Positioning

Trying to find a jumping off point to introducing rugby has been a pain in the ass. The fact is that I originally had this idea set up to branch out to people loosely familiar with the sport and then further educate them with what I knew or could find out, as it is though I realized starting from scratch was the better approach: starting with positions. Rugby is split into two main groups of players, the forwards, which are linemen/ linebacker type players for you United States football fans, and the backs, which are on par with the backs and receivers of the other oval ball sport.
Forwards:
Forwards are further grouped into two distinct sects, the tight- five (linemen) and the loose forwards (linebacker, fullback). Either way these are the most important players on the pitch. They do the hard hitting, the heavy load carrying, and the work at the breakdowns. The tight five consists of two props, two locks and one hooker. The Loose forwards have two flankers and one eight man. Each position is based off of its location in the scrum, and each position is suited to different plays and strategies in open field.
Backs:
Backs are the most important players on the pitch. Like the forwards the the backs can be separated into two different groups as well. The inside backs or nine, ten, twelve and thirteen, and the outside backs eleven, fourteen, and fifteen. The positions in numerical order are scrumhalf (9), fly-half (10), wings (11 and 14), centers (12 and 13) and fullback (15). Backs are responsible for much of the open play that goes on in the game. Used lightly at breakdowns (if possible) backs are accurate passers that excel at spreading the ball around the field as much as possible. Backs usually are responsible for the majority of the kicking duties as well.

The All Blacks

The New Zealand All Blacks are THE rugby team of the world. They are the New York Yankees of international play, always the favorites, have the most talent, most fans and are among the most like and hated teams out there. I am not a huge All Blacks fan but honestly anyone who gets involved in rugby in this country is probably a fan of the All Blacks at some point and for good reason. The All Blacks are not just consistantly one of the top three rugby teams in the world (along with South Africa and a rotation of Australia, Argentina or a handful of British teams), they are also the most self promoting. I don't mean it in a bad way, actually quite the opposite, more videos online circulate about the All Blacks than any other team most of these are user submitted but many also come from the teams own video vaults. Tied directly to a website called Rugby Sportswizards they have a handful of promotional skills videos online.

Its this promotion that has made the team so famous around the world because, like the Yankees, they haven't won a world title in a few years (and, like the Yankees, they probably wouldn't want you to mention that fact).

The Day After

Taking stock of the Boys game twenty-four hours later.
First off things I was impressed by:
1) Set play defense. On both sides of the ball the teams were able too mostly contain the opposition from set play, especially from scrums and line outs.
2) Mauling. With minimum practice time with each team there was only a finite amount of things to work on before the game on Saturday. The Corvallis team worked on mauls off of lineouts and then executed them perfectly on the two attempts they made, good strip good drive and the ball came out clean. When most mauls at this level degrade into a mass of bodies tying up a ball with no drive it was a nice victory for the boys from Corvallis.
3) Kicking for points. Despite the fact that as a whole team LBRFC only converted about 60 percent of their kicks it was still an inspiring effort when at least 4 different players were able to put the ball over the post.
4) Open play offense. Much to the chagrin of the Corvallis coach the Albany club thoroughly outplayed Corvallis in this aspect. The majority of tries scored by Albany came not on the first phase after a scrum or lineout but on the second or even third phase as the backs made the most of open fields and weak side play.
5) New players. Specifically new player tackling but quite honestly throughout the game new players turned out promising performances all game long. Despite some players playing in their first game or playing on just a week or two of practice they played smart, safe and all seemed to contribute at one time or another.
6) Experienced players. Here there is a split, the Albany side was impressive in how well the experienced players meshed and played together, as the more trialed back line dominated throughout the game and the forwards provided clean ball (usually) back to them it all came together in a dominating effort. The Corvallis side had experienced players take the lead and move the ball aggressively, keeping the greener players organized and helping to have them in position to make plays.

Never Too Much

I do love rugby but seven hours may be pushing it. Starting with warm ups at ten am the marathon began with the high school teams inter-squad scrimmage. The half I was coaching, the Corvallis part of the team, played promising but ultimately succumbed to a couple early tries and several late tries falling 42-3. Ben Overman scored the only points for the Corvallis side converting a penalty midway through the first half.
Following this was the OSU women's team playing the Budd Bay Women's club team. A spirited game that went back and forth quite a bit. The game was primarily dominated by great play from the OSU backs as they ran through tackles and moved the ball very well from sideline to sideline and up field as well. Budd Bay made the most of the momentum they had throughout the game making the plays when they had the advantage of position or penalty. Using their forwards effectively they managed to find holes in the Oregon State defense and convert a few tries. Final here was 32-24
Last game of the day was the Corvallis Men's Club against the Vancouver Men's Club. In a game that resembled the women's game before Corvallis' backs ran roughshod over Vancouver for much of the game and opened up the lead in the second half en route to a 63-17 drubbing. A very close game for much of the first half as both teams took turns volleying kicks back and forth and forwards from both sides worked the ball close to the try line and we're able to power it in as Corvallis took a 24-17 lead into halftime. The second half was dominated by ground play, Corvallis began working the balls with the backs, spending less time putting the boot on it and more time using the pass and smart running lanes to put Vancouver on their heels. Vancouver continued to threaten early on but in the half but by the midway point Corvallis had worn them down and was able to put together three late late tries (including one at full time) to ice the game. Corvallis didn't miss any conversions and was zero for one on penalties.
All in all I arrived at the pitch at ten am after working for six hours and finally walked off the pitch at four thirty completely exhausted but sated for now. More to come about the high school game in the coming week.

Trials and Tribulations

The difficulties of coaching any high school sport are known by many. Students not making it to practice, grades, work schedules, and a myriad of social situations make for long weeks of wondering why numbers at practices are down or why players are producing the way the coach imagines. Now take all that, add in a sport that most people in this country aren't familiar with, and throw in a dash of lack of support from the high schools and add field issues and what comes out is nothing if not a miracle every season. I can't take credit for so much of the workings of the rugby team I help coach, mostly I just show up and offer observations. The magic of rugby goes into the hours spent by the coaches arranging meetings with school officials that don't know or care about the sport, hours spent on the phone to find a field to practice on and another to play on, and carefully structuring a season concept for a bunch of students that aren't familiar with the game. Its hard to imagine a coach not having a massive coronary then when certain non-profit group forgets about a meeting and locks the doors to their building when the coaches are set to use it. I won't say that rugby coaches are the worst off or that they have to do it all alone, the community that surrounds an established rugby club and has been touched by rugby is often eager to give back. However sometimes when you're standing outside a locked door on a grey day it seems that there is never enough support...