America Lost Today, but got a lot of respect

[TopDog]

The Rugby World Cup started 6 Sept 2011 being played this year in New Zealand. America played their first game today against Ireland, we lost 22 - 8. But we got a lot of respect today.

It started with the commentators before the game. They talked about 9-11 and what a special day it was today. As the two teams stood on the pitch there was a moment of silence in respect of 9-11. Broken by the single cry from the stands of "God Bless America" followed by several more, growing louder until there was all out cheering. Then they played the Irish National Anthem, then the American National Anthem, what was so surprising was the number of fans with Irish flags painted on their faces and waving Irish flags while singing the American National Anthem. Made me feel proud to be an American.

The American team is made up of professionals and amateurs, Ireland is a tier one team all pros. So the American Eagles were expected to lose. However what was not expected was how well they played. Consider the first game of the world cup New Zealand beat Tonga 41 - 10. Even though the Irish won today they walked off the field rather somber as they expected to do much better against the American Eagles.

 

[Benny]

Is Rugby ever televised? If so, what channel?

 

[TopDog]

On Directv RGBY channel 490 and 491 (the Rugby channels) also 625 Universal Sports. PPV on most cable systems should have live games, but live games would be coming on at like 3am most of the time. Fox soccer channel used to carry some Rugby but now that I have dedicated Rugby channels I don't check Fox anymore.

 

[Mad Macs]

I watched the match and for once the Eagles didn't look like they shouldn't be in the World Cup. I didn't realize there was a rugby channel on DirecTV. I might have to cancel Comcast.

 

[TopDog]

I watched the match and for once the Eagles didn't look like they shouldn't be in the World Cup. I didn't realize there was a rugby channel on DirecTV. I might have to cancel Comcast.

Did that last try by the Eagle in the last few seconds of the game make the Irish look bad or what. The Eagles have really come a long way. If Rugby was more popular in the States we would have one hell of a team.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I watched the game, and our boys played dang well. I thnk their failure to tackle, and the ran played into their loss. I had my hope untl the close of the first half. But dang the Shamrocks were huge.

 

[O2guy]

they are showing some if not most of the Cup matches on 13.3 NBC Univesal Sports Network, for those of us who still dont have cable or dish...

 

[TopDog]

I stand corrected. I was on the Rugby World Cup site and it shows the final score was Ireland 22 USA 10 not 8 as I thought. That last try by the USA should have only been 5 points.

I watched the game, and our boys played dang well. I thnk their failure to tackle, and the ran played into their loss. I had my hope untl the close of the first half. But dang the Shamrocks were huge.

I thought the Eagles did an outstanding job the first half. They just needed more practice working as a team, not enough passing and working the line.

I watched the game, and our boys played dang well. I thnk their failure to tackle, and the ran played into their loss. I had my hope untl the close of the first half. But dang the Shamrocks were huge.

I think it must be all the green beer that makes them grow that big

 

[Mad Macs]

We need to create a professional level rugby union league here in the US if we ever want to dream about competing with the rest of the world. I played in college and after for a few years and was on one of maybe 6 amateur teams in the Chicago area. When I was in Edinburgh 15 years ago they had over 100 teams in the city alone.

I think the future looks good as we have a LOT of kids playing soccer around us and rugby is the natural progression. We always loved it when soccer players tried out for the team instead of football players as they had a much higher endurance level. Football players were good for 30 seconds at a time and then they were dragging.

 

[TopDog]

We need to create a professional level rugby union league here in the US if we ever want to dream about competing with the rest of the world. I played in college and after for a few years and was on one of maybe 6 amateur teams in the Chicago area. When I was in Edinburgh 15 years ago they had over 100 teams in the city alone.

I think the future looks good as we have a LOT of kids playing soccer around us and rugby is the natural progression. We always loved it when soccer players tried out for the team instead of football players as they had a much higher endurance level. Football players were good for 30 seconds at a time and then they were dragging.

If Rugby was as popular as American Football we would be nailing the World Cup every 4 years. But it would take many years of deprogramming to build Rugby up to that point. We can only hope. It would be great to get to a level where we are competing on a tier one level with the rest of the world.

 

[Mad Macs]

If Rugby was as popular as American Football we would be nailing the World Cup every 4 years. But it would take many years of deprogramming to build Rugby up to that point. We can only hope. It would be great to get to a level where we are competing on a tier one level with the rest of the world.

Yeah, first thing would be to stop leading with your head when tackling. I could see the bad press from a whole bunch of kids breaking their necks the first time playing rugby and the sport being blamed.

 

[Benny]

If Rugby was as popular as American Football we would be nailing the World Cup every 4 years. But it would take many years of deprogramming to build Rugby up to that point. We can only hope. It would be great to get to a level where we are competing on a tier one level with the rest of the world.

Rugby will never be popular in the states because America is a bunch of pompous, arrogant pricks that refuse to watch anything "we" didn't invent.

 

[Mad Macs]

Rugby will never be popular in the states because America is a bunch of pompous, arrogant pricks that refuse to watch anything "we" didn't invent.

I agree. I can't watch sports on tv with the exception of the rare Colts game. Our sports suck, they're boring, the players are paid too much money, and the ticket prices just keep going up.

I torrented most of the last world cup in France and spent the next month watching that.

 

[TopDog]

Rugby will never be popular in the states because America is a bunch of pompous, arrogant pricks that refuse to watch anything "we" didn't invent.

I would not put it that way. American kids are exposed to tons of football from school, various media, popular movies etc. They just don't get exposed to Rugby in a positive venue. Rugby just doesn't get the exposeure that American football gets.

I grew up here in America and like the vast majority of American kids I loved football, had my favorite team (we didn't have a Pro team back then) had my football heroes. Nothing wrong with that. But when I joined the Marine Corps and spent years overseas I got exposed to Rugby in an environment where Rugby rules.

Standing back and comparing the two games I now much prefer Rugby, its less commercialized, and a broadcast single game lasts 80 minutes not four hours or more. Rugby is action packed and fast paced. I still dont understand all the rules and until this year I had a very hard time even finding a game on TV to watch, but worth it when I find it. Its actually hard for me to watch American football on tv now where the ball is only moving an average of 11 minutes a game.

I think as more people get exposed to Rugby it will become more popular. I dont have anything against American football, just that the extreme commercialization of it has ruined it for me.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

watched a bit of the game until i had to leave the house for a bit, was good to see the usa competing with an elite national team. played when i was in college, had fun supporting my hooker. iirc, one of the networks/basic cable channels had a national 7's tourney on this summer. it was fast paced and fun to watch, but as a former fat-arse prop, i like the 15's better.