Rugby!

On Saturday February 20, a group of us went to a rugby game at the Twickenham Stoop in southwest London. It was kind of a drizzly day, but it was still a ton of fun! The picture above shows a "scrum" where players after an illegal play line up in sort of a linked group. The front man, the "hooker" tries to kick the ball back to his team while the other team tries to do the same. 

warmups.

The field.

#13's good side ;)

The Harlequins were the home team and the Sale Sharks (shown here) were the visitors, but far cuter players :)

By the end of the game you couldn't even tell which player played for what team; they were all caked in mud.

Rugby is pretty much a combination of American football, and soccer. They can only pass behind the line but can kick forward. The clock never stops unless there is a fight, which we did see! If one player gets tackled, they fight for the ball until it comes out of the pile and the play continues to the team who recovered it. 

Harlequin mascots :)

:)

If a player gets hurt, 1-4 paramedics run onto the field depending on how bad the injury is. The game continues around the injured player and the clock continues. Usually, the player gets up after being checked out and gets back in the game. The average span of a professional rugby player's career is from the age of 20-early 30's because they don't wear any padding and get a lot of injuries. To say the least, it's way more badass than any American sport!