BRIGHTON  YOUTH  RUGBY 

BYRA charges $185 for U8’s, $225 for U10-U14, and $295 for High school. The feedback we have from parents is that this is slightly more than rec center basketball, but significantly cheaper than other sports like Football, Hockey, Baseball, and LaCrosse.

As legend has it, a frustrated soccer player by the name of Webb Ellis picked up the ball during a game in 1823 and rugby was born when the other soccer players tackled him for picking up the ball. Rugby is played by only passing the ball backwards, and releasing the ball when tackled. The ball is advanced by running forward, or by kicking.

All sports have some risk involved, especially contact sports. Please see below link from November 2018, a current article on the subject - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/nov/28/how-rugby-and-the-nfl-found-common-ground-on-concussion Generally accepted by the rugby community regarding this article – 1) Because of no pads, players are taught defensive strategies which protect their body during game play, even from a young age. Please ask a coach at camp to expound on this if you are curious and watch for some of these principles at camp and practice. 2) Rugby teaches “head behind” tackling as compared to “head in front” which is more common in football. In football – hard direct hits are necessary to stop the ball player from making it to the down marker (inches matter). In rugby – because the ball must be released after the tackle – what matters is that the tackle happens. The “head behind” method has shown a trend in positive results in less injuries due to less chance of runner colliding with the head, or falling on it. 3) Some injuries in football come from blind side hits, or blocking. In rugby, blocking is a penalty (obstruction), and only the ball carrier can be tackled (no blind side hits).

BYRA is currently practicing 2 days a week depending on age group at Pennock Elementary School. Please check with the coach for your age group, but practices can be as short as 1 hour for U8’s, or 1.5-2 hours for U10’s and up.

Games, if known – are posted on the website. Several weeks may still be “TBD” but games for Rugby Colorado north region (Brighton) are usually a mix of playing between UNC (Greeley), Pleasant View Fields in Boulder, and Aurora Sports Complex in Aurora. Directions and maps to those places are on the website here. Teams we play include (but aren’t limited to) Weld County, Larimer County, Boulder, Glendale, Denver, Superior, Air Force, and Thornton.

One of the best things about rugby is not needing to buy a lot of gear. You need a mouth guard (under $5 at most retailers) and cleats that don’t have a leading toe cleat. Soccer cleats don’t have a leading toe cleat. Football cleats do – but if you’re close to outgrowing football cleats from last season, the leading toe cleat can be cut off. Ask a coach for more details on this if you have further questions.

The season is 10 weeks long including practices, or only 6 weeks long including games. Practices start the week of 4/22 this year and games run 5/18 through 6/22.

Rugby has been in Colorado since at least the 70’s – but historically this was only with Men’s leagues or college. Popularity spread to high school in the 80’s and 90’s, and in the past decade or two – more youth teams have been popping up. Youth rugby has been in Brighton in the past 5-10 years, but 2019 is the inaugural year for the BYRA Tiki’s due to a need for a new team (no other previous teams in zip code 80601 continuing to offer active coaching and teams).

Yes. The World Cup is every 4 years, like soccer. 2019 is a World Cup year! RWC will be held in Japan this year between September and November. The last team to win the World Cup was the New Zealand All Blacks in 2015, when they beat the Australian Wallabees 34-17, in London.

You can find rugby on ESPN or ESPN2 if you’re looking for it. Games will start to pick up this year due to RWC. Some TV services like Directv or Apple TV or Comcast may offer rugby packages. You can also watch rugby in person at Glendale Park in Cherry Creek (Glendale). Google “Infinity Park” to see the Glendale Raptors in a semi-pro venue, close to Brighton.

A “try” in rugby is the equivalent of a “touchdown” in football. However, a try is 5 points (not 6). The extra point in rugby is 2 points (not 1). Thus, a try and successful conversion kick are still 7 points. In football, a touchdown is scored when the ball crosses the “plane” of the endzone. In rugby, a try is not scored until the ball carrier runs the ball into the try zone AND puts downward force on the ball. If the defending team can keep the ball carrier from placing the ball down, no try is scored. If you watch a pro game, you may see the ball carrier run to the center of the try zone before placing the ball down. This is because the conversion kick is kicked DIRECTLY back from where the ball is placed down, and a kick from the middle is far easier than a kick from the corner of the field. A kick during game play through the posts is 3 points, just like in football.

