The Physics Of Rugby

Introduction THE PHYSICS OF RUGBY i The Physics of Rugby Nottingham University Press Manor Farm, Main Street, Thrumpton Nottingham, NG11 0AX, United Kingdom www.nup.com NOTTINGHAM First published 2009 © Trevor Davis Lipscombe All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data The Physics of Rugby TD Lipscombe ISBN 978-1-904761-17-4 Cover photo by Jusben (www.morguefile.com) Typeset by Nottingham University Press, Nottingham Printed and bound by Hobbs the Printers, Hampshire, England ii Cert no. SA-COC-1530 Introduction The Physics of Rugby Trevor Davis Lipscombe iii The Physics of Rugby iv Introduction Table of Contents Introduction Chapter One vii Pack Animals: On scrums, lineouts, rucks, and mauls 1 Chapter Two Back Attack: On running, passing, and scoring in the corner 29 Chapter Three Crunch time: On chasing, tackling, and injuries 63 Chapter Four Kicking, the habit: On penalties, conversions, and Garryowens 95 Chapter Five Match Day: On the weather you’ll play in and whether you’ll win 131 Suggested further reading 161 Glossary of physics terms 167 Index of rugby players 171 Subject index 175 v The Physics of Rugby vi Introduction Introduction ‘Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of the city.’ Oscar Wilde ‘I prefer rugby to soccer. I enjoy the violence in rugby, except when they start biting each other’s ears off.’ Elizabeth Taylor T his book began three decades ago, on a cold Saturday morning in early September. That was when I pulled on for the first time the scarlet jersey of Icknield, a high school named for a fierce tribe of Britons, the Iceni, who under their warrior queen Boadicea inflicted several heavy defeats upon the Romans. Our opponents that morning were from the Cardinal Newman School, named not after a warrior but a mild-mannered man who may soon become a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. The Cardinal’s men were victorious that day, the final score was 10-6 and, to show my age, we were defeated by two converted tries to two unconverted tries. But I was hooked. Chances are you are reading this book because you, too, fell in love with rugby. It has that effect on people. It’s a game of many parts. While a good deal of brawn is needed, brains play a big role too, and the post-game social life is usually enjoyable, if not entirely wholesome or suitable for family viewing. Rugby has grown immensely in recent years. There are now women’s teams at the international level and a women’s rugby world cup; there are national teams for the hearing impaired, and the sport spreads ever wider. As I write, Brazil