Latest news with #RugbySkool
Daily Maverick
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Maverick
Player positions: Who's who in the rugby team zoo?
The countdown to the Springboks' return to Gqeberha is on — and the city's pulse is starting to race. As anticipation builds for the Bok showdown against Italy on 12 July, radio veteran Daron Mann is back with Rugby Skool — a tongue-in-cheek rugby crash course for those who've ever wondered 'Who does what, anyway?' Rugby's players are a motley crew, each with a job that's slightly weirder than the last. In Rugby Skool today, we're touring the pitch's zoo, where 15 players per team range from nimble gazelles to human bulldozers. Let's meet the cast. Up front, the props and hooker (front row) are the scrum's meat shields, built like vending machines, with tempers to match. The props push; the hooker hooks (snares the ball with his foot) and also feeds the ball into lineouts. Behind them are the locks — tall, lanky giraffes whose main job is to steal balls at lineouts, and to snarl while doing so. Flankers and the number eight are the back-row hustlers — fast, tough, with unresolved anger issues, always in the ref's face. Those are the forwards. Now to the backs The scrumhalf is the team's hyperactive Jack Russell, yapping incessantly while zipping the ball from scrums and rucks. The flyhalf is the pretty boy maestro, kicking and calling plays while ensuring his hair is date night-ready. Flanks love flattening flyhalves. Then you have the two centers, they crash through defences like rhinos on rollerblades, and wingers sprint like they're late for a bus, chasing glory. The fullback? He's the last-ditch hero, catching kicks and praying he doesn't fumble. Each position is a puzzle piece in rugby's chaotic masterpiece. Watch in wonder as a wing deftly dodges a defender (as well as a visit to Casualty!) or as a prop flattens his prey — it's poetry, but with concussions.
Daily Maverick
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Maverick
Rugby collisions — making sense of what looks like a brawl
The countdown to the Springboks' return to Gqeberha is on—and the city's already humming. As anticipation builds for the July clash against Italy, radio personality Daron Mann is back with Rugby Skool – a tongue-in-cheek crash course for anyone who's ever asked, 'Wait, what's a ruck?' Welcome back to Rugby Skool, where, today, we're diving into tackles, rucks, and mauls – those dark and murky places where players collide and yet, somehow, still manage to keep on playing. So grab a helmet, and let's get to it. Or, rather, don't. Rugby laughs at helmets. Those are for gridiron players — rugby prefers bruises and bravado. The tackle is simple: if someone's got the ball, you slam them to the ground. Forcefully but legally – that means no neck-grabbing or WWE suplexes. Expect maximum bruising and minimum sympathy. Once down, the tackled player must release the ball, giving rise to a ruck. At this point, players from both sides pile in at top speed, pushing and shoving to secure the ball while the ref yells, 'Use it!' It's chaos, but organised, much like a toddler's birthday party. Then there's the maul, rugby's mobile mosh pit. If a player's tackled but stays upright, teammates and opponents swarm in, creating a standing wrestle-fest. The ball's passed back (always backward, because rugby's quirky like that), and the maul lumbers forward like a drunken conga line. It's teamwork, but with lots of elbows. The uninitiated needn't stress if it all resembles a brawl. This is just rugby's language of love. And just wait for the moment that a ruck gets cleared or a maul trundles over the tryline and scores – it's like the crowd's won the lottery.
