Getting educated about Rugby

On Monday night, October 20th, instead of watching Monday Night Football or the New York Islanders play the Toronto Maple Leafs on ESPN, I watched the qualifying round of World Cup Rugby.

This particular match was between Canada and rugby powerhouse, New Zealand.

Yep, this is the team with the nickname, "the All Blacks."

From watching a little more closely, I can see how they got their name -- their uniforms, socks and shoes are all black.

When I was in Brisbane, watching the "State of Origin 2" match between Sydney and Brisbane, (and I still don't know why it's called that), I had no real comprehension or idea of the sport, except that it looked really, well, weird.

I didn't know what a try was or how one gets points.

Now I do.

A try is the same thing as scoring a goal, and where the team gets a "try" looks just like an end zone to me, goal post and all.

For a "try," the team gets five points. For the point after attempt, you the team gets two points, not one.

Coming from the United States where football is king, some things in rugby are still very foreign to me.

For instance, if the ball is down and so is the player, why hasn't play stopped?

Why isn't the referee signaling downs?

Where are the cheerleaders?

Call me crazy, but I was waiting for someone to ask me, "ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?"

Canada doesn't seem to be a rugby powerhouse, or so it would seem by listening to the announcers who seemed to be either from Australia or New Zealand.

They kept bringing up the fact that while New Zealand was a powerhouse, the Canadians were amateurs and the team is on a shoestring budget.

They even mentioned that the Canadian team had to hold fundraisers to get the Canadian team over to Australia for the match.

I guess the two announcers were waiting for the Canadian team to break out the hockey equipment at any moment.

Canada was vastly outplayed by the New Zealand team, 68-6.

Fans of rugby tend to cheer a lot -- or so it seemed to me.

Don't ask me what some of the cheers were though. The only cheer I could make out was "ALL BLACKS! ALL BLACKS!"

I take it the All Blacks cheer was similar to the "Let's Go Yankees" cheer you hear whenever the Yankees playing.

And a word for all those NFL players who are passing as "dancers" every time they score a touchdown.

Would you like to see how to really dance and chant at the same time?

Watch Fox Sports World and catch a game where the All Blacks are playing. Not only do they dance before the match, but they also chant.

The chanting is part of the Maori culture, indigenous to New Zealand, and while it's intimidating to see these players doing war chants before a match, it's really something to behold.

I'd really like to see an All Blacks game in person, whether it is in New Zealand or wherever the team may play.

I still don't really get the concept of Rugby, but I can say I now know the difference between a "try" and a goal.