A newbies 10-step guide to understanding rugby

In 2014, I spent 6 months volunteering in ten African countries with Bhubesi Pride (rugbyinafrica.org) coaching primary school kids to play touch rugby. Of the thousands of people that we met, both young and old, it was the case in the majority of instances that it was the first time for people to see an egg shaped ball, let alone understand this funny game!
Rugby is a simple and brilliant game to play and understand. However, the challenge of a language barrier with hyper six year old African children necessitated that myself and fellow volunteers explained the sport in the simplest way possible…

The newbies guide to understanding rugby / ragbee / rubbie / rugi : )

1. “The rugby secret”… Run forwards… Pass backwards!
2. Don’t break the egg or spill the pill!
3. Run over the other team’s line and place the ball on the ground for a Try!

The rugby secret in action in Choma, Zambia and new coaches scoring a Try!

Touch rugby in action in Rulindo, Rwanda and Gabarone, Botswana.

Those three steps are sufficient to have a non-contact game of ‘touch’ rugby up and running with new players within a few minutes. When tackling is introduced, the next steps are…

A text book tackle in a senior club game in Nairobi, Kenya.

4. All tackles should be below the shoulder. Respect the referee at all times. No acting the maggot (ie fighting)! Pretty much everything else is legal apart from the “contest” laws*.

5.If you drop the ball and it moves forward you lose possession… the game restarts with 16 bodies (8 versus 8) pushing each other (a scrum)!

6. If the ball goes out over the sideline, the game restarts with a jumping match (a lineout)!

A line-out in Newlands, Cape Town in the Stormers versus Bulls match. South African Rugby Union scrum coach Pieter De Villiers teaching the Botswana national team forwards.

A ruck… a contest for the ball on the ground between two or more players

7. The bigger, fatter, taller guys are the forwards. They do the pushing thing and the jumping game to restart the match. They “contest” (wrestle) for the ball when it goes on the ground. This is called a ruck (which rhymes with a universally understood word if you need to remind players of it). There are laws* around what players can do at the “contest” but that is something to learn another time.

A back about to run away from a forward in Adama, Ethiopia

8. The smaller, faster, better looking guys are the backs. They run and pass the ball into space. Forwards will tell you that backs don’t do a lot else!

Note: Any player can play any position when the ball is moving ie forwards can find themselves running around with the ball and backs can contest for the ball if they like.

9. If you break a law*, the referee will award a penalty to the other team. Teams can choose to attempt to kick it over the goalposts for three points if they wish. A Try is worth five points. If you score a Try you get a free kick at goal to score two points … this is called a conversion.

10. All rugby fans and players are friends (especially after the match)… but nobody likes England! The All Blacks always win.

Celebrating the game with friends in Rehoboth, Namibia and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania .

*Note: rules in rugby are called laws. This is because the enlightened dudes who came up with the sport in England in the late 19th century understood that breaking a law is way more serious than breaking a rule!

Now that you are also enlightened (lucky you!), check out my preview of the upcoming Rugby World Cup …

Rugby World Cup 2015 —