Rugby: how many versions of it are there?

[Aquehonga]

Football has:

*American

*Canadian

*Arena & Indoor

*Other

How many types of Rugby are there?

What are the differences between them?

Links are welcome

A few weeks ago I caught this Rugby highlights show on ABC-7 from San Diego.

I just followed the ball to learn as I watched.

I found Rugby intriguing Different.

I observed getting in the endzone was 5 points & 2 points, for the fieldgoal or was it conversion

Anyway, it'd be groovy if Rugby became popular here in the States.

Well, Rugby aficionados & players, amateur, pro, whatever, from the Old World & Australia, New Zealand et al etc:

Share your knowledge of Rugby

Thank you.

 

[SmoothieX]

I have no clue either. I saw it on in the bars in England a lot when I was there and was intrigued.

Soccer is boring as all hell, and cricket looks just weird. Rugby I could definitely get into as a fan though.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Well, there's Rugby Union and Rugby League.

There are good writeups on each of those on wikipedia.

American/Canadian Football is technically a type of Rugby as well, since the rules are descendants of the collegiate Rugby played by Ivy League colleges in the nineteenth century. I guess one could even consider Australian Rules and Gaelic Football to be in that same category.

 

[Aquehonga]

Well, there's Rugby Union and Rugby League.

There are good writeups on each of those on wikipedia.

American/Canadian Football is technically a type of Rugby as well, since the rules are descendants of the collegiate Rugby played by Ivy League colleges in the nineteenth century. I guess one could even consider Australian Rules and Gaelic Football to be in that same category.

Very interesting

Thank you for your reply & information

Aussie Rules Football looks

What's Gaelic Football?

Sounds gothically groovy

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Don't forget Rugby Sevens (which now comes in League form as well as Union).

 

[Nerroth]

Gaelic football and Hurling are two of the oldest field sports in the world - and are both quite popular on the island of Ireland.


The hybrid rule-set used when Ireland play Australia is pretty fun, too!

 

[Jax]

Soccer is boring as all hell.

Theres your 1st problem, its called Football It does make me laugh how NFL fans call soccer (as you say it) boring when the NFL has so many breaks

as for Rugby the League version has simpler rules but all the glory in Union...though don't watch England cause we can't stop breaking rules long enough to actually play Union.

 

[Jono]

There is also a wheelchair version, which is also called "Murder ball". It is intense and brutal. The USA are the current paralympic champs.

Here's a bit of rugby trivia, the current Olympic champions in Rugby Union are the USA. They won the gold back in 1912 or whenever it was last in the Olympics.

Currently the IRB (International Rugby Board) is campaigning for Rugby Sevens to be included into the Olympics. Which is a smart move as it is far less complicated then the 15 a side game, shorter and more accessible to more nations.

Out of the versions of rugby, Rugby Union is the most wide spread and is a global game. Its no where near as big as football/soccer but its still a pretty popular and well played sport.

The USA has competed all of the Rugby World Cups (I think). I've even seen them play back in 2003 against Fiji during the 2003 RWC here in Australia. They nearly won, scored a try in the last minute of the game to trail by 1 point and the kicker just missed the conversion. If he got it it would have been a fairly big upset.

Here is a try they scored in the RWC2007 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkU3zR-dsXU&feature=related

It's a pretty impressive try given that Ngwenya burns Habana on the wing. Habana was the player of the tournament and is one of the fastest players in world rugby. If you go on youtube and just search for rugby, you'll find plenty of vids of tries and big hits.

At one point last year they were talking about taking one of the Bledisloe cup games to Denver this year. That didn't happen in the end and the game is now going to be in Japan (where the 2011 RWC should be instead of NZ).

 

[Chaos Descending]

Soccer is boring as all hell.

Theres your 1st problem, its called Football

The Brits came up with the name "soccer", and it's a true fact that it's boring as all hell.

 

[StarfleetUK2K1]

You've got union - one of the biggest games in the world with a massive following and some great leagues such as the Guiness pemiership and Magners League, as well as the fanatastic Heineken Cup.

You've then got Rugby league, some northerners play that, it's no where near as good.

Occasionally in england they have cross codes games, the union teams always win - at least in my mind!

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

I guess one could even consider Australian Rules and Gaelic Football to be in that same category.

I wouldn't consider Irish football or Gaelic to be Rugby,
Rugby to me involves something with Rucks, Scrums etc
Which is why I think NFL with its Dead ball rules, Defensive lines and hands on tackling is closer to Rugby than Irish Football is to Rugby

the Irish sport evolved from an ancient game called 'Caid' which might even date back 900 or so years, another national sport hurling is definitely older than Irish football dating back a few thousand. Hurling is not really relevant since its not football or rugby and more like a cross between hockey and braveheart.

The old Irish Football game was once hands on like Ruby, it was once tougher with more physical contact and the rival clans used just farming fields as playing fields. As it evolved trees were then used as goals in an oval pitch.

The Irish national game is becoming more like soccer every decade, with new rules, new playing fields and less physical contact.

Aussie rules is probably closer to the traditional Irish game than modern Gaelic football. If you want to know what the old Irish game was really like then watch Aussie rules not Soccer or Rugby or even the modern Gaelic one

You've got union - one of the biggest games in the world with a massive following and some great leagues such as the Guiness pemiership and Magners League, as well as the fanatastic Heineken Cup.

The 6 nations has stagnated, I wonder if they should invite Argentina and Georgia to spice up the game

 

[Jono]

The 6 nations has stagnated, I wonder if they should invite Argentina and Georgia to spice up the game

Argentina might be able to provide some good competition if they can get the clubs in Europe to release players but Georgia is far too weak to be added to the Six Nations.

Another big problem with Argentina is the tyranny of distance. That and the fact that not much money would be made is one of the largest stumbling blocks that keeps them out of the Tri-Nations competitions.