Two Billion were watching -Where Were You?

Hey Thomas,
There are quite a few similarities between American Football and both versions of rugby (there are 2 slightly different versions played in UK - Rugby Union and Rigby League).
Both versions of rugby have the aim of scoring a try (like a touchdown) but you can also earn lessor points by kicking a conversion, penalty or drop goal (which all mean putting the ball between the sticks - like a punt I guess!).
Rugby Union is the bigger version of the game and is played by 15 men. Each team has the ball until you lose it to your opponents.
Rugby League is played by 13 men and you get 6/7 goes normally to run with the ball. When tackled you've lost that one of your 6/7 goes. I guess a bit like 'downs' in american football.
Rugby Union has line outs - this is where the ball goes out of play on the sideline and is thrown back into play where both teams try to win it.
Both codes have scrums. These are where both teams huddle shoulder to shoulder and the attacking team rolls the ball into the middle for team mates to keep posession and the defending team try to steal the ball. There can be some nasty stuff going on in scrums with eye gouging, punching and kicking happening often on the blind side of officials.

Rich

2 million?

For one of the largest sporting events in the entire world?

I think not.

Hurling, a game played almost exclusively in Ireland (pop. <6 million), gets over 1 million viewers for the All-Ireland Hurling Finals.

Unlike hurling, rugby is played by quite a bit more than one country (including the US too, I might add, who played a World Cup match against Ireland just last Sunday).

The 2007 Rugby World Cup had a cumulative television audience of 4.2 billion for all it's matches. The number of people who attended those matches in person was more than 2 million.

2 billion for the opening match might be a bit of an exageration but, if it is, it's probably not an unrealistic one.

Lovely . . . . Haven't heard that one before . . pahaha

NZ = Haka
Tonga = Sipi Tau

Yeah about 2 billion world wide..and we didnt sink guys,, all the booze that was consumed kept us afloat..Bet you glad you didnt streak Gareth, they might have melted you down for scrap metal..your worth big money..
mac..