Rugby Terminology

   Football is a gentlemen's sport for hooligans, rugby is a hooligan’s sport for gentlemen, so the old adage goes. Indeed, rugby certainly has a better reputation for good sportsmanship than football. In fact, rugby even has a rule regarding ‘ungentlemanly conduct’, which is a general rule regarding the behaviour of the players. For instance, if the referee passes a judgement and a player acts in a rude or disrespectful way towards him, the ref will be likely to penalise that player’s team of grounds of ‘ungentlemanly conduct.’ It’s funny to think how this would work in football, as this sort of cursing and loutish behaviour is just part of the culture and generally goes unpunished. Here are a few good rugby terms to familiarise yourselves with:

Openside

The opposite of the blindside, this is the long side of the pitch that runs parallel to the blindside. The same openside is shared by both teams, and is determined by their position in the scrum phase. It can be a confusing term to novices, but it’s fairly easy to get used to this one, although I did find it very confusing for a long while when I heard this used instead of simply saying left or right, or east or west side. Nonetheless, an important term to learn. If the six nations betting odds are looking attractive to you, then be sure to learn your blindside from your openside.

Blood bin

An area of the pitch that is usually designated to be behind each team’s respective friendly goal posts. This is the injury zone where players are sent if they have been victim of an injury that renders them physically unfit to participate in the game for any longer. In smaller games, if a player is sent off to the blood bin, it’s rare that they’ll receive a substitute, but if you’re watching one of the bigger games or 6 Nations betting, then you’ll definitely see a blood-binned player substituted, so there’s little need to worry.