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"Rugby for beginners"

Yulia

First XV
Joined
Jun 18, 2020
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1,019
Hello everyone!
Unfortunately, didn't find any topic for "new joiners" here.
I'm not a big expert in rugby (well,not an expert at all to be honest): I was watching it a couple of times on TV,and fell in love with this game! Now,due to Coronavirus,have a bit more free time for it,so,as a total "rugby beginner" I would like to ask you to recommend me:
1) "golden rugby matches" = what are the most interesting/the best rugby matches you can recommend me to watch?
2) 10 best rugby players/teams that you can name - I'd check all the games with them
3) what are the main rugby championships? Are there any current to watch on TV?
4) do you know something about rugby teams/ players in Russia and Poland? I'm originally from Russia and live in Poland (so kindly forgive my mistakes in English), tried to google about our rugby - looks like it doesn't exist at all...

Thanks! Hope you'll give me some recommendations,guys!
 


This is often referred to as one of the best test matches in history , All Blacks v Australia 2000

I'm a highlanders (so bias), i found the 2015 final a very enjoyable game



I also found our games against the 2017 B&I lions game great



sorry only highlights for the last two
 
Hi Yulia,
regarding point 4 there is a russian team, Enisei-STM, that this year played in the Challenge Cup. challenge Cup is the second european cup, by importance, after the Champions Cup.
http://www.enisei-stm.ru/ is the site web of the team. Unfortunately I don't know more about Russian Rugby (I'm a novice too in this sport).
 
p.s. regarding the championships at the moment in eourope they're suspended due to coronavirus.
But the following are the most important:
Premiership (that is the england championship)
Top14 (that is the french first division. They have a second professional division that is the Pro D2)
Pro 14 (that is an international championship made up with teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, South Africa and Italy).

Recently started a NZ championship, but I'm not so experienced in south emisphere rugby so I let other with more knowledge to tell you about it.
 
Well surely you need to look at the World Champions South Africa and we destroyed England in the Rugby World Cup final in Japan last year...
 
4) do you know something about rugby teams/ players in Russia and Poland? I'm originally from Russia and live in Poland (so kindly forgive my mistakes in English), tried to google about our rugby - looks like it doesn't exist at all...

I'm not aware of any Polish players in the top leagues, but there's a few Russians knocking about,

At Sale Sharks we have Russian loosehead prop Valery Morozov, and we had Andrei Ostrikov up until last season - he became a big fan favourite during his years here - he's now playing out in France.
There's also been a few others like Vasily Atermyev (current Russian international, who played at Northampton Saints).

Russia have qualified twice for the Rugby World Cup (2011 and 2019), and have a reasonably strong semi-pro club structure - their teams have the opportunity to qualify for the 2nd tier of European Cup comp (the Challenge Cup) with Enisey-STM qualifying most years and Krasny-Yar joining them a few seasons ago.
 
I'm not aware of any Polish players in the top leagues, but there's a few Russians knocking about,

At Sale Sharks we have Russian loosehead prop Valery Morozov, and we had Andrei Ostrikov up until last season - he became a big fan favourite during his years here - he's now playing out in France.
There's also been a few others like Vasily Atermyev (current Russian international, who played at Northampton Saints).

Russia have qualified twice for the Rugby World Cup (2011 and 2019), and have a reasonably strong semi-pro club structure - their teams have the opportunity to qualify for the 2nd tier of European Cup comp (the Challenge Cup) with Enisey-STM qualifying most years and Krasny-Yar joining them a few seasons ago.

They are also improving a lot in the 7's series.
 
Oh wow!! How many advices!! Thank you guys! Started to watch All Blacks v Australia 2000 - recommended by Jabby, will describe my impressions later))
. Well surely you need to look at the World Champions South Africa and we destroyed England in the Rugby World Cup final in Japan last year...

