Rugby Simplified – Part 2 (The Positions)

After a mini hiatus just like the 5 days we had without World Cup Rugby, I’ve returned with Part 2 of my 3 part post on simplifying rugby so it could be understood by laymen and especially lay-women.

This post will deal with understanding the different positions in a Rugby team. If you haven’t already, please read Part 1 – The Basics first. To most girls a Rugby Team is a bunch of well built guys in tiny shorts. Hence the attraction. But if you are actually willing to look past the tiny shorts, each of those players in their unique position has something unique to offer. Simply put you need all them to play the game, and to win all of them have to perform exceptionally well. If all of this seems to be complicated and you don’t want to really understand how all the pieces in the jig-saw-puzzle fit, just think of this post as a guide to pick the best looking guys on the team. After all, every girl has a type. So which is your type?

The most generic split in the team is :

• 1 – 8 : Forwards : The heavier guys, who always seem to find them selves in the midst of trouble.
• 9 – 15 : Backs : The lanky guys, who seem to run away from trouble.

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Forwards

First Row

1 & 3 : Props : The most beefy guys in the team. These burly guys pack a punch and are hard to stop when they get rolling. Often found at the front of the scrum, locking their heads with the opposition. Not to be fooled by their mean looks, and always looking for a fight personality, they are very sensitive inside. The gentle giants of the team. Often get joked about sharing a ‘Hooker’ between them. So if your looking for a teddy bear with a big heart, this is your man.

2 : Hooker : Often the stockiest man in the team. The gods have truly been unkind to them in the vertical department, as well as the hair department at times. These guys often have to deal with more than their fair share of balls between their legs in a scrum. Not to mention, they are expected to get it straight in a line-out too.

Second Row

4 & 5 : Lock Forwards : The tallest blokes on the field. These lads make up the 2nd row in a scrum. Back in the day, their height was helpful when they had to jump up for the ball at line-outs. Nowadays, everyone seems to get a boost so it doesn’t really matter. Despite having their heads stuck up behind the front-row, they are known to be the power-house’s of the scrum. Hope broad shoulders is your type..

Third Row

6 & 7 : Flankers : Arguably the fittest boys on the team. There is hardly a dull day in the office for these boys, as they are found in the midst of all the action, be it They are bound loosely to the scrum like a pack of wolves ready to pounce on the opposite Scrum-Half. Gifted with the speed and agility of the back line, these lads still choose to stay and fight.

8 : No 8 : Don’t let the lack of an imaginative name for this position fool you. Those who’ve played in the position believe that it’s a form of flattery, similar to when you say ‘he needs no introduction’. Positioned at the end of the scrum, the ball is often found popping out between this chap’s legs. Similar to the Flankers these lads are found all over the field,

Backs

Half-backs

9 : Scrum-half : Easily the smallest guy on the team, but the loudest mouth on the field. Picture that annoying little guy whose always starting a fighting and running away from it. That’s your man. His duty is to feed the ball in to the scrum, and watch while the big boys fight it out. Be ready for the ball to pop out of the scrum, and either run like mad or pass it down the line. Being the smallest guy on the field has it’s advantages in terms of dodging tackles and being fast enough to out run your opponent.

10 : Fly-half : There is no denying that he’s the most good looking guy on the field. The only guy who carries deodorant in his kit bag, and checks him self out in a mirror before he hits the ground. Other than his looks, he’s usually known for his booming kicks. Most often than not he’s the obvious choice to make penalty kicks, and conversions. Ladies if you want this pretty face, there is a good chance that you’d have to get in line.

Centers

12 & 13 : Centers : These boys probably were flankers in their previous birth. Known for quick bursts of speed, the late nights in the gym also gives these lads the ability to give a hand-off and brush past the opposition. By chance they go down, they will be looking to offload the ball to the closest team member.

Three-quarters

11 & 14 : Wing : The Usain Bolt‘s of the side. Often referred to as ‘Taxi‘ in Sri Lanka, not only for their speed but for their ability to weave through traffic. Positioned at each end of the back-line, think of these boys as the chaps who run the anchor lap in a relay. Besides running with the ball the most common mistake they make is dropping the said ball. Ladies, don’t be heart broken if these speed daemons, leave in a hurry.

Full back

15 : Full back : Known as the last line of defence. The basic requirements are a safe pair of hands to secure the high ball, as well as a good pair of legs to ensure good touch. Not only in defence but these chaps have good speed and play a vital part in offence as well, when they join the back-line to set up an over lap. I guess it’s safe to assume, he’s the safest guy on the field.

Hope this makes sense to the Non-Rugby affluent crowd, especially the ladies. Will catch you with Part 3, where I’ll touch on some of the terminology used in Rugby.

