If you are reading this, I am guessing you do not have much familiarity with rugby besides the knowledge that Hamilton has men’s and women’s club teams. I do not blame you. While rugby is a popular global sport, the United States is just 18th in the world rankings and has never been a superpower in the game.
That shouldn’t stop us from paying attention to world rugby, though. In fact, the Rugby World Cup is taking place right now, and it has been an excellent tournament. The Cup happens just once every four years, like the soccer World Cup and the Olympics, so every match feels exponentially more important than the average contest.
I’ll admit that I have a personal connection to rugby. I lived in New Zealand, who have been the best team in the world for most of the last 20 years (though they are not quite at the peak of their powers right now), for five years when I was in elementary school. I have some early memories of watching New Zealand play South Africa on my living room sofa with my dad. I would have been five or six, and when my dad said that we had scored a “try” — rugby’s oddly-named equivalent of a touchdown, though it is worth five points rather than six — I thought he meant we had made an attempt at something. Clueless as I was, I cried when South Africa narrowly won the match. I didn’t know it at the time, but the South Africa-New Zealand matchup is a storied rivalry. They have played 105 times dating back to 1921, with New Zealand winning 62 times. They could meet for the 106th occasion in the World Cup final on Oct. 28.
I’m not writing this article out of loyalty to New Zealand, though. I’m writing this because more emotions have been on display in the rugby matches I’ve watched over the past few days than in any other sport I’ve seen recently. The quarterfinals were this past week, and all four games were decided by ridiculously small margins. New Zealand edged out Ireland 28–24, Argentina beat Wales 28–19 (don’t let the scoreline fool you — Wales came within inches of a try that would have put them ahead but Louis Rees-Zammit was tackled out of bounds milliseconds before he could complete the score), England got the best of Fiji 30–24 and South Africa squeaked past host nation France in a scarcely believable scoreline of 29–28.
In rugby, tries are marked not merely by passing the goal line, the way they are in American football, but by touching the ball to the ground after you do so. That specific rule decided the New Zealand-Ireland battle: with just eight minutes left, the Irish heaved across the goal line, seemingly scoring a try that would put them in the lead, but Jordie Barrett of New Zealand somehow got underneath the ball and held it up, preventing the try by what was likely a few inches. Ireland never got another chance.
That one play crushed Ireland’s best chance for a World Cup title to date. Before the loss to New Zealand on Oct. 14, they had won 17 straight matches and were nearing the record winning streak in this era. Though they had never made it past the quarterfinals of a World Cup, they were ranked #1 in the world. This was supposed to be their moment.
Now, there is no consolation. Johnny Sexton, the Irish captain, is retiring. Much of Ireland’s team is in their mid-to-late 30s. Their squad will look entirely different by the next World Cup in 2027. Similarly, France’s one-point loss to South Africa comes with no silver linings — France was the host nation, playing with home crowd support, and was aiming for their first World Cup title while South Africa have won three already. The fact that the game was close ceased to matter after the final whistle signaled South Africa’s victory. Like Ireland, France will have to wait until 2027 to correct this loss.
If the emotional stakes are not enough to convince you to tune into the upcoming semifinals, let me posit that aesthetically, rugby is superior in every way to American football. There are no “downs,” which means no incessant stopping of play and resetting every five seconds. Not only is the action much more free-flowing this way, but game actually lasts the amount of time that the clock indicates it will. (Rugby matches are two 40-minute halves). Penalty kicks can be positioned anywhere on the length or width of the field, unlike every field goal being straight down the middle in football, which means that kickers have to demonstrate an understanding of angles as well as just brute power. A rugby team has more players on the field at once than a football team (15 to 11), but they are more spread out, allowing for more exciting moments that involve a player breaking into open grass and running freely. And while touchdowns in football hardly ever involve anyone outside the quarterback, running back, tight end, and wide receiver, there are frequently tries in rugby in which every single player on the team touches the ball.
On Oct. 20, New Zealand will play Argentina in one semifinal; the following day, South Africa will clash with England for the other final spot. If New Zealand and South Africa meet in the final as expected, the winner will be the first team to win four Rugby World Cups (since its inception in 1987, New Zealand and South Africa have won three each, Australia has won two and England has won one). If there is an upset, it will be thrilling for the fans and good for the sport to have more unpredictability at the top of the game.
Whatever happens, I know I’m going to see elation and devastation when I watch the semifinals later this week. Everybody wants to win desperately; only one team can. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time than watching every second of it. Be sure to tune in with me.
