Galway: Game On

Hello again, another eventful Saturday here in Galway! This evening I joined over 3,000 fellow Galwegians at the Galway Greyhound Stadium for a Rugby match! For those of you who don't know, Rugby is awesome... but seriously, it's a pretty cool game. It's not too dissimilar to our beloved American Football... in fact, the local team, Connacht, even has the same colors as the Seattle Seahawks! Connacht is one of four provincial professional rugby teams in Ireland, and represents the Irish Rugby Football Union's Connacht branch (the smallest province/branch). 

Connacht is wearing the Green "kit"

The Irish Rugby Football Union is an extremely popular sport throughout all of Ireland, and is made up of players both from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. In fact, it is the Ireland National Rugby Football Union team that is representing Ireland in the 2015 Rugby World Cup as we speak! But enough of this technical team talk, let's get to the fun bits! 

So the Connacht Eagles (a.k.a. The Devil's Own) played the Cardiff Blues tonight, and to the thrill of the masses, they won! 

It was a beautiful but cool day here in Galway

So watching rugby is pretty exciting, like I said, it's not too terribly dissimilar to American Football... kind of... sort of... okay, they are totally different games. But, the ball is a similar shape! Here are some basic rules and differences:

• There is a maximum of 15 players per team, with up to 7 substitutions allowed. 
• Rugby uniforms (a.k.a. kits or gear) include team shirt and shorts, socks, and boots (cleats). That's it. (Minimal padding, but only if you really need it)
• Two halves of 40 minutes of continuous play are separated by at most ten minutes, and the clock runs up, not down!
• The match is presided over by one referee and two touch judges
• If a player wants to pass the ball, they can only throw it sideways or behind them. To advance the ball the player must run with it or kick it. All players can kick the ball. 
• If a player is running and gets knocked down the ball is still in play and the player's team must try to keep possession by passing it among other players who are able to run or pass it. 
• When the ball is kicked or thrown out of bounds it is thrown in while the two teams throw one player into the air to try to grab it before the other team gets it... 

Let's talk about scoring! It is really difficult to understand sometimes! In American Football we have a pretty straightforward scoring system, you run the ball in or pass the ball to an open receiver in the endzone and there you go, 6 points. An extra point for the kick. 3 points for a field goal and 2 for a conversion. Rugby isn't too far off. In rugby running the ball into the endzone is called a try, you get 5 points for a try. After the try or penalty try (also 5 points), you get a chance to kick the ball between the goal posts, this is called a conversion and is worth 2 points. You can also get a penalty goal, worth three points. And finally, a drop goal, also worth 3 points. The team with the most points at the end of regulation time, 80 minutes, wins. If the score is tied, it's a draw and no one wins, that's right friends, no overtime! Unless we are talking about a championship, in which case you get a penalty shoot out... kinda like hockey. 

One of my personal favorites from the game, however, is the scrum! 

A scrum

It's like a giant huddle where each team makes a human block to try to push the ball over the line in one direction or the other! It's awesome! I still don't understand what it's underlying purpose is. After one half I was so cold and hungry that I had to buy some piping hot fish and chips... so I missed out the explanation of more rules and plays... alas, another day, another game, another Galway experience!