You probably thought that we had dropped this series, well we are back and just in time if I may add! In time for probably the biggest weekend in Kenya rugby, the Kenya cup final weekend.
First thing first, in case you missed the first part, you can catch it here, like many first lessons we did not cover much, just the basics, introductions blah blah blah.
Now that we are on the same page, let us get you prepared for the Kenya cup final, this weekend. We don’t want to be the only ones who don’t know what is going on in there now do we? That we have to wait for guys to cheer ndio we jump into the fun.
Unlike other sports that have and use rules, rugby is governed by laws. Rules have no grey areas, laws on the other hand are subject to interpretation. Truth be told, we some times have no clue why refs makes half of their calls, and have to ask around just to be sure.
So first lesson don’t be too quick to shout at the ref, 80 percent of the time, they are right.
Lets get you up to beat with the non negotiable laws, these are the basics of the sport. You already know that the ball is supposed to be passed to a player behind the ball carrier. There are four modes of scoring, a try worth 5 points, a conversion worth 2 points and a penalty or drop goal worth 3 points.
The first two scoring modes are a set, that you can not have one with out the other. You get the chance to kick a conversion, after scoring a try. So you can’t just have a conversion from open play, that would then be either a penalty or a drop goal. I’ll let you in on a little secret, on the easiest way to differentiate between a drop goal and a penalty kick.
A drop goal would be the one that pops out of no where, you are sure that there has been no try scored, you have double checked, the players were somewhere near the half way line. A penalty on the other hand will be preceded by a break in play, probably angry fan chants, then the kicker will then get a cone and place the ball, take a few steps, take a pose, heavy breath do a jiggle then kick. Now you know..
Another area I should highlight is the difference between a scrum, a ruck, a line out and a maul. You will need to know these. The easiest is a scrum, this is where the players from both teams bind to each other, forming a pack with the referee and two mostly tiny players in between, one will be holding the ball.
A line out happens when the ball travels out of bounds, as in ball iende nje. Then the two teams form two lines and a guy throws the ball inbetween these two lines and one of the players has to be lifted to catch the ball. Now what happens next is in most cases, a maul.
Quick pointer from these two, the set of players who participate in line outs and scrums is called forwards. In a standard/normal team these are identified as the players who wear shirt numbers 1 through 8. The guys who stand and look on like fans during a scrum/line out are called backs, shirt numbers 9-15. I’ll go through the positions at the tail end of this lesson, if there is time.
Now back to the maul, this happens when the player with the ball turns his back to the opposition then a scrum of sorts is formed around him. The referee is your friend here, as he usually shouts, “MAUL” once one is formed, don’t worry, we also never understand why he gets excited by mauls.
A ruck is what happens right after a tackle, this is one of the grey-est areas in rugby, so don’t pay it much attention at this point. Just know that rucks have a very undecided offside line, it moves when it wants to, sometimes we even question its existence, ghost offside line, same can be said about mauls.
So a player attempts to make a tackle then fails, then one of four things has just occurred, apart from the loud cheer from the fans. The first is a hand off, which is basically the ball carrier pushing away the would be tackler.
A ‘stool’, as we call them here, this is where the guy with the ball hits the tackler to the ground, the harder the tackler falls the louder the cheer. You will get extra points if you shout, “The bus is full” or “Geroof” or my favourite “TIAF!”
A side step is self explanatory, I assume, so is a dummy.
I’ll wrap this one up with the most obvious offences and their outcome, first a knock on, this is where a player fumbles the ball and it travels forward. This results in a scrum, it can also result in a penalty but don’t worry it rarely does, the ref has to take out his calculator and graph paper, find the trajectory of the ball, where the other players were….the gradient.
A high tackle is when the tackler makes contact with the ball carrier above his shoulder line, this one results in a penalty. There are two types of penalties a full penalty/penalty kick, where the ref stretches out his arm to the sky fully, kind of like you used to in Primary school while shouting, Teacher, teacher!
A half penalty/free kick is indicated by the ref bending his raised arm at the elbow, kind of like how you raise your arm when you are guilty or you don’t really want to answer a question. You know how we used to raise our arms in Seco.
Any dangerous play also results in a penalty with a card of the referee’s liking shown to the offender. You do know the card system, right? Yellow means the player stays out of play for 10 minutes. Red means the player is dismissed permanently from the remainder of the match, 2 yellows = Red.
That should be enough to safely get you through the weekend, and join in the fun..watch out for more. If you’d like to get more acquainted with the laws before the weekend and beyond, Click here that is your homework by the way, if you haven’t figured.
KWISHA..oh wait, here is your schedule for the weekend.
Eric Shirley Shield Final:
KCB II v Impala II -10.00am
Nationwide Final
Thika RFC v Bungoma Sharks – 12.00pm
Kenya Cup 3rd/4th Playoff
Top Fry Nakuru v Pan Africa Strathmore Leos – 2.00pm
Kenya Cup Final
KCB v Kabras Sugar – 4.00pm
Venue:RFUEA Grounds
Entry: Ksh 300
Haya now I can say…
NIMERUKA NJE!!