Rugby Union

If you went onto the street a few years ago and asked people what Rugby is? Most would describe cricket or some form of lacrosse, but that is changing. The word is getting out, especially because Rugby was just inducted into the London Olympics. This is a huge step for the sport’s popularity and there is hope that this will influence parents to put their kids into rugby camps whenever possible. Yes, they do exist; these rugby camps are becoming more and more omnipresent. Once people see how entertaining and unique rugby is at the Olympics, it is certain it will only be a matter of time before we have a US Rugby union team worth bragging about. If you didn’t know, our US rugby unions name is the Eagles. We are currently ranked 17 which you would think is pretty impressive, but then you realize this is World Rankings. 17 is almost an insult considering America’s resources, and just to give an idea, Japan and Fiji are ranked in the top 12. 17^th is not good enough for a sports obsessed nation such as the USA. That’s not to say we don’t have talent on the Eagles. The Eagles have great speed and tackling abilities, undoubtedly coming from players growing up playing football. Unfortunately, that’s not all it takes to be a World Cup victor. The dynasty teams have superior kicking ability and have ball handling that is better than having a 4.2 second forty time. Rugby is more similar to soccer when it comes to the amount of kicking and its hard to beat a team that can kick better you. To reiterate, these players have the ball handling and kicking abilities that can only come with time and experience. These other nations don’t have Football to distract them when they are growing up, therefore all the kids will play rugby in the streets instead of Baseball or Football. Rugby is second nature to these boys and that translates to their national rugby team being so prolific. In comparison, most of the USA Eagles have only been playing the game since college. Meaning their opponents have around 10 more years experience than them. Rugby is a game about instinct and reaction, world cup team’s players have this instinct, because it’s all they have ever known. Hopefully The tide will be changing hopefully with such Hollywood movies as Invictus with Matt Damon, other Americans will shift from American football to the Rugby union. I want a world Cup and I know we are capable of making history.

Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lb953XHQSc

http://www.irb.com/