An afternoon Rugby game

In the afternoon, I went see a Rugby game with my friend.  His son plays for Snow Canyon and is one of their starting players.  The team they were playing against was United 'something' which is a big club team from up north. 

Number 2 of Snow Canyon tossing the ball into play.

A scrum

United was heavily favored but Snow Canyon pulled off an upset, defeating them 30-12.

I don't completely understand Rugby but you don't have to to enjoy the sport.  The logic isn't much different than American football.   Each team has an end zone they are defending while trying to drive into the other teams territory and score in their end zone. 


After Snow Canyon's victory, they all stood on the field and performed a Maori Haka war dance.

I had never seen anything like it before but it was quite entertaining.  Wikipedia gives the following definition of the Haka.


The Haka (plural is the same as singular: haka) is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand. It is a posture dance performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment.  The New Zealand rugby team's practice of performing a haka before their matches has made the dance more widely known around the world.

The following haka was performed by the New Zealand All-Blacks as they chided France in their 2011 world cup match.

I don't understand the words, of course, but they sure aren't whispering warm, loving fuzzies over at the other team.  Translate, I think the chant would probably sound something like this.

"We're going to kill  you and skin you and decapitate you put you head on a stake and dance around it til dawn and then drink kava from your skull!"

Here in the states we can get pretty fanatical about our American Football but I don't think even we have ever shown that much spirit.