Into The Fray

Every once in a while you've got to step outside your comfort zone. Or, in this case, try to grapple with a sport with which you have little or no familiarity.

So while the CFL game might have it's roots in rugby, that sure didn't help at all when I confronted the World Cup final match on Sunday between New Zealand's All Blacks and the underdogs from France.

What's with all the markings on the field? What dictates possession? When's a good time to kick, and when's a good time to advance the ball? Why do some wear the tight-fitting protective toques and some don't? And of course, what in the world is legal when it comes to tackling, and what isn't?

Answers to all these questions weren't available on the broadcast, needless to say. To demand that they should be would be like turning on an Olympic gold medal hockey game and expecting the announcers to explain the rules. Not gonna happen.

So you figure it out, bit by bit, as best you can over 80 minutes of competition. It helps to some degree that they mike the officials, so you hear the explanations to the players when a rule has been broken. Of course, in a sport that seemingly has no rules, this is particularly useful.

Knowing that the All Blacks were heavily favoured after thrashing the French earlier in the tournament, it wasn't hard to figure out as the match progressed and the score remained both low and close that a possible upset was brewing. To a North American used to sports in which possession is everything, it was confusing to understand the strategy of gaining possession and then immediately booting the ball, usually out of play.

What was easily communicated, of course, was the raw sense of competition, the intensity, the bone-rattling violence of bodies crashing into one another, the different sizes and shapes that produced different speciality skills on the field. It wasn't too hard to figure out that Piru Weepu wasn't having a very good day for New Zealand, and the commotion over Stephen Donald's entrance into the game as a substitute made me look for more info on the web as to what the big deal was. Didn't know France's Thierry Dusautoir had been voted the best player on the planet until today, but he was a compelling figure even without that information.

There's a gladitorial aspect to rugby at that level that makes hockey look like cricket; players are literally tended to by medics on the field while play goes on and other players try not to stomp on the fallen. If there was a sport seemingly in need of an outlet like fighting to stop "liberties" being taken, it would be rugby, yet no scraps occurred. At least not in this match.

It's a sport made for TV, with the unbridled emotion of the players enhanced by technology, something most possible in sports that don't require a great deal of equipment. Baseball benefits from this as well, but Game 4 of the World Series, a bit of a yawner anyway, was no match for the rugby title game in terms of communicating a desperate sense of competition.

So New Zealand-France turned out to be a helluva match, and great entertainment despite the lack of offence, although I have no idea what purists and experts may have perceived. Maybe that's a good thing. Being unable to understand the officiating calls was an obstacle, and it was disappointing in the final two minutes to see New Zealand able to kill the clock (like the NFL) as opposed to having to play through to the final whistle (like the CFL). But that's nitpicking.

Don't know if a regular league match, or something less than a World Cup final, would have the same pull. But I'd watch again. Can't say I'm hooked, but certainly intrigued.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Ian]

The tight fitting toques are called scrum caps and are worn mostly by the lock fowards (#4, #5) and sometimes by the flankers and the 8 man (#6, #7, #8). You probably noticed the rampant cauliflower ear, and the scrum cap or taped ears prevent that. Kicking is mostly an individual decision, with an up and under (a very high, usually short kick) to gain some ground and attempt to get the ball back on the fly. Kicking is also a good way to relieve pressure in your own half. Although kicking to touch results in a line out for the other team, you can gain 40 or 50 meters and hope for a turn over or to steal a line out much further down the pitch. Shoulder charging is not a legal tackle, and players are taught to wrap, preferably the legs, of the advancing player. Most players drive into contact and wait for support to advance the ball further, either laterally or behind with a forward pass being a penalty. Fighting is strictly banned, but believe me when I tell you, players who take liberties or who play dirty get dealt with brutally -- everybody ends up on the ground at some point, and 1.5 inch metal studs can do devastating damage.

[Dan]

Damian,

You should check out the McCormick Cup final (provincial club final), this saturday up at Fletchers Field in Markham. Starts at 3pm. You will see the same emotion and willingness to put the body on the line by 2 of the top amateur clubs in Ontario. It will be a great match up of reigning champs the Auora Barbs vs. the undefeated Balmy Beach. The Barbs have won countless championships over the last 6 years, while the Balmy Beach were unstoppable this season.

[Basshat]

Damian, the final two minutes only seems disappointing if you don't know the sport. The opposing team can ruck through their opponents to steal possesion and the All Blacks risked a penalty, possibly leading to a game-winning kick, if they held on to the ball too long after the tackle. The way the French were overwhelming the All-Blacks at the breakdown mucn of the game, the risk of a change of possession existed throughout the last two minutes. Not anti-climactic at all.

[ismiselemeas]

There was an added historical context to this match. The French secret sevice bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour in 1985 which led to a deterioration of relations over the years. The NZ public will never forget that act of espionage.

[Anthony van Osch]

We've watched a lot of the Rugby World Cup and I can say, rugby sure beats the crap out of the two pseudo-sports Canadians are force-fed: hockey and "Canadian" "football" (not to mention the NFL stuff that, for some reason is even more popular here than the Canadian version; no other country I know of so venerates a foreign game). Canadian media's nearly exclusive focus on CFL and NHL "entertainment" chokes out interest in other sports. There are far better examples of sportsmanship out there than these two, yet they are all most Canadians see on television and in the press. Canada's national rugby team might not even have the funds to take a run at the next World Cup. Would we ever allow that situation if it were hockey?

[Yann]

Dear M. Cox,
If you want to know more about rugby you'll probably have to flight to NZ.
But if ever you choose to discover it from France, I apply to show you some rugby school work and athmosphere!
We, rugby players, refs and coaches, all started loving rugby for the intensity, loyalty and friendship that surround this game.
This sport is addictive, watch out!
By the way, the WC final was a great game. Since you enjoyed it, you know enough about rugby!

[billy]

I don't know about you Damien, but i consider myself a Canadian.
I never heard of this North American nationality you consider yourself.
If you don't consider yourself Canadian, I suggest you move back to this country of North America pronto.