>>63084391Greetings /r/rugbyunion. Not sure if I'm in the right place or not, but I watched the world cup game this weekend and I have a few questions. Rugby is hardly on television in the United States so we don't get a chance to watch it that much (although it seems most Universities here have a Rugby team). But first, an observation:
This sport is fucking insane.
It reminds me of a childhood game we play on the playground in America called "smear the queer". Yeah, not a real politically correct name, but neither are 12 year olds. The whole point of the game is to tackle the guy with the ball. There's no points or rules or any shit like that, you just attempt to tackle the guy with the ball and if you have the ball you run like hell.
I've spent a decent portion of my life watching American football (NFL) and playing contact sports so I'm familiar with the physicality of it all, but the amount of time that players spend "in the trenches" in Rubgy seems a lot higher.
I have a few quick questions that I hope don't sound too ridiculous:
Maybe I missed something, but when on offense and each player is pitching the ball backwards to their teammates, they never seem to switch direction and pitch the ball the other way. Can you only keep running towards one side of the field?
Why aren't more ball-handlers evading tackles? I noticed that many times it would be 1-on-1 and the ball carrier would just run right into the defender. Why not put a few jukes on the defender?
Can you just kick the ball downfield any time you like? It seems so.
Are there any "plays" that are designed or is it more free-flowing like soccer?
Cheers