Rugby Simplified – Part 1 (The Basics)

Queue Drum Roll, Fanfare and the Rotten Tomatoes. From the highly plagiarised author who gave you What to Shout at Rugger Matches comes.. a three part series of Rugby Simplified.

It has been brought to my attention that there are many people out there trying to understand the great game of Rugby, and get into the midst of all the Rugby World Cup Madness. Therefore I feel it is my duty to try and simply the game, especially to those of you of the fairer sex, who see the game as a bunch of boys rolling around in the dirt.

Spirit of the Game : http://www.toonpool.com

So this is as simple as it gets..

Basics :

• The ball is not round. It’s an oval.
• Unlike Football, you can pick up the ball and run besides kicking it. (That is actually how it all started, although Wikipedia disagrees)
• 15 big boys in a team. Some comparatively smaller.. but lets get into that in the next post.
• Each game lasts 80 mins, with a break in the middle to enjoy a cup of Tea or grab another Beer.

Objective of the Game :

Score as many  points as possible. The team with the most points at the end of 80 mins wins. To do this, you usually have take the ball from your side of the ground, to your opponents side. The closer the ball is to the opponents goal line, easier the scoring opportunities.

The Cardinal Rule :

There are many rules in the game. Right now all you need to remember is that you can’t throw/pass the ball forward. So if you want to move the ball forward you either have to take it and run, or kick it forward.

How do you Score?

• Try – 5 Points

Try

This is when you take the ball, run like mad, cross the opposition’s goal line (which is at the opposite end of the ground) and keep the ball on the ground. Unfortunately there are 15 angry men on the other side, who aren’t going to make it easy for you. Which is why there is a lot of ‘trying’ involved.

• Conversion – 2 Points

Conversion

Think of this as a Bonus. If you make a try, then you are given the chance to kick the ball through the posts. If it goes through your given 2 extra points, and your Try will now be called a Goal. Ie. Goal = Try + Conversion. Problem is you can’t pick where to kick from. It will depend on which point you ground the ball for a try. Therefore it makes sense to ground the ball, closer to those posts. Tell that to the angry men of the opposition.

• Penalty – 3 Points

Penalty Kick

When the opposition break the rules, which doesn’t include stepping on your toes, you get the opportunity to kick the ball through the posts. If it goes through you get points. Sadly no one can kick the ball in, from anywhere in the field. Therefore you got to pray like hell they make a big mistake closer to those posts!

• Drop Goal – 3 Points

Drop Kick at Goal

This happens when your sick of ‘trying’ and your close enough to kick the ball at the posts, and the opposition doesn’t look like their gonna make a mistake any time soon. If you make the kick and it goes through the post.. Points! This is kinda like taking matters into your own hands, except with the foot.

Images courtesy of : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/rules_and_equipment/

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Stay tuned for the second post of the series, where we’ll look at the full circle of player positions and their kinky/funny names like Hooker, Fly-half. 😉

Ladies, if all of this still flew over your head. Don’t worry your pretty heads about it, like my friend said think of Rugby as Gods gift to women. Big boys in Tiny shorts. . Who can argue with that? Although there might be a few, who find that the shorts aren’t tiny enough. 😉

Grease Yaka – In Russia

So the quick peep to check whether it’s sunny outside from under the little rock I’ve been hiding didn’t go well. I was spotted by a few, more than those who left comments. Guess I have to thank Google for that snazzy RSS reader. Larry, Sergey it works.

So now that I’ve been caught in the act, guess the next thing to do is post a follow up? The question is, what do I talk about?

I know Grease Yaka is pretty old news now since the guy has fallen off the radar, or did he run into a white van? Either way the following video got me wondering whether the so called Grease Yaka migrated to greener pastures.

In all seriousness, it’s funny how a guy can get away with groping 1000 women in one country and be labelled something totally different in another.

So my challenge to this Russian dude with Balls, is try pulling this same stunt in an Arabic country. 🙂

Me signing off.

Student of Life

So I had this moment.. You know when everything stands still, and there is this moment of clarity and it hits you in the face.

No matter how many exams we pass, and graduate from the various educational activities we undertake, we’ll always be a student. A student of Life.

Some of us may believe in the teachers that preached their teachings and are no more. The others prefer to learn from the fellow students.

Just thought I’d post this up and see if there is a response, or I can go back under the over-sized rock I’ve been hiding under.

Vote Early, Vote Wisely

i did my duty, now it's their turn..

Guess, I’ll be breaking radio silence blog silence with urging all of you to vote, as I still see a lot of people reluctant to vote blaming the two candidates and citing many excuses.  It’s your democratic right to vote, no matter if you think one candidate is going to win, and that your vote does not matter. On the other hand if you think both of them are evil, and you shouldn’t be choosing a lesser evil, then send out a clear message, spoil your vote, either way use your vote.