, scrums with two packs close to 1 ton each pushing against each other, and so a lot of the rules are there for player welfare. And often there is blood ... but the guys bleeding don't want to stop ... that doesn't bother them ... sheer determination.
Rugby is predominantly a territory game ... with several strategies. When looked at it from that perspective, it is quite fascinating. The basic rules, for those who don't know : you may not pass the ball forward with your hands. Only backward. You may kick the ball forward, but your team's receiver has to be behind you when you kick it (on-side), in order for him to catch it downfield in front of you ... so that introduces the concept of speed. Sprinters can make good rugby players. With footwork and speed they can outflank defensive players. The ball is shaped like an egg, so it bounces quite strangely ... and that can have interesting results for either team ... one odd bounce has changed the outcome of many games. Just about every facet of the game is a competition, and the side that can dominate in all of those competitions, and gain territory due to skills/strategy/power/speed usually ends up racking up a bigger score on the score board. But not always. There are many different ways to play the game, and win. Not every team plays the same.
RGR (Rugby's Greatest Rivalry) is a bit of a bold statement ... I mean ... is it the greatest rivalry in the game of Rugby? Scotland played the first game against England in 1871 ... so arguably that is a greater rivalry. I have seen how fiercely those two team play against each other ... they most certainly are not friends. The Springboks versus the All Blacks has been an utterly fierce rivalry for 105 years now ... and these teams really step up a level against each other. And yet they respect each other as well ... praying in a circle together after the game ... having a beer straight after the game ... switching jerseys with their opposite number when having a beer ... it truly is a marvellous tradition. A lot of these rivals are friends off the field ...
I guess it is called 'the greatest rivalry' because those two teams have dominated the rugby world for a long long time now.
And then there is the Haka ... did anyone see Ma'a Nonu's solo Haka response toward New Zealand, a team he won world cups with, and loves, when he played for one of the local franchises in the mid-week games against them? I had goosebumps and a lump in my throat LOL.
Sorry for the off-piste topic on a watch forum ... but NOT SORRY. It was fantastic...and I look forward to the next one in 2030.
I have been following soccer world cups since the 90's, but I got wholly sucked into rugby in a big way during the 2015 Rugby World Cup when New Zealand won their first back-to-back World Cup. Best team of all time imo ... but that may change at the next RWC. I tried hard to follow the 2026 Football World Cup, and I must admit, I found it yet again rather one dimensional and boring...mostly. Don't get me wrong, there were some good games. But generally speaking, it was uninteresting : the lack of sportsmanship on field, the bickering and simulation to get the ref's sympathy, the prima donna's on field, watching 120 minutes for 1:1 and then everything to be determined by rolling the dice (aka 'penalty shootout' ... I know there is stress involved, but still ...) ... that final was a waste of time I can never get back. But that 3rd/4th playoff was beautiful (France/England) ... 10 goals ... France down 4:0 at half time ... the swing of momentum, the second half with England trying to slow the game down, and then a momentum shift ... France shifting into a higher gear and scoring 3 quick goals and starting to believe ... England stealing the momentum back ... more counter goals ... an absolute cracker of a game ... after watching that game I realised that most of the things I loved about that game is akin to what makes Rugby so good.
Rugby is not soccer. Soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans. Rugby used to be a thugs game, but now it is a hooligans game play by gentlemen. There are a lot more rules in Rugby than any sport I have ever followed ... especially in the rucks and mauls and scrums - it is a full contact sport with no protective gear, with a high degree of danger, scrums with two packs close to 1 ton each pushing against each other, and so a lot of the rules are there for player welfare. And often there is blood ... but the guys bleeding don't want to stop ... that doesn't bother them ... sheer determination.
Rugby is predominantly a territory game ... with several strategies. When looked at it from that perspective, it is quite fascinating. The basic rules, for those who don't know : you may not pass the ball forward with your hands. Only backward. You may kick the ball forward, but your team's receiver has to be behind you when you kick it (on-side), in order for him to catch it downfield in front of you ... so that introduces the concept of speed. Sprinters can make good rugby players. With footwork and speed they can outflank defensive players. The ball is shaped like an egg, so it bounces quite strangely ... and that can have interesting results for either team ... one odd bounce has changed the outcome of many games. Just about every facet of the game is a competition, and the side that can dominate in all of those competitions, and gain territory due to skills/strategy/power/speed usually ends up racking up a bigger score on the score board. But not always. There are many different ways to play the game, and win. Not every team plays the same.
RGR (Rugby's Greatest Rivalry) is a bit of a bold statement ... I mean ... is it the greatest rivalry in the game of Rugby? Scotland played the first game against England in 1871 ... so arguably that is a greater rivalry. I have seen how fiercely those two team play against each other ... they most certainly are not friends. The Springboks versus the All Blacks has been an utterly fierce rivalry for 105 years now ... and these teams really step up a level against each other. And yet they respect each other as well ... praying in a circle together after the game ... having a beer straight after the game ... switching jerseys with their opposite number when having a beer ... it truly is a marvellous tradition. A lot of these rivals are friends off the field ...
I guess it is called 'the greatest rivalry' because those two teams have dominated the rugby world for a long long time now.
And then there is the Haka ... did anyone see Ma'a Nonu's solo Haka response toward New Zealand, a team he won world cups with, and loves, when he played for one of the local franchises in the mid-week games against them? I had goosebumps and a lump in my throat LOL.
Sorry for the off-piste topic on a watch forum ... but NOT SORRY. It was fantastic...and I look forward to the next one in 2030.
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