New Rugby Laws Explained in Recent Video

Updating: Opinion: Rugby Laws Trial Brings Out Elvis

Across the U.S., clubs are making ready to determine the impact of the 13 new rule changes enacted by the International Rugby Board on August 1, 2008. Since most of the new changes have been defined through textual explanations, there are a few guides worth noting to help better understand the impact of the law variations on the game.

The first helpful link is a video that gives point-by-point analysis with in-game scenarios. Video: IRB Guide to Experimental Law Variations



In addition, the IRB offers a PDF file that can be downloaded at their Web site: http://www.irb.com/ELVs/.

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Do You Know a Pitch Hero? Then Pichero Is for Your Rugby Club

Pitchero is a free social networking platform that is, according to the devleopers of the site, "specifically designed and built for semi-professional and amateur sports clubs."

The site offers home page for clubs that shows latest news, videos, photos and league standings. The goal, it seems, is to help the poor soul who is tasked with navigating tricky code from an outdated Web site.

If the movement catches on, the site could become a huge place online for clubs to interact. Currently, it seems that most of the attraction comes from the UK.

Take the tour at http://www.pitchero.com/info/tour/ , then poke around and feel free to use the comments section of this post to offer your thoughts and feedback.

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All Blacks Look to Rebound After Loss to Wallabies in Tri-Nations Play

The Tri-Nations tournament returns to New Zealand this Saturday as Australia travels to Auckland's Eden Park. The Wallabies are riding momentum after an impressive 34-19 win last weekend in Sydney.

With the win, Australia extended Robbie Deans' unbeaten start as coach with victory over his native country. Having led at half-time, the Wallabies were forced to come from behind following an early try from the All Blacks five minutes after the interval.

Video Highlights of New Zealand vs. Australia



Victory maintained the Wallabies' unbeaten start to the tournament as they racked up their fifth win in a row overall under Deans, who many New Zealanders felt should have replaced his All Blacks counterpart Graham Henry after the World Cup.

New Zealand has called up scrum-half Piri Weepu ahead of Saturday's Tri-Nations return date with Australia. Weepu will provide cover for injured Andy Ellis who sustained bruised ribs in Sydney last weekend.

Video: Smith Lights Up Ellis



The injury actually occurred in the first half when in form Wallaby flanker George Smith put in a crunching hit on Ellis as he made a little break after some nice play. To make matters worse, big Rocky Elsom sandwiched him from the other side.

The All Blacks are desperate to avoid a third straight Tri-Nations defeat, having lost their five-year unbeaten record against the Springboks and succumbed to the Wallabies in Sydney.

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Suspensions Mar Springbok Historic Win Over All Blacks

The Springbocks are are taking a huge amount of momentum after delivering a staggering defeat to the All Blacks at the legendary "House of Pain" last weekend. The win, however, came at a cost and one incident has sparked a debate over wicked play on the pitch that often crosses the lines of tough competition and becomes violent.

Carisbrook spectators, arm-chair scrumhalves and match commentators were quick to cry "sink the Bismarck" when South African hooker Bismarck Du Plessis stuck his pudgy paws in All Blacks flanker Adam Thomson's eye socket. As a result, the Boks will be without Du Plessis the rest of the Tri Nations with a three-game suspension.

Video of the incident:



The match today in Perth between Australia and South Africa will likely be another back-and-forth battle between two powerful foes. A Matt Giteau-inspired Australia produced a devastating performance to crush an impotent France in Brisbane by 30 points two weeks ago. The South Africans are limping into a crucial match with controversy on their sleeves, with a new captain and a shortage at the hooker position.

Match preview available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/7509377.stm

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Video Highlights: South Africa Stops New Zealand in Thriller

The Springboks on Saturday reversed a losing streak on the road had plauged the team since 1998: a victory at the "House of Pain," Carisbrook stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Video from RugbyDump.com:



With a 30-28 victory, South Africa now travels to Perth for another test against the Wallabies on July 19.

