Scrum & Line Out

It's been a crazy week, i almost forgot to submit any new blog for this week. Because of all the quiz and the assignment. Scrum and Line Out probably are the 2 most popular position in rugby because it is unique. When you watch a rugby game and don't understand anything about it, scrum and line out probably the only thing that stuck on your mind.
A line-out is the means by which, in rugby union, the ball is put back into play after it has gone into touch. It is the equivalent of the throw in football (wikipedia). The maximum player that can be use in a line out are depends on the team throwing in the ball, the opposing team cannot have more than that number although they could opted to use less person on the line out. So the teams will form 2 straight parrarel line about 10 meters from the touch line ( a.k.a out of bound line ), each team players are about half a meter in their line of touch ( there is an imaginary line where the line outs are occur ), so there will be about 1 meter distance between the 2 teams in line out. Then, a player from the throwing team will throw the ball straight into the middle, to the gap between the 2 teams. And it has to be straight, if not, it will be retaken. In a rugby match, a line out ussually uses a lot of code to determined where is the ball gonna be thrown out to. Is it going to be high, low, Far back or to the guy in front is up to the guy who throws in the ball. Ussually in a line out, you will see people got lifted up into the air in order to catch the ball. It's one of the most unique position in rugby. So people ussually remembers line out.
Another unique position is scrum, it's probably the most popular position in rugby. People will remember this position even though they know nothing about rugby. Scrum is a means to restarting play after a minor infrigment. It involve 8 players from the forward pack binding together forming 3 rows and interlocking with the opposition team forward pack doing the same thing. Teams can be penalise if they intentionally causing the scrum to collapse. A scrum ussually awarded if a there was a forward pass or when the ball a failed to come out in ruck and maul. Scrum is a very dangerous position, i remember what my coach says to me before my first rugby tounament. He says that if the scrum are collapse, try to break your nose, if you try to avoid breaking your nose you might broke your neck. It may souds scary, but if we are already well trained than it minimize the risk of that happening significantly.
The team bind together forming 3 rows which are called front row, second row and back row. Before we move on, let me tell you an important information because on the next paragraph i will also tell you guys a bit about the positions in rugby. The position on rugby are based on the number. Number 1 & 3 are called the prop, number 2 is the hooker, number 4 & 5 are called locks, number 6 & 7 are called flanker and the number 8 is called the number 8. number 1-8 are called the forward pack, number 9-15 are called backs. I will explain about the position of backs in my future entry.
So, the first row are formed by number 1, 2 & 3. It consist of 2 prop bind together by the hooker. Ussually the props are the heaviest and biggest guy on the team, they provide a stable platform for the scrum because they are heavy. The hooker ussually shorter than the props, his job is to 'hook' the ball. So if he is shorter than the props, it easier for him to lift his feet off the ground in scrum. The second row consist of the 2 locks and the 2 flanker. Number 4 & 5 are the locks, the locks job is to 'lock' the scrum and provide the push forward, ussually the locks are the tallest guys in your team. Because they are the ones that are lifted of the ground in line out. The Flankers have less obligation to push in a scrum, it is important for flankers to be able to break from the scrum quickly and tackle the oposition backs of they win the ball. So the flanker ussually are fast yet they are still considerably heavy, they are ussually have the meanest tackle in the team. the number 8 controls the direction of the scrum, they are ussually tall, big and athletic. They also have less responsibility to push the scrum, it is also important for them to break quickly from the scrum and tackle the enemy backs if the oposition wins the ball.
I think that is all for line outs and scrum, maybe on my next entry i will talk more about the position. and thank you for reading this blog.

source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(rugby_union)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_positions#2._Hooker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-out