Blood Sub!

Saturday I went to my first rugby game. V's team was playing against the team from Bremerton. It was fun in a weird sort of way. V didn't end up playing which would've made it more fun. But I did like cheering and watching the game. Partway through the game, the captain called out for a blood sub. There's just something awesome about that phrase, although the reality was that a player was walking off the field with a bloody nose. The game is rough. Rougher than hockey I think. At least in hockey when people are getting checked against the boards, they've got padding on. These guys wear no padding. And when they get tackled, or go down they automatically protect their head. It was kind of funny.

We had the weirdest weather. The sun would come out and I'd get warm in my jacket then the clouds would build up and I'd have to zip up. It was COLD out at Marymoor Park. Luckily we got inside before the rain started pouring.
Marymoor Park. (I keep wanting to spell it Marry which is wrong.)

They seem to just keep going, even when the ball falls. They really fight hard over it.

So they will pile on each other until the ball kind of pops out of the group.

Apparently they'll grab anything to get a take down. It can be seriously brutal. The team I was cheering on was in the yellow. Oddly, though, the Bremerton team had a game after this game. They didn't have enough people so they ended up borrowing a few guys from V's team to round out the 2 teams in the 2nd game. Apparently rugby isn't like football where you have strategies or have to practice the same plays over and over.

When the ball goes out of bounds, one guy throws the ball out and then for some reason, each team would throw a guy up in the air to try to catch the ball. It was almost like a cheerleader toss.

So sometimes when the ball didn't pop out of the giant pile of guys, the refs would blow the whistle and then the guys would get into this scrum. Where they'd use their feet to try to kick the ball out to their own side. Almost like when the puck drops in hockey. Most interesting thing about the scrum is where one layer of hands are. The 2nd layer of guys put their arm through the first layer's legs and holding on to the front of the pants.

V screwed up his back and wasn't able to play. He watched the game and was responsible for the tee.