Yeah I know, the title sounds dirty and that’s why rugby players love it.

For any of you who are unfamiliar with rugby, the term ruck probably has very little meaning to you, but to people who know and love the sport, they know that a ruck is a contest for the ball. Rugby is a sport that my former coach always lovingly referred to as “organized chaos”, and there is really no better way to describe it.

To make a tangible comparison, rugby would most closely resemble American football, however anyone familiar with rugby would tell you that it is really nothing like football. Yeah, you carry an oblong ball down a field with the goal, put it in an end zone and then kick for extra points, but that’s really where the resemblance stops.

For one thing, rugby can be played with either seven people or 15 people, appropriately named “7s” and “15s”, where football is only played with 11. In rugby, both offense and defense are on the field at the same time, because in a way everyone is playing every position. But if you wanted to get technical, there is a division between what is called the forwards or pack and then there are the backs. Forwards are the strength of the team; their job is to gain and retain possession of the ball, and they take part in the scrum and line-out. Backs are the speed of the team; their job is to run the ball and create scoring opportunities. They are also expected to have good kicking skills, especially the fly-half and full-back.

Another difference between rugby and football is that there are really only two set plays in rugby: the scrum and the line-out, both of which concern the forwards. A line-out is used when the ball goes out of bounds, while a scrum is a way to restart the game after a minor rule violation. Both plays are a contest between the forwards of both teams, in which the goal is to return the ball to their respective teams.

However the biggest differences, and the reason why rugby is a tougher sport than football, is that the ball can never be passed forward. If you want to pass the ball you can only pass laterally or backward, which means you must always be running at pace to create passing opportunities for the player with the ball.

Players are also not allowed any protective gear aside from a mouth guard, as pads would only slow you down due to the fast pace of the game and the need for consistent running up and down the field. There is a frequent change in possession, which makes moving fast even more important. Due to the lack of pads, caution and safe tackling strategies must be learned to avoid major injuries. That’s not to say that injuries don’t happen, but by learning proper technique injuries are less likely to occur.

All of that aside, the reason rugby is so great is that there is a sense of camaraderie that you can’t get with any other sport. There is an understanding among the players that they are doing something different that most people don’t understand, and because of this most of the friends you make playing rugby are friends for life.

So now I just have one question for you, do you want to ruck?

Jasmyn Guzzetti is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].