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▲ 133 r/rugbyunion

NZ Rugby officially file court proceedings against the Australian Rugby League Commission over PNG Chiefs name

u/LogBoi_ — 7 days ago
▲ 615 r/rugbyunion

I went to South Korea's biggest rugby game

Rugby is not very popular in Korea. There are a few semi-pro teams playing a tournament nobody watches, there is a very obscure Korean Netflix Rugby-Gameshow, the national team is currently 38th in the world and besides that, the armed forces have a team as well. That's it. Almost.

"Almost", because there are also Korea University and Yonsei University (2 of the country's 3 most prestigious universities) who have an annual sports competition against each other. They compete in five different sports: baseball, football (soccer), basketball, (ice) hockey, and rugby. All five games happen on just one weekend - last weekend - with the students going absolutely mad about the whole thing.

My Korean wife is casually interested in rugby and agreed to take me to this year's game. As far as I understood, it's not really possible for non-students to buy tickets to this game with money. However, rugby is not the most popular of the five matches , and kickoff was at 11 am on a Saturday. My wife thought with other games being played the night before everyone would still be hungover and the stadium half empty and that most likely the gates would either just be open or someone would try to get rid of tickets in front of the stadium.

She wasn't right. The subway was flooded with students, the way from the station to the stadium was a river of red and blue shirts and there was no one trying to sell tickets. Luckily my wife found the desk for "Korea University Alumni" and after somehow producing prove that she is one (she actually is, I just wouldn't know how to find evidence that spontaneously) we both got handed not just free tickets but also a gift bag with water, a soft drink, some cake and cool hat.

Our "Alumni" section was on the main stand, in the shade, and roped off from the rest of the stadium. To my surprise, there really didn't seem to be any change to get in if you're not associated with one of the two schools - apart from most probably the black market.

The match would usually be held in Jamsil at Soul's Olympic stadium, but that seems to undergo some renovations currently (at least that's why I understood - my Korean isn't very good), thus this year the match happened in Mokdong Stadium seating 15K people. At the start of the match the stadium was probably half full, but lots of people (I reckon many of them were indeed still drunk from the day before) poured in during the entirety of the game. By the second half, the stadium was almost filled. So this is EASILY South Korea's biggest rugby game.

Both universities each brought two giant stages for multiple cheerleading groups to dance in front of the crowd. Also Korea University even brought an entire rock band to play the chants (see 4th picture). During half time there was also an elaborate flag waving, dancing and singing kinda show (see 6th picture).

In terms of quality: well, I guess for university teams, they were actually pretty decent. I was surprised though how hard the boys went. You could definitely tell it's their biggest game of the year. Some collisions were outright brutal!

Also, most of the kids in the stands didn't actually care too much about the game. Priority one was having a good time. Priority two was cheering for their school. Whether actually following the game made the top 10, I'm not sure. Still, an estimated 12-13K people having a great time at a rugby game in Korea on a Saturday morning put a very big smile on my face!

u/Beezle86 — 8 days ago
▲ 420 r/rugbyunion

Stan Sport, the official broadcasting partner of Rugby Australia, acknowledging the Raeburn Shield with their latest Insta post

One day World Rugby will accept it to be an official piece of silverware. Much rather have this than some piece of junk called the hemisphere shield that no one asked for

u/ConscriptReports — 8 days ago
▲ 70 r/rugbyunion

World Rugby clarifies law on dangerous tackles

Released this morning from World Rugby

  • “Hip drop” and “knee drop” tackles confirmed in law as being illegal
  • Changes are central to player welfare. "Knee drop" will be issued via a Law application guideline on October 5^(th) and "hip drop" via a law change on November 1^(st)
  • The changes show World Rugby continuing to deliver against the outcomes of this years’ Shape of the Game meeting

The World Rugby Executive Board has approved a law amendment and a law application guideline confirming that two relatively rare, but dangerous tackle techniques, will now be subject to sanction.

The “hip drop” tackle, where a tackler uses their bodyweight to pull a player to ground and drops onto the legs of a ball carrier from behind, will be explicitly added to foul play law and will be sanctioned with at least a penalty kick. The “knee drop” tackle, where a player drops to one or both knees before making a tackle, will be highlighted to players, coaches and match officials as an action already covered in law and can also be sanctioned with a penalty.

Investigating the “hip drop” tackle was an outcome of February’s Shape of the Game meeting.  World Rugby established an expert tackle height working group which also took on responsibility for investigating “hip drop” and later “knee drop” tackles and commissioned research with Leeds Beckett University. The group, which also reviewed the trials of a lower tackle height in the U20 World Championships, commissioned research and game analysis from a rugby around the world in both sevens and fifteens. The working group recommended to Executive Board that the law around these dangerous tackles be clarified.

