Game one

My first game of rugby was today!  I was so nervous so I went to watch the high school boys play earlier in the morning to see how the flow of the game went.  I was a little less nervous after that.  As the other team showed up, we brought out the food.  Rugby is a game of socializing.  They stress being friendly to the other team and to leave the aggressiveness on the field so there is usually a social afterwards that the home team provides.  We had it before though because they had to drive back to Walla Walla and the game had been pushed back 2 hours.

Us noobs sat out.  She said not to expect to play, but that she might put some of us in.  There were also a few non-noobs sitting out too.  As the game started, my nerves disappeared and I really wanted to play.  It was not nearly as confusing as I thought.  Come halftime, the score was Whitman College MotherRuckers 14, Tacoma Sirens 3.  EEk. :(  5 minutes into the 2nd half, our coach Meg said next sub I'm going in.  I was so excited because I didn't think I'd be playing!  A couple minutes later, I subbed in as a flanker.  I hadn't practiced that position before so it was kind of funny because since our coach was playing at that time, she had the ref show me where to go because there was a scrum as I was coming in.  He was really nice and showed me where to go and where to grab.  I didnt really have to scrum "for real" though because the other team was getting tired (no subs) so they were "uncontested scrums" where the team rolling the ball in basically just gets the ball guaranteed and nobody really pushes.

I was pretty proud of myself because I made a few tackles (including this beast of a girl with the help of someone else- she was frighteningly big) and I got to be the one lifted for line-outs because of my mad cheerleading skills I knew how to fly effectively immediately and showed them last practice.  The difference in rugby is they lift you by your shorts though so I have some bruises in uncomfortable places LOL. The other team had a throw-in and I stole it in the air, passed it down to our hooker who then passed it to our backs and scored!  I was so proud (almost as proud as Andy lol) because it was their ball and because of my grab, we scored :)  The game ended 19-18.  We lost by ONE point!  I was proud though because we came back from being really behind.  We could have won but we didnt make any of our extra kicks because in rugby the kicker kicks it from the spot on the field that they ran it in so she had to kick it from basically the sidelines each time which is really hard.

Basically, rugby is my new favorite sport. lol  I have some scratches and bruises but I didnt even realize they were happening.  Andy said some big girl landed on me so that was probably what happened.  I think I got a boot to the thigh. It is fast paced and I am "good for a beginner" so hopefully I will see some playing time this season- I am excited to see how the season goes!