Not football or soccer, but still exciting

Wednesday, November 12, 1997

Not football or soccer, but still exciting

FEATURE Popular English sport features elements of American
favorites

By Alvin Cadman

Daily Bruin Contributor

What is the only athletic team at UCLA that gets the opportunity
to appear in a Foster’s beer commercial?

Answer: The rugby team.

Although most of the team is not of legal age to purchase the
product being advertised in the commercial, they will be portraying
their love for the game of rugby. The sport originated in 1823 at
the Rugby School in England, and the first rugby league was founded
in London in 1871.

With 15 players on the field for each team at a given time and
no substitutions allowed, rugby is a free-flowing game with little
time for breaks.

"Rugby is a non-stop, active sport," Rich Gould, a veteran of
the UCLA men’s team, said. "There is constant running involved in
rugby. You don’t get to huddle up and catch your breath like in
football."

Understanding the rules of the game is a big problem in rugby,
since most Americans have little or no experience with the feeling
and flow of the game. The style that rugby exhibits, with its
tackling and running, resembles American football. The passing and
teamwork display its origins from soccer, which the sport of rugby
evolved from.

The lack of the forward pass, the emphasis on kicking the
oval-shaped ball that is slightly larger than a football, and
constant carrying up and down the field can make the transition
tough for many former soccer and football players who try watching
or playing the game of rugby.

The scoring system of rugby has parallels to American football.
Comparable to a touchdown in football, "tries" can be scored by
touching the ball on the ground past the goal line for five points.
A kick through the goal posts from the spot where the player scored
the try, like an extra-point conversion, can score two points.
Similar to a field goal, a three-point conversion can occur if a
player drop-kicks the ball through the goal posts while the ball is
still in the field of play.

A "line-out" signifies the start of play, as well as after
penalties and scores. One player out of bounds throws the ball
toward the players in an attempt to gain possession of the ball.
The "scrums," which are groups of eight players "bound" onto one
another by circling their arms around each other, push and shove in
an attempt to advance the ball up the field. The "hooker," located
in the center of the scrum, that which resembles the offensive line
of a football team, gives the ball to the "scrum-half." This player
acts like a quarterback and laterals the ball to the "scrum-back"
to carry the ball.

Instead of tackling, rugby players "ruck." This occurs when the
ball carrier is pinned to the ground and cannot move. The teams
then interlock in a physical battle for possession that is less
organized than a scrum.

"I love the physical attributes of rugby," Ito Ripstein said.
"It’s an all-out effort of strength and speed. Rugby is 80 minutes
of pure exhaustion."

The history of UCLA men’s rugby is as distinguished as the sport
itself. In the sport’s glory days at UCLA, the team won 11 national
championships in a span of 15 years between 1967 and 1981, when
rugby was an intercollegiate sport.

The team travels on the road to Arizona, San Diego and Las Vegas
to compete against the best competition in the Southern California
Rugby Football Union, UCLA’s league affiliation, and other West
Coast powerhouses.

Last Saturday, UCLA hosted the Marines from the Camp Pendleton
Rugby Football Club, which won the Armed Forces rugby title last
year. The Bruins won the preseason battle, 64-17, led by Juan De
Santiago, Paul Clemens and Rich Gould with two tries apiece. The
Bruins converted seven of 10 kicking attempts on the prowess of
Gould and Clemens.

UCLA’s next opponent on the pre-season schedule is arch rival
USC, at home on the soccer field on Nov. 23. In the social
tradition of the sport of rugby, both teams after the game would
join together for a post-game party. However, the game is expected
to be another battle in the war against the Trojans on the big game
weekend.