BootsnAll Travel Community

RE: http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/05-07/beach-rugby-in-...ait-city-kuwait.html

What you called interference or shepharding, could also be called obstruction in rugby union. Unlike American football, the goal of rugby union is to move the ball. Teamwork means working with your mates to put someone on your team into space and create scoring opportunities. If players are allowed to run in front of the ball carrier and obstruct the defender from having a fair go at the ball carrier, then the emphasis would be placed more on the physical aspect of the game and encourage players to hit the opposition harder to clear a path for the ball carrier. That would then become American football (which developed from rugby union).

In rugby, you attack by passing or kicking the ball and putting your teammates into space (not unlike passing to the open man in basketball, which also had its roots in rugby union), and defend by tackling the ball (not the player).