Mason and I got to inaugurate the first Rugby World Cup we've ever cared about this weekend. South Africa opened with a strong win over Samoa. The opening weekend also saw the hosts (France) lose to Argentina (I was watching replays for the Hand of God), the US lose (though well-fought) to defending champs England and our neighbors to the north, Namibia, lose a much closer than expected duel against Ireland.
Mason and I have no clue what's going on. We can spot a try and roughly understand a scrum. It kinda makes sense how a ruck works. But I never know whose ball it is when it goes out of bounds and penalties are a complete mystery. Like most sports, this is punctuated by Mason's incessant questions. "What was that penalty for?" "What does it mean he needs to roll away from the ball faster?" "Why does it seem like every time Samoa gets close to scoring the refs call a foul on them?" "Now whose ball is it?"
Except that in rugby my responses are different. Usually I give the most abbreviated reply possible so I can keep watching the game. With rugby I simply respond - "Mason, I have no clue." I need Tyler worse than I've ever needed him before.
My top questions would have to be:
With a nation full of enormous people, how did Samoa seem to field a team that was actually smaller than South Africa on average? Just the Samoans on the U football team would have been larger and stronger on average than these guys.
Speaking of small, does Ireland believe they get extra points for fielding a guy that looks like a jockey to always pull the ball from the ruck? I thought the runt was always the hooker, but I'm pretty sure the hooker is #2 and that runt was #6.
Why is it that no matter who throws the ball in, South Africa always gets it? Did Samoa forget to practice these?
How can you possibly miss a point after attempt, even from a tough angle? It's like watching Utah's special teams against BYU every time. Even more curiously, why tilt the ball away from the kicker's foot? Doesn't every kid in grade school know the ball's supposed to tilt toward the kicker?
5 comments:
I am so jealous. It is probably on network TV there. Actually its probably about all that is on TV there. I have to download games off the internet, or trade in a kidney for an Irish sports channel on sat. TV. Rugby is pretty tough to understand if you are not familiar with it (probably why it is not more popular here) I am sure the borish accent of the announcer is not making things easier!
Almost all games are on network TV. Pretty sweet. The thing I love about network TV here is that the anchor will hand over to the on-field lady who is speaking Africaans and then back to another speaking Zulu, then back to the Africaans lady who is now speaking English. It's like watching Univision, but where as soon as you start to get the Spanish down they switch into Romanian.
Did you say hooker? Whoa!
John, where have you been the last 2 years +? You could have learned all about rugby with your Dad-in-law one of the coaches for the UofU team. Did you know that 2 of the starting players for the American team are from the UofU! The Hooker#2(Tyler's position) was one of the Props at the U. (that is the guy who holds the hooker up in the scrum) So on the national and international level the players ARE MUCH BIGGER than high shcool and college players in the states. Only the big and the skilled were selected for the USA team. And 2 of Dads Lads were right there! The guy who delivered the only try in the game for USA is also from the UofU...and the hooker (Blake Burdett) helped set up that play. He was a prop for USA too. Mate (pronounced "Maatah") played prop for the USA team and he was also Prop for the U. Yes, we are green with envy that you got to see these games. Dad and I were up in Boise and dealing with some sad things, but we still called around to a few sports bars to see if any had the Setanta sports network. No luck for us. But, for you and Mason...rugby almost heaven. Heaven would have been Dad and I (but probably Dad and Tyler) in France! Tell Mason from us how lucky he is/was to see the game! Love to you, Mom-Gayle
Really - do any of us outside Dad and Ty understand any of it? Cool to know that two of our Utes were on the USA team. Honestly though - Ty can you give a better tutorial, really?!
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