SCRUMMY GUIDE TO BATTLE OF THE GIANTS
Tomorrow morning, our rugby heroes tackle Australia in the World Cup quarter-final. So who are the hunks in trunks, which one was cured by a witch doctor — and how can you join in the fun if you don’t know a ruck from a flanker?
WELCOME to the latest round of the oldest and most enduring rivalry in sport: England v Australia. After the summer rollercoaster of Ashes cricket there will surely be no fiercer clash in the Rugby World Cup than the contest in Japan tomorrow morning. RICHARD KAY brings you the novice’s guide to the battle of the giants. ENGLAND OUT FOR REVENGE
The two nations have met in six of the eight previous tournaments, winning three matches each. Both have lifted the Webb ellis trophy at the other’s expense and both have enjoyed victories on their rival’s home turf.
Four years ago, host nation england crashed out of the World Cup when Australia inflicted a humiliating defeat on them at Twickenham.
Since then, england have recorded six straight victories against the Wallabies. But in tomorrow’s quarter-final clash, reputations will count for nothing.
BATTLE OF THE BIG MOUTHS
The two coaches, eddie Jones of england and Michael Cheika of Australia, are both Australian-born, but only one will have bragging rights tomorrow.
They played for the same team, Randwick in Sydney, and bonded over a shared status as ethnic interlopers in an establishment sport. Jones has a Japanese-American mother and Cheika a Lebanese father. But their rivalry has put that friendship on hold.
A STEAMY STAGE
BUILT in Oita, 600 miles from Tokyo, for the football World Cup in 2002, Oita Stadium has a 40,000 capacity.
Oita is famous for its hot springs — the Japanese go there to soak in the waters. Strict spa admission rules forbidding customers with tattoos have been temporarily relaxed. in Japanese culture the tattoo is associated with organised crime.
DUFFER’S GUIDE TO GAME
THE PLAYERS: Fifteen per side, including eight chunky forwards (the ‘pack’, including ‘props’ and ‘flankers’) and seven ‘backs’ — the speedy runners. One of the pack is called a ‘hooker’, a reference to his skill at hooking the ball out of the scrum, and nothing else, thank you.
TRY: The term for when a player touches the oval ball (a hangover from the days when it was a pig’s bladder) over the line at the opposite end of the pitch — increasingly followed, these days, by flamboyant celebrations more typical of a football match. earns five points, plus two for a ‘conversion’ — when the ball is kicked over the bar between the posts.
SCRUM: When the two packs combine into mud-caked, multi-headed monsters — and smash into each other with a loud grunt. into this melee is flung the ball, which the hookers try to kick back to their teammates. All too often — as in life — everything collapses.
TACKLE: When a player flings himself at the legs of the man running with the ball, to bring him to the ground. if someone throws you the ball and you’re immediately tackled, that’s a ‘hospital pass’. For obvious reasons.
RUCK: When a player is tackled and forwards from both sides charge furiously on top of him trying to get the ball. Closely resembles chucking-out time at an inner-city boozer.
MAUL: indistinguishable to many from a ruck — but the difference is that in a maul, one unfortunate player is holding onto the ball for dear life while somehow still standing up.
OFFSIDE: Far too complicated to explain here . . . or anywhere.