Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Enjoyed that game. Tonga missed a few goal kicks.
Can an expert explain for a newbie the point of scrums (and line-outs to a lesser extent)? It seems that the team throwing the ball in, almost always gets control.
Bring on the all-blacks!
If you are curious about Tonga (population 104,000):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonga
Tonga was named the sixth most corrupt country in the world by Forbes magazine in 2008. |
That was a great game and Canada played really well. Both teams had a few issues here and there, but the gap between the top 10 and the next ten is big in international rugby. Canada needed to win this and beat Japan to have any hope. I hope they can do something miraculous against France, but it would be amazing.
Both the lineouts and scrums are usually won by the teams putting the ball in, but not always. Think of the scrum as a faceoff where you drop the puck for your teammate. You have a signal for when to drop the puck and as a result you win the draw more often than not. Its a little different in rugby, but thats the overview. For the lineout the teams also get to select which jumper (how far back in the line) they're going to throw the ball. It is an advantage, without question, but there are also quite a few opportunities defensively in both situations. Against the US a month ago for example Canada could hardly keep their own lineout ball. Cudmore being back though seems to have rectified that.