Playing rugby abroad

chupacabra

Im curious to know if any regular expat posters here play rugby in the countries they live in and what its like trying to get involved in the game in a non-traditional rugby country?

I've been researching the rugby scene in Estonia at the moment and found that it has a very small but thriving community. Estonia recently played Finland A for an "International rugby partnership shield". The game is on youtube and i've been impressed with the standard to be honest.
Once the season begins again I am going to try my best to get involved with the game here and keep tabs on Baltic/Finnic rugby as a whole. These former soviet countries are well suited to the game and I believe they can consistently raise their standard to the point where theyre competitive in larger european competitions.

Id love to hear about what its like in your area.

Also i found out that the Estonian national team has open training days. If I get fit enough and try out maybe I have a chance at being an International rugby player

irishbucsfan

I play in England.

Bless em, they do try. But they just struggle with the more refined aspects of the game. It's a bit complex to be fair.

decisions

There was a doc that I saw online about an Irish guy playing for a national team. They were going for WC 2007 qualification I think.

Podge_irl

decisions wrote: »

There was a doc that I saw online about an Irish guy playing for a national team. They were going for WC 2007 qualification I think.

Kazakhstan if I remember correctly.

siltirocker

Clontarf's Dave Noonan, Former Roscrea boy Rob Gannon and Finn Gormley, the Corinthians captain are Norwegian internationals.

I believe Gormley is their star back. And Gannon is the captain.

A mate of mine lined out for South Korea(,or just Korea as they go by). Couldn't get his game with Corinthian's Juniors back home but was a star there. For a time, he was starting ahead of Back Kwang-