Cupping

Yes, it’s that time once again, when the warriors strap it on, take the field, and commence another march to the coveted trophy.

Except that there isn’t much to strap on, it’s a pitch, and the trophy is the Webb Ellis, not the Lombardi. Yeah, it’s Rugby World Cup time. It’s 3:30 AM EDT, and the first match of the 2011 Cup is about to kick off in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand versus Tonga. Crouch, together, engage.

Here’s a highly uninformed preview to brief you with just enough backstory so that, hopefully, you will develop some rooting interest and follow along. I’m guessing that the only regular reader who will be watching any of the Cup might be Jerry, and he probably knows as much or more, but here goes.

Your Cliffs Notes Rugby World Cup Preview

The Rugby World Cup

• Founded all the way back in 1987

Previous Winners:
1987 – New Zealand
1991 – Australia
1995 – South Africa (spoiler alert: you know, like in Invictus)
1999 – Australia
2003 – England
2007 – South Africa, defending champs
You sense a domination of just a few nations. It’s true. Only France has been a consistent contender outside this list.

The Format
If you watch World Cup soccer, you sort of know the drill. We begin with a group stage, except that instead of eight groups of four teams, there are four groups of five, so 20 nations make the tournament. You play everyone in your pool, so you have four pool matches, with two teams from each pool advancing to the knock-out stage.

How The Game Is Played
Okay, you probably kind of already know, and none of us wants me to transcribe the book of laws here, but here are a few basic facts as you watch:

• 15 dudes on a side (in this variety; sevens is the more lively nephew of this game)
• 40 minute halves
• Lots of running-about advancing behavior, as it’s a game of possession with the goal of touching the ball down in the try zone or kicking it through the uprights. Sound familiar?
• Can’t pass the ball forward, can’t even drop it or hit it forward accidentally. This is called a knock-on, and it results in a change of possession. Americans changed it so you can throw it forward and therefore not get hit so much. Some say smart, ruggers say lazy and sissy.

The mass of dudes binding onto each other and pushing has different names:

• Scrum – general term, but the organized variety is a scrumdown, after a knock-on, tie-up, or whenever the ref doesn’t know what to do.
• Ruck – ball’s on the ground; push the pack over it, and when it’s free, grab it
• Maul – ball’s in your team’s hands; push forward, pass it back ‘til it’s free

Positions:

• The pack has eight guys, the back line has seven.
• Big dudes in the pack, smaller/faster dudes (not always in either case) are backs

I played in the pack for four years in college, eventually working my way to 8-man, the most fun position I played. Back of the pack, you can either ruck over the ball and let the scrum-half kick it out to the backs or take it yourself. Most enjoyable was when Hightower was the scrum-half and I was 8, as we rarely passed it and got yelled at plenty. I retired from the pack my 5th year and played outside center in the back line. Don’t let any back fool you, it’s slack as shit back there.

Scoring:

• 5 points for a try, 2 for the conversion, BUT, you kick the conversion from wherever you touched the ball down, latitudinally speaking. Meaning if you dive for a try in the corner, your kicker takes aim from anywhere he chooses... along the sideline. Hence people running into the center of the try zone when they can.
• 3 points for a kick, either a drop-kick in mid-play or via a penalty.

Penalties… ugh, too much typing. Oversimplified:
There are obvious ones (taking a bloke’s head off, tackling / holding / obstructing a man without the ball) and less obvious ones (hands in a ruck, not releasing the ball when tackled – this is very grey, as a ruck can form around you -- and a whole lot of offsides). Offsides: basically if there’s a scrum/ruck/maul, or if someone on your team kicks it, mind your advancement, there’s a good chance you’ll be whistled.

Kicking:
Big part of the game (not mine), if you punt it on a penalty or from behind your own 22-meter line and it goes into touch (out of bounds), the other side throws a lineout in from there. But outside your 22, back to where you kicked it.
You kicked it and it stays inbounds, you better get on your bleedin’ horse, mate. No one who was in front of you when you kicked it can touch the fellow who caught it until you pass them and make them onside.
Pop kick: you’re running towards the zone, man comes at you, pop-kick it over his head, run around him, retrieve the ball, run in. Sounds a hell of a lot easier than it is.

Lineouts: ball goes out, throw it back in straight. Come on, dummy.

Oh… when you score, they kick off to you. Which is excellent unless they pop it up and drill you, which happened a lot to us in undergrad.

Questions?


So who’s gonna win?

New Zealand. Or so say the oddsmakers, who give them roughly 4:6 odds. Bodog gives them 8/13, while the US of A is 1000:1. Some have the Americans at 5000:1.

So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance.

The aforementioned Wallabies, Springboks, and Limeys are a respective 3:1, 8:1, and 10:1. Jerry likes the Aussies. I don’t care. I just like to watch. (That’s right.)

Here are the pools:

• Pool A – Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Tonga
• Pool B – Argentina, England, Georgia, Romania, Scotland
• Pool C – Australia, Italy, Ireland, Russia, USA
• Pool D – Fiji, Namibia, Samoa, South Africa, Wales

No draw would be easy for us, but that’s rough. At least we get Russia. Miracle on sooty grass.

There are plenty of subplots and familiar adversaries. The historic grudge matches and annual bouts via Tri-Nations (NZ, SA, Australia), Six Nations (England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Italy), etc., now take a back seat to the world title. Giddyup.

So that’s enough of a backdrop for now; pick your rooting interest (beyond the Yanks) based on your heritage (England and Ireland for me), underdogs, most fun to watch (Fiji, Samoa), or random interest. I like Wales as my (pasty, toothless) dark horse, and in the meantime, I’m excited that it’s even getting a little bit of airplay. Try to tune in. I know NBC is airing the US/Ireland bludgeoning on Sunday at 1:00 PM. My party guests should be amused when I switch over to that game. I think.

Our man on the pitch continues to be old W&M chum Brian Hightower, though he's covering this Cup for the network in LA, not Wellington. Give a listen out for him in case he gloms his way into some broadcasts. In the meantime, check out his coverage on the bloggy website The Scrum, especially his article entitled “Hightower's 5 must-watch Rugby World Cup games.”

Game on. Enjoy.