Both Raider rugby teams will head to the Division II state tournament this weekend at Walsh University in Canton.
The men’s rugby team will begin its bid for a second straight state title Sunday. The men, coached by science teacher Geoffrey Gainford, are ranked ninth in Ohio. They have a first-round bye and will play the winner of Olentangy vs. Mentor in the state semi-final match in the Shield Bracket. Kickoff is at 1:40 p.m. The women, led by physical education teacher Emily Morton, will start the Shield Bracket round-robin tournament at 11:40 a.m. Sunday by taking on Cincinnati. They’ll then face Cap City at 12:40 p.m.
Here’s a quick rugby explainer to help you understand the sport.
How did rugby start?
The legend goes that in 1823, William Webb Ellis picked up a soccer ball and started to run with it. This decision started the sport of rugby. This story might just be a legend, but it is based on some truth: William Webb Ellis did this at the Rugby School, a boarding school in England.
Christy Kyte, a varsity rugby player who played on the first-ever Raider eighth-grade rugby team, said he knew that rugby started at the Rugby School, but he did not know about William Webb Ellis and the rest of the legend.
How do you score?
Rugby shares elements of soccer and football. The goal of rugby is to score the most points. A try is similar to a touchdown but earns five points. In a try, the player runs into the tryzone, like a football endzone, and touches the ground with the ball.
After a try, a team can choose to kick, as in football, but for a two-point conversion rather than an extra point. In a conversion, a player on the scoring team kicks the ball through the uprights from wherever they scored the try. If the player ran into the center of the tryzone, they would kick from the center. Penalties, which players can kick after being fouled, are another way to score. After a penalty, the fouled team can choose to kick the ball through the uprights for three points. The last common way to score is to kick a drop goal, which occurs without stopping play; during a play a player can kick the ball through the goal posts to score three points.
What is a scrum?
The scrum is a way to restart the game after play stops for a violation. If a player throws the ball forward, or someone drops the ball and it rolls forward, which is not legal, officials restart the game with a scrum. Another way for the scrum to start is if a player runs into the ref. The scrum is like a face-off in hockey, when two players line up right in front of each other and fight for the puck after it’s dropped on the ice. Unlike hockey, a scrum features more players.
There are two kinds of rugby: rugby sevens and rugby 15s. The numbers indicate how many players each team fields. During rugby sevens, three of the seven players join the scrum. In rugby 15s, there are eight players in the scrum. The players interlock arms to bind together in a circle. Each team has at least two props and one hooker who make up the front row, which is closest to the other team and closest to the ball. Then each team has two locks in the second row. The third row comprises the three other players.
How does the scrum work?
A player known as the scrum-half throws the ball into the scrum, where hookers try to get the ball out. Once the scrum-half throws the ball in, hookers use their feet to get the ball out. No hands, just feet. They kick the ball back and out of the scrum, the scrum-half grabs it, and then the play will continue. While the hooker is trying to get the ball out, the opposing team’s hooker is, too. But usually the team that rolls the ball into the scrum retains possession.
Team Captain Miko Troupe, a senior, plays scrum-half, one of the most important positions. His job is to feed the ball into the scrum, grab it when it comes out and throw it to the fly-half. He tries to control most of the game.
Is there a world championship?
The Rugby World Cup is held every four years in a different location. In 2023 South Africa won the William Webb Ellis World Cup trophy. New Zealand won the first rugby World Cup in 1987 by beating France 29-9. South Africa has won the most world cups with four.
Who leads the Raider teams?
The men’s rugby coach is Geoffery Gainford, who is a science teacher at the high school. The women’s team is led by physical education and health teacher Emily Morton. The men’s rugby team captain is senior Miko Troupe, and the women’s team is led by senior Maggie Gainford.
What do the coaches have to say about the scrum?
Morton, the women’s head coach, describes the women’s scrum as “powerful.” Gainford, the men’s head coach, said the men’s scrum is strong. “We push people around,” he said.