Oh wait..I remember I was watching one match (just saw it by chance) in an "anglophone" pub here in Warsaw. As far as I remember , South Africa Springboks vs a team from England, and Springboks won it (again,as far as I remember). But I think it was 2 years ago..
Guys in the pub (from the South Africa) were shouting out "Bok can!" or something like that))not sure) but they looked really aggressive during the game)
 
Watched this game All Blacks v Australia 2000, that was great! Fell in love with All Blacks - their backs were really strong and had a good tactics during the game.Thank you Jabby. Want to watch two other games you recommended.
But I still can't understand: what are the most serious violations of the rules in rugby- can someone explain please? I read about the rules in Internet but,when I watch a real match, I can't get the difference between true violations and what I consider "violations"..
And does anyone visit real matches or most of you prefer to watch it on tv/in internet? How's it in real life: more impressive or less?
 
How's it in real life: more impressive or less?
I might be in the minority but I prefer to watch rugby on TV.
Don't get me wrong: The atmosphere inside the stadium is great, but you see **** all compared to on the TV with the multiple angles and slowmo etc.
 
Watched this game All Blacks v Australia 2000, that was great! Fell in love with All Blacks - their backs were really strong and had a good tactics during the game.Thank you Jabby. Want to watch two other games you recommended.
But I still can't understand: what are the most serious violations of the rules in rugby- can someone explain please? I read about the rules in Internet but,when I watch a real match, I can't get the difference between true violations and what I consider "violations"..
And does anyone visit real matches or most of you prefer to watch it on tv/in internet? How's it in real life: more impressive or less?

TV is better for actually seeing and understanding whats going on, live for the atmosphere, IMO

as for the rules....rugby is very complicated....a lot of rules are based around an invisible line running across the field. cant pass the ball forward for example and forward would be defines as a line through the ball/player carrying the ball
 
I might be in the minority but I prefer to watch rugby on TV.
Don't get me wrong: The atmosphere inside the stadium is great, but you see **** all compared to on the TV with the multiple angles and slowmo etc.
TV is better for actually seeing and understanding whats going on, live for the atmosphere, IMO

as for the rules....rugby is very complicated....a lot of rules are based around an invisible line running across the field. cant pass the ball forward for example and forward would be defines as a line through the ball/player carrying the ball

You are both lucky, rugby is popular in your countries and you can visit real matches! I'll check Rugby Union in Poland but don't think they have local matches often here...and I don't even talk about international matches/championships :( I have to visit it somewhere in France,the UK or Ireland I think.
.as for the rules....rugby is very complicated....a lot of rules are based around an invisible line running across the field. cant pass the ball forward for example and forward would be defines as a line through the ball/player carrying the ball

Yes, very complicated it's true! I still don't understand them sometimes to be honest. Where did you read all the rules before to start to watch rugby? I mean, you know a good article/site where they are described in details?
And what do you think about female rugby? I haven't watched it yet (I think it's too scary to watch it :rolleyes::oops:o_O )
 
You are both lucky, rugby is popular in your countries and you can visit real matches! I'll check Rugby Union in Poland but don't think they have local matches often here...and I don't even talk about international matches/championships :( I have to visit it somewhere in France,the UK or Ireland I think.


Yes, very complicated it's true! I still don't understand them sometimes to be honest. Where did you read all the rules before to start to watch rugby? I mean, you know a good article/site where they are described in details?
And what do you think about female rugby? I haven't watched it yet (I think it's too scary to watch it :rolleyes::oops:o_O )
I just kind of learnt them playing as a kid...and I still don't know them all
 
I mean, you know a good article/site where they are described in details?
Honestly? Wikipedia is probably our best bet - beyond that you just pick it up as you watch more, the referees are mic'd up and the commentary will often explain what penalties were given for etc.
 
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Honestly? Wikipedia is probably our best bet - beyond that you just pick it up as you watch more, the referees are mic'd up and the commentary will often explain what penalties were given for etc.

Haha, I read all the rules in Wikipedia as well)) didn't find anything better,at least in Russian.. I'd rather watch matches with the commentary,but it's quite complicated for me in English (for example)
It's a pity rugby is not that popular as this damn football (( more interesting, rules are more complicated, and I don't even talk about players- they are stunning! They work hard, all in blood and sweat in the end of the game (they are obviously into what they're doing,not there just to show off and earn money)
 

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