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VIdeo Highlights: England v. New Zealand, Second Test 2008

While England's second tour of New Zealand ended with a thud, Americans continue to have a hard time finding any type of rugby coverage on TV. That is, without Setanta sports, usually aired on tape delays, when it comes to highlights on ESPN Sports Center, there are usually few to none.

So, Flingjore must not let that happen. Average fan: here are some tries, enthusiasts, that feature hard-knock plays and a lot of fabulous phases.

Video: New Zealand v England — 2nd Test 2008



This match was played on June 22, 2008, in Christchurch and ended with a final score of 44-17, New Zealand over England. The match report are avaialable through BBC sports or you may download the full match (subscription required) at www.mediazone.com .

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Mid-Atlantic Rugby Sevens Season Opens With a Strong Showing by NOVA

The Northern Virginia Rugby Club, 2007 MARFU champion, had a strong showing this past weekend at Exiles 7s, a tournament hosted by the Maryland Exiles, in Silver Spring. This competition was the first venue of the year that featured top competition from the Mid-Atlantic region and served as one of three qualifiers that determine which teams play in the USA Rugby national tournament in August.

Video: NOVA Rugby @ Exiles 7s 2008



Rugby 7s is a variation of rugby union, except each team fields seven players instead of 15. The games total 14 minutes, instead of 80 minutes, in length and tend to be faster-paced with more scoring.

The seasons run during the summer, between the months of May and August. Many clubs will participate in tournaments each week and play at least three games on Saturdays. For more information, visit www.novarugby.com.

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Classics RugbyFest Features World Class Rugby

Canada's National Team to Host French Barbarians at Rugby Canada Challenge in Victoria

Plans for a Classics RugbyFest in Esquimalt June 27-28 have expanded into a multinational rugby event.

The French Barbarians, a World Class invitational side, will play the Canadian national team for the Rugby Canada Challenge on Saturday. The French Barbarians is an elite sqaud that is comprised of international rugby stars from France, Argentina and Italy.

The day was originally scheduled to be a full Saturday of rugby, featurng the U.S. Classic Eagles versus their Canadian counterparts. Now, the one-day event has become a weekend extravaganza that features five games of very competitive rugby on Friday and Saturday.

"This level of international rugby has been absent from Victoria for 20 years so this is an amazing opportunity to showcase our city again," says Rugby Canada Challenge organizer Tom Woods. "The French Barbarians routinely play sides like the South Africa Springboks, Australia Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks." Normally a Canada – French Barbarians main-event match would be played in a stadium in Toronto or Vancouver where venues much larger than Bullen Park in Victoria.

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Related Multimedia
Video: Preview of French Barbarians v. Canada, Bullen Park — an inside look at the field setup for the June 27-28 matches.

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Two U.S. Classics Eagles teams will face off against the Canadian Classics Rugby team in an annual "friendly" pre-tournament match to the annual Bermuda Classic in November. Over 50 U.S. players, including many veterans from the 2007 World Cup campaign, will be in Victoria for the international matches.

Coming from across Canada, Classics team members are over 33 years of age and have represented their country in international play. Classics games are highly physical, competitive and exciting to watch with many of the players currently under professional contracts and/or playing test-level rugby. Canada won the Classic Plate Final at the Bermuda World Rugby Classic in 2006.

All games will be held at Bullen Park in Esquimalt and tickets for the Friday and Saturday matches are being sold through TicketMaster.

Schedule: Classics RugbyFest at Bullen Park

Friday, June 27

• 5:30 p.m. KO Canadian Classics versus U.S. Eagle Classics
  
• 7:00 p.m. KO Vancouver Island High School All Star XV versus Lower Mainland High School All Star XV

Saturday, June 28th

• 1:00 p.m. KO Crimson Tide versus Fraser Valley Under 20 game
  
• 2:45 p.m. KO Canadian Classics versus U.S. Eagles Classics
  
• 4:15 p.m. KO Canada versus the French Barbarians

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Video: Preview of French Barbarians v. Canada, Bullen Park — an inside look at the field setup for the June 27-28 matches.

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