Friday Night Lights

[2009_09_04]
Sandy, one of the engineers that I am working with here in Australia, took me to a Rugby game on Friday night. It was my first Rugby game. It was the Tigers Vs. the Bulldogs. It was a Rugby League game (versus a Rugby Union game or an Australia Rules game).

I really didn't know much of anything about Rugby going into the stadium. Honestly I still don't know much. What I do know is that it sure is a rough game! Its similar to American Football in that the field is about the same size and there are end posts. There also are two teams fighting over a football. This is where the simularities stop. When a team has the ball, they get to have it for 6 tackles (simular to downs). A player grabs the ball and runs like mad until he's tackled. He's let back up, then he gently rolls the ball behind him and another team member picks it up and goes for it. There is no stopping the clock to regroup. No timeouts. No coach. Just the guys on the field and 4 alternates. They play 2 halves. The video I have near near the end of the first half so the players are pretty tired.

The players are able to pass the ball, but all passes must be behind the player passing. Any player may pass. So far as I can tell everyone basically plays the same roll. It is quite a fast paced an intense game! Rather than scoring touchdowns its called a 'try'. Not only do they have to cross the line, they have to control the ball onto the ground. Many times they just tackle the ball once they get into the endzone. That's worth 4 pts.

After scoring a Try, they can score a conversion. Its worth 2pts. Its a kick through the uprights. The kicker must line up where the score happened, meaning that if they scorred near the edge of the filed the kicker has to kick from the edge. He can go as far bacl from the end-zone as he want but he'd have to stay on the edge of the field. Hence its a good idea to try and score near the center. There is no trying to block a 2pt conversion.