Rugby fun

One of the things I missed when I moved to France was American football. There was plenty of soccer and some basketball but I missed football on those perfect fall Saturday and Sunday afternoons. To help compensate, I discovered rugby. It's a team sport that France is actually pretty good at and games were often televised. It is a rather simple game. The basic rules include: stay on your side of the ball; pass backwards; kick forwards; and the ball carrier must let go of the ball when tackled. But as with most games, there are plenty of other rules and strategies are far more in depth than I could understand from my armchair. But thanks to come good commentators who explained the nuances of the game, I learned to enjoy it and missed it when I returned to the US.

I was delighted when some friends of mine, told me that their son plays on the JV rugby team at Edina high school. I made it to one game during this spring season which actually ended up being a scrimmage since it is hard to find teams that want to play a JV team. But yesterday I was able to watch Esteban and his team play in the state semi-finals. They were playing a team from Duluth that had beat them badly in the first game of the season when (to quote one father) "we didn't know what we were doing." The boys have figured it out since then and on a windy hot day the teams played a hard fought game. Edina scored the first time they got their hands on the ball. Then Duluth took the ball and marched the length of the field into the wind completely dominating the rugby equivalent of the line of scrimmage. They continued to dominate in ball possession and it looked like it might be a long afternoon for Edina. But their defense stiffened and they got more serious about protecting the ball in the rucks. And Esteban, from his fullback position (similar to a safety in football), stuck his nose in there and helped turned the tide of the momentum. In the end Edina's defense stiffened and they pulled away in the 2nd half. It helped to have a strong and fast runner who gave some viscious stiff arms to break away for some tries and who was able to chase down one of the Duluth break-aways right at the goal line. I had other obligations today so I didn't see the finals today but they won and Esteban was named the MVP. Well done! I look forward to watching Esteban play varsity next season.