The game of Rugby, has had its rules changed and evolved so many times through out the years that it now is very different from what it started out as but if you do decide to come out and ever watch a game of Rugby you will be wondering what the hell is going on...so here are the basics of Rugby. Rugby is a game played in 2, 40 minute halves, with a 10 minute halftime break. Each team has 15 players and is allowed 7 substitutes. The positions are as follows:

It seems that, as a devout New Zealand rugby fan, I have been waiting for the world cup to arrive for the longest time. New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Scotland all put at least 50 points on their opponents, but it was Argentina that claims the glory from round one, toppling host nation France in the first match of the World Cup. No-one should be too surprised by Argentina's ability to beat top nations, they have beaten Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the past two years. They gave New Zealand a fright before losing by 6 points in Buenos Aires last year, their last outing against France in November of last year saw them go down by a solitary point, and they beat France 2 years earlier. They have proven, in other words, that they belong to the top tier nations of Rugby Union. That they defeated France in the first game of the World Cup has thrown a huge curveball on the entire competition, and the manner of the defeat was also of interest. Argentina shut down France and gave them absolutely nothing to work with.

Rugby is a multi directional contact sport. It involves strength and power, agility, speed and mobility. You go forward to score but are constantly running backwards then to the side then backwards again (depending on how good your team is). It requires the player to run at high and near maximal speeds and then either stop and change direction or even receive impact requiring a high amount of muscle control. Why do body builders not make the greatest rugby players, after all these guys can lift BIG! It goes like this, our bodies have three primary planes of movement: forward, side and rotational. Throughout the course of a match a rugby player will exhaust all three planes; they have to efficient in all three planes.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced the kick-off times for the 48 matches of Rugby World Cup 2007 to be played in France in September and October. Host nation France will kick-off the sixth Rugby World Cup Tournament against Argentina at the Stade de France Stadium in Paris at 9pm local time on Friday, September 7, while England will begin its defence of the Webb Ellis Cup against the USA in Lens the following day with the match kicking-off at 6pm local time. The next Rugby World Cup will be hosted in France from 7 September to 20 October 2007.