Rugby

[TheOtherTerryMac]

Rugby Union is a great game wish I had started playing it earlier in my life. I was 33 when I started playing out in the Middle East.

I played at Dubai 7’s tournament every year. Once you get to 40 and Vets age it’s 10 a side and a lot easier on the legs.

The one great thing about rugby is all players respect the referee on the pitch Oh and they shake hands with the opposition AFTER the game

[toptoon]

Rugby Union is a great game wish I had started playing it earlier in my life. I was 33 when I started playing out in the Middle East.

I played at Dubai 7’s tournament every year. Once you get to 40 and Vets age it’s 10 a side and a lot easier on the legs.

The one great thing about rugby is all players respect the referee on the pitch Oh and they shake hands with the opposition AFTER the game

We've always been a rugby family - my grandad got 14 caps for Scotland and my dad played for South of Scotland. Obviously the talent got diluted through the generations as I only manager Northumberland U18 before injury took it's toll!

They say that football is a gentelman's game played by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentelemen - quite an accurate summary I reckon. You can have/have had the sh*t beaten out of you (mostly within the rules, you'd hope) in a game but still have a beer and a laugh with your opposite man in the bar afterwards. I've never had that with football. I recently saw a photo of two lads who had been sent off for brawling having a beer in the dressing room while the game was still going on.

The rugby union authorities have done a lot to change the rules in recent years to improve the game and make it safer. They've done a great job with VAR and football could learn from it. VAR in rugby adds to the game and spectator entertainment, the opposite of football (here in Brazil, many VAR decisions in football are taking literally 4-5 minutes so much worse than in England).

The World Cup in Japan should be a cracking event - starts on 20th September, I think.