Bluevale Collegiate Rugby Football Club
 
A few of you have asked some questions in the New Player Survey, here are the answers:

How much will it cost to play rugby?
Mr. Ciezar estimates that it will be about $160. This includes a jersey, shorts, socks, team fee, athletic fee, and tournament fees.

When does rugby start?
The rugby season officially begins on March 1st 2010 (which is a Monday). That is when we will be starting practices as a team.

Is there a Girls Rugby Team? Is there a Junior Girls Rugby team?
There is only one girls rugby team which includes both Senior and Junior players. Speak to Ms. VanKoughnett for more information.

What are the differences between Rugby and Football, besides not wearing any pads?
Great question! And the answer is... a lot. One way to describe Rugby is that it is a combination of soccer and football. Soccer because you have to be in good shape to run for the entire game (50 min) and Football because you tackle your opponents and score by crossing the end line.
Here are a few key differences:

Contact
  • In rugby, the only contact is with the ball carrier when he is tackled or when the two teams are rucking to get possession of the ball. In football, blocking has most players hitting their opponents on every play
  • Tackling in rugby is supposed to bring the player to the ground where he has to give up possession of the ball. In football, tackling is supposed to prevent the opponent from getting closer to the goal line.
  • Basically, rugby tackles require more skill than football because you need to safely pull your opponent to the ground and then take the ball, whereas in Football you just need to knock him down for the play to stop
Passing
  • one of the biggest differences is that Football allows forward passing and Rugby does not.
  • Rugby also allows continuous passing but Football usually only has one pass per play
Scoring
  • Football has touchdowns worth six points and a one point conversion. The place where the kick is taken is always in the same spot.
  • Rugby has "Tries" for five points and a two-point conversion. The place where the kick is taken depends on where the scoring player has "touched down" the ball. That is why you often see rugby players run to the middle of the endzone after crossing the end line... it is to give their kicker a better angle.
  • Rugby also has penalty kicks. If a player on Team X does something illegal, then the referee awards Team Z  a "penalty". If the spot of the penalty is close to Team X's goal posts, Team Z will "go for posts" and try to kick the ball through the uprights. If they do, they get three points.
  • The biggest difference in scoring is that, in Rugby, ANYONE can score a try.  
Fitness
  • While i would never argue that Football players are not fit, Rugby requires a type of fitness more like soccer. In football you get a break every 20-30 seconds to set up the next play. In rugby the game may not stop for 10 minutes! Therefore you need to be able to run for long periods of time and be able to accelerate to top speed very quickly. That is why we focus so much on fitness... Good teams are often beaten by fitter teams in the last minutes of the game.
Players on the Field during a game
  • In football, there are 12 (Canadian rules) and 11 (American) for each team
  • In Rugby there are 15 players for each team. This means that MORE people get to play more often!
I hope this helps.

You can post more questions below.

Mr. Ballantyne
Add Comment
 
 
30 players have filled in the online form for the Jersey and Kit survey so far. According to our list, that still leaves about 50 guys yet to give their input. If you have completed the survey, good job! If you know someone who hasn't, let them know that they need to get this done or we may pick a design they don't like. If they are also interested in any extra "kit" like a track suit or hoodie, then they should also be letting us know.
The reason for doing this now is to avoid any confusion in the spring. Once the season starts, we want to be focused on one thing: rugby.

Special thanks to Sam Taylor for getting copies of all the Six Nations games this past year. We will be watching those videos in February to get our newest players familiar with the game and the rest of you excited for another great year on the pitch.

Keep working hard on your off-season conditioning!
Add Comment