What’s Rugby?

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

I’m from a country with no tradition in rugby, and a couple of years ago my knowledge of rugby was:

• It’s different from American football (no idea why)
• It has a ball that it’s not ball… that shit isn’t round
• It’s a bunch of big guys that smash one another
• there’s an amazing “dance” from New Zealand named Hakka
• and that’s it… I guess…

And then I went to Ireland during the 6 nations tournament week.

So, the first thing that happened was discovering that this tournament is really important in Ireland.

And the second one was that if we start a road trip with no plans whatsoever, we can finish it in a small town where the youngest inhabitant was probably around 50. (this town and our adventures there deserve an all-new post).

Now imagine 2 girls, around 30, entering a Pub in the middle of f*cking nowhere in Ireland, that was the only place opened where we could be from 8 pm onward, and everybody looks at us. And that everybody was 90% men and all over 50 (at least).

The result:

I learned all the rugby rules since the final of the tournament was in the following day, and if you’re in Ireland and there’s a game (especially a game against England) you got to see it with the same passion that you feel all around you.

And Ireland won, at the last minute!!!

Photo by Hanson Lu on Unsplash

Brian O’Driscoll ended his international career - he’s a very important guy in Irish rugby.

The extremely important thing is that I was able to understand the game even though I had an awful hangover due to all the Guinness that I drank to be able to understand it on the night before.

And now a couple of years later, I must say that I haven't watched a lot of games since there. We all know that if we don't keep on practicing something, we end up forgetting. So, this means that right now I don’t remember most of the rules of the game. I do, however, remember that a Guiness is almost mandatory while seeing a game.