RUGBY LEAGUE (2)

I had a very lazy day today, and ended up watching two rugby games via streaming on my computer. In the morning, over a cup of coffee, it was the final of the 4-nations rugby league tournament between Australia and New Zealand in Wellington; in the afternoon, it was England versus South Africa in a rugby union match at Twickenham.

The rugby league game, which New Zealand surprisingly won 22-18, thereby winning back-to-back test matches against Australia for the first time since 1953, was by far the more interesting. The crucial difference between rugby league and rugby union is the "play the ball". Once a rugby league player is tackled, he starts play again immediately by putting the ball through his legs to a teammate; in rugby union, on the other hand, a tackle leads to a ruck, in which the ball often stays stuck. This breaks up the flow of the game in a way that doesn't happen in rugby league.

The other major difference is that in rugby league, if you haven't scored after 6 tackles, then the other side automatically gets the ball. That puts a premium on doing something creative when you do have it. The big problem with the England-South Africa match was a complete lack of creativity from both sides, thereby ensuring a rather dull game.

Walter Blotscher