A scrum is a way of putting the ball back into play after a minor infraction during the game, such as a knock-on. In youth play, there is only a 3-man scrum. In semi-pro or pro-play, a scrum consists of 8 players, who are typically identified by position by the number on the back of their jersey. The “scrum” is the equivalent of the “line” in football. Scrum players are also known as “forwards.” It is the forwards job to go all around the field and fight for possession after a player is tackled, but also to gain possession back if on defense. Positions by number are as follows: 1) Loose-head prop, 2) Hooker, 3) Tight-head prop, 4) Left Lock (or second row), 5) Right Lock (or second row), 6) Left Flanker (or Breaker), 7) Right Flanker (or Breaker), 8) The Eight Man.

A knock-on is a penalty, wherein the ball carrier (or kick receiver) touches/drops the ball with their hands and it goes forward onto the field. The ball can only be passed backward; the offensive player can never “drop” (or pass) the ball forward.

The backline is the equivalent of running backs and receivers in football. You will generally see them in a long diagonal line, stretching across the field. When the scrumhalf gets the ball out of the scrum, he sends it to the backline, with the intent that they can create an “overload” (essentially a 3 on 2 situation), and score a try.

Yes, in rugby, this position is called the Scrumhalf, and he is identified by the #9 jersey. The scrumhalf is the intermediary between the scrum (forwards) and backs (backline), and will call plays, re-organize players on field, and put the ball into scrums.

A ruck happens when a ball carrier is tackled to the ground, and releases the ball. When an offensive and defensive player meet over the top of the tackled player, a ruck is formed. The offense (forwards) should be coming quickly to the tackled players’ aid, and ideally gain ball control back, after it is released.

A maul is similar to a ruck, but the difference is that a maul forms when a ball carrier becomes held up by the defense WHILE STANDING, and does not get tackled to the ground. A maul can be many players all formed around the ball, still standing and moving.

A lineout is what happens when the ball is kicked out of bounds. A touch judge (referee) on the sideline will signal which team will throw the ball back in. There will be equal numbers of players on each side of the ball and the team throwing the ball in must throw the ball in straight “down the tunnel”. This means when the ball is thrown in – it must be equidistant between offense and defense; equal chance for either to grab/catch it upon the throw in.

When a ball carrier is tackled, and another player arrives at the site of the tackle – there would then be the tacklee, the tackler, and the other player. In this instance, the ball carrier’s body on the ground is forming the line of scrimmage, which the defense cannot cross (reference the ruck). Generally, a number of forwards will have created a human “wall” in the ruck to keep defense from coming through. The defense cannot cross the line of scrimmage (the tackled player) until another offensive player picks the ball up off of the ground.

A lineout is awarded to the team that didn’t kick the ball out, unless it was a penalty kick from behind the 22 metre line.

Yes, this sport is measured in metres, and even has lines on the field like “the 50 meter line” or “The 22 meter line”. A meter is just shy of 3.5” larger than a yard. That may not sound like much, but it does add up. For example, the U10’s pitch is 40 metres x 60 metres, which in yards is 44 yards x 65 yards (about 4-5 yards larger than a direct meter to yard conversion). A pro rugby pitch is 100 metres long x 68 metres wide (not including try zone depths). Which means the rugby pitch is actually just shy of 110 yards long x 74 yards wide. A pro NFL field is 100 yards x 53 1/3 yards – which is 90 x 48 meters.

The “22” is not usually seen on all youth pitches (pitch = the field of play), however – the 22 metre line is the line 22 metres out from a try-zone. It is the only other line on the pitch besides the 50 metre line (center of pitch), and the 10 metre lines (10 metres either side of the 50). The equivalent of the 22-metre line in football would be about the 25 yard line. This line has the most significance with kicking. If a player is behind their own 22 metre line and they kick the ball downfield, it can be kicked directly into touch (out of bounds). That team will still lose possession, but potentially gain significant field advantage. If in front of the 22 metre line, a ball cannot be kicked directly into touch, or it will come back to the spot it was kicked from. Please see a coach for further questions about this.

The most common penalties in rugby are the knock-on, offsides, obstruction (blocking), and forward passing.