Rugby Rules Quotes

I knew very little about Rugby. But, I think it helps in terms of an American audience the game is enough like football in that it's a battle for field position and you score by running into what looks a lot like an end zone. I think in terms the nuance of the game, Americans won't get that stuff. I think in terms of the peanut butter and jelly version of what you need to know, I think it's pretty clear.

There was no way I was going to end up in the scrum when I came to rugby - you know, waste my pretty looks.

The scrum and the tackle are the two really contentious areas of the game. If you get those two aspects right, most rugby matches will work in your favour.

My dad played rugby, so I used to watch a lot of rugby union and rugby league.

We can be tackled but referees are there to police dangerous challenges. Forwards are protected by the laws of the game and the way it's played, while defenders and midfielders have to throw themselves about a bit more.

If the game is run properly as a professional game, you do not need 57 old farts running rugby.

Rugby football is a game I can't claim absolutely to understand in all its niceties, if you know what I mean. I can follow the broad, general principles, of course. I mean to say, I know that the main scheme is to work the ball down the field somehow and deposit it over the line at the other end and that, in order to squalch this programme, each side is allowed to put in a certain amount of assault and battery and do things to its fellow man which, if done elsewhere, would result in 14 days without the option, coupled with some strong remarks from the Bench.

If anyone out there is mildly curious about rugby, I'd recommend a weekend spent watching the Six Nations. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I know American football. I know a little bit about soccer. I know baseball, I know basketball. But, rugby is a foreign language.