On the new law amendments World Rugby Chair Brett Robinson said: “We’re grateful to unions for raising the issue of these types of tackle with us. My thanks go to the working group and wider World Rugby team for the speed and breadth of their research and analysis. These changes show the commitment across the globe to player welfare in rugby in action.

“Once we looked at the evidence, it was clear the hip drop tackles whilst rare, could cause significant leg injuries. It was also clear that knee drop tackles were on the rise.

“Protecting player welfare is at the heart of everything that World Rugby does and once we’d reviewed the analysis we’ve acted quickly to ensure that dangerous tackles of this nature are removed from the game, starting this weekend.”

Former Ireland international and International Rugby Players Association representative on the World Rugby Executive Board Rob Kearney said: "While a change of this nature can be challenging to manage in the short term as players, coaches and match officials adjust, this decision has been taken to protect players from potential serious injury, and that's the right thing to do."

World Rugby will amend Law 9.13 to explicitly include “hip drop” tackles within the definition of dangerous play, with a sanction of penalty.

On “knee drop” tackle, under existing tackle law , it is prohibited to make a tackle while on the ground. Therefore, World Rugby has introduced a Law Application Guideline to reinforce the application of these provisions and support consistent officiating across the game.

world.rugby
u/maverickeire — 8 days ago
▲ 51 r/rugbyunion

From a biting ban to England caps? Sanderson has "no doubts" 23-year-old Jibulu is a future Test hooker

From a six-week biting ban to a future England cap, the lad's clearly got some bite... (sorry had to be done). Do you reckon he's the real deal or massively overhyped? Personally, a bit undecided so far. (Source: RugbyPass)

rugbypass.com
u/Tom_England01 — 8 days ago
▲ 75 r/rugbyunion+1 crossposts

A 5th Irish Province

My reasons for suggesting this, which those of you outside Ireland may be interested to know:

  1. Historical basis: The provinces work well in Ireland because they have a historic and cultural basis. You may think there is no reason to change this but there is actually a historical and cultural basis for a 5th province in Ireland, the royal province of Meath. It was roughly North Leinster, with the High King of Ireland seated in Tara (Meath). (See old Irish crest with 5 provinces, The royal province of Meath in the middle, represented by the High King).

I would use this inspiration to create a 5th province which effectively splits Leinster in two using the River Liffey as the midpoint (flows thorugh the middle of Dublin).

  1. Untapped potential: Those of you from outside Leinster/Ireland may think that Leinster already represents the province/population so well, and with such a strong team, then why change this?

Firstly Ireland's playing poulation as a whole could probably sustain another team. Even if it were just a Leinster 'b' team they would be very competitive and this would aid player development, but this isn't the only reason I'd suggest it.

The population of North Leinster (Liffey as mid point) : ~1,123,000.

The population of South Leinster: ~995,000

Breakdown of the 62 players in Leinsters senior squad and academy:

North Leinster: 4 (Usanov, Spicer, Soroka, Ericson)

South Leinster: 58

As you can see there is a massive discrepancy in representation between the two areas. There are many historical and cultural reasons for this but I also believe there is a (natural) bias in the Leinster pathway to players from South Leinster. Leinster really is representitive of Greater South Dublin (South Dublin, South Kildare, Wicklow and Wexford a small amount.) The truth is it's hard for one rugby club to represent such a large and populous region. For this reason, I don't think it would significantly weaken Leinster in any way, while simultaneously opening up a pathway in an untapped area.

  1. A Fifth Team: There is a clear openness to another team in Irish rugby. There have been talks about the IRFU getting involved in London Irish. I can't help but think down the line this will be an ongoing discussion point. Irish rugby is generally in a good place and is a growing sport in Ireland. A 5th province to match the likes of New Zealand has real potential.

In Fact, the success of the Waikato Chiefs is quite a good proxy for this idea. A region just off the country's main capital city (Auckland) with strong historical and cultural precedent, which leans into that old spirituality or 'mana'. (I'd confidently say Maori Chiefs are far more culturally significant in New Zealand than a High King is here in Ireland but still I think it is an interesting comparison.)

TLDR: History, Representation and Development.

u/Significant-Cream948 — 9 days ago
▲ 35 r/rugbyunion

Emoni Narawa brought into ABs Squad as Injry cover for Mo'unga

Must have seen all this discourse on him missing out for Fihaki.

u/ghostboypurrp — 7 days ago
▲ 22 r/rugbyunion

Manu Samoa Squad for PNC

A few noticeable selections
- Josh Ioane
- Akira Ioane
- Shaun Stevenson
- AJ Lam
- Irae Simone
- Etene Nanai- Seturo
- Chris Gabriel

u/MYKI98_ — 7 days ago