The Rugby Outsider

I'm really trying to understand the sport of rugby by finding equivalents to the North American sports that I watch every day. Now that I have watched something near 30 rugby telecasts, I am still clueless on many aspects of the game but I think I have a grasp on some concepts that I can relate to. Here are a few observations: --The more I watch Crusaders' center Sonny Bill Williams, the more I think LA Lakers great Magic Johnson. Like SBW, Magic Johnson was taller and bulkier than many of the players at his position at the time. Magic also was a creative passer. After watching Williams yesterday against the Stormers, I immediately think finger roll--the arm-extended pass lightly touched off to a team-mate begs comparison to basketball. SBW even threw a behind-the-back pass at one point--the signature move of the NBA point guard. --To counter SBW's creative offloads, one would think watching the NFL would help me understand his effectiveness. I kept thinking as the Sto...

Jubilation and despair--the literal peaks and valleys of human emotion--were on display in the Hurricanes 50-47 SupeRugby victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, South Africa last Saturday. And it took just 90 seconds. Cheetah's scrum half Sarel Pretorious, who played a monster of a game, ventured far into Hurricane territory with less than two minutes left. Without many team mates around him, Pretorious flailed the ball away in a desperate attempt to keep possesion and run out the game clock. However, Pretorius' pass fell plainly in the hands of the desperate Hurricanes, who quickly turned it into a fast-break going the other way. Lock Jeremy Thrush looked Gayle Sayers-like as he outran the exhuasted Cheetahs to the Try Line at the buzzer, sealing the victory for the New Zealand side. Watch the action here: What makes Rugby such a great game is the ability of teams to seize victory from the jaws of defeat in the dying moments. I struggle to find parallels to sports most A...

I'm watching the second half of the Sharks-Lions game on TV here in the United States. This marks the first weekend ever that I was able to see some or parts of every game on the SupeRugby calendar for the week. I have the following observations, in no particular order: --The Crusaders have been fantastic against South African sides the Sharks and the Bulls. In fact, they've played so well it seems that the only team capable of beating them are the Crusaders' own replacments. --At some point, SANZAR is going to notice Sonny Bill Williams' penchant for high and dangerous tackles. He did it again in the first half against the Bulls, throwing the high shoulder to a stood-up player. To me, it's similar to the "high-low" tackle in American football. --I don't know if the Reds will win the SupeRugby title, but their performance against the Stormers at Newlands in Cape Town just was their finest moment this season. --The Reds' Quade Cooper had enough h...

SANZAR, an acronym for South Africa, New Zealand and Australia rugby, is the governing body for the Tri-Nations and SupeRugby tournaments. To find out what the member nations think of SANZAR, do an experiment. Google: South Africa SANZAR, New Zealand SANZAR and Australia SANZAR. It does not take many headlines to realize that South Africa and SANZAR don't always see eye-to-eye. And, since SANZAR also metes out punishment for player indiscretions, there are always headlines when SANZAR cites South African players and fails to cite others for similar offenses. Witness two cases-in-point. First, from last year's Tri-Nations, a vicious head-butt by Springbok Bakkies Botha on All Black Jimmy Cowan, which Botha received a nine-week ban. Then, take a look at yesterday's Sharks-Crusaders SupeRugby match, with Sonny Bill Williams of the Crusaders giving Ryan Kankowski a flying elbow. What's important is that this contest might as well have been a Springboks-All Blacks game becau...

Remember the date: 27 March 2011. I hope all who were watching the Sharks-Crusaders SupeRugby match from Twickenham knew what was happening: a match between the Manchester United and FC Barcelona of the Rugby Union world. It was a date that will live in history as the first SupeRugby game played in the Northern Hemisphere, which saw the Crusaders beat the Sharks 44-28 . The Durban-based Sharks and the Christchurch-based Crusaders came to Twickenham in England to play the game postponed from earlier this season because of the earthquake on South Island that affected Christchurch and the surrounding area. My uninformed thoughts and observations of this historic tilt are thus: Yes, it seems that Sonny Bill Williams is the real deal. If you don't know by now, fellow Americans think the next Jonah Lomu. OK, bad analogy for those of you that don't know Rugby. Think the next A-Rod in baseball, the next Peyton Manning in football or the next Kobe Bryant in basketball. What I liked...

I have no real knowledge of rugby and the organization that runs the sport here in the United States, USA Rugby. I read here from gainline.us and here from Universal Sports' "The Scrum" Blog by Buzz McClain about some dissatisfaction with USA Rugby President and CEO Nigel Melville and Board Chairman Kevin Roberts . I'll let you read and come to your own conclusions, but here my own uninformed talking points: I don't care if USA XV's coach Coach Eddie O'Sullivan, Melville and Roberts aren't American. That never has been a sufficient criteria for a coach or an administrator of any sport in the United States. Having well qualified individuals such as these can only help, not hurt American Rugby. I think we need their knowledge and expertise having coached or administered the game of rugby at the highest levels in the rugby-playing world. If the articles are true as written, specifically that the Congress that elects the USA Rugby CEO and the Board and...

Rugby's newest team in the SuperRugby tournament in 2011 are the Rebels , representing the Australian state of Victoria, and more specifically, the city of Melbourne. The three nations making up SupeRugby's 15 teams (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia) now have five teams each in the competition. Australia's Rugby Union teams in the SupeRugby competition are in a different position than their counterparts in South Africa and New Zealand. Australia does not have a domestic professional championship like South Africa's Currie Cup and New Zealand's ITM Cup . The alternate code of Rugby League is the more popular version of Rugby in Oz. The Rebels are led by former Wallaby captain Sterling Mortlock . And, judging by their first result, a 43-0 loss to the Waratahs , it may be a long SupeRugby season for the newbies from Melbourne. The coach of the Rebels is Rod Macqueen , a former Wallaby coach who led Australia to the Rugby World Cup title in 1999.

Direc TV has stepped it up here in the United States and is offering SupeRugby games for free for current subscribers and starting in February. The games continue today on channel 490. The satellite provider also has coverage of the 6 Nations Tournament on BBC America (Channel 264). Rugby needs television coverage if the USA is to see what a great game it is. I would never be able to see the matches on my local cable provider.

South Africa's SuperSport describes the changes in the Super 15 Tournament which changes its name to SupeRugby this season. With one more team, and an empahsis on domestic matches , look for some intersting developments in the Rugby Union World's premiere club competition.

Just one look is all it took. I had never watched a Rugby Sevens game until today's NBC Broadcast of the HSBC Las Vegas Sevens Tournament . The Sevens game will likely be the preferred method of bringing Rugby to the American masses, and I'll tell you why: Sevens is played wide-open as opposed to the many pitched defensive battles that characterize the XV Union code. With the emphasis on speed and passing without prolonged stoppages for rucks and mauls, Sevens is much easier to follow on TV for novices like myself. With Rugby Sevens coming to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and the USA the "defending" Olympic Champion from back in 1924, Sevens will be on TV in 2016. Two seven minute halves mean that several games can be condensed into hour or two hour blocs of broadcast time. It's an hour into NBC's coverage as I write, and this will be the third game I will have watched. Players are lean and quick--almost like a team of XV backs, and positions 1-8 are...

Hello, Rugby readers, With 2011 being a World Cup year , it's time to start publishing again. The original post of this blog, with my assertion that Americans can take to Rugby like we did with soccer back in the 1970's. November, Planet Rugby published this article in which IRB Chief Mike Miller says that the question is "when and not if" the United States will one day host a Rugby World Cup. The article goes on to talk about Rugby Sevens being added to the Olympic games in Rio de Janiero in 2016 as a crucial stepping stone to re-establishing the game in the US. Additionally, should the US qualify in men's sevens, they would go to the Olympics as the defending champion (even though it was 1924 and the XV version). More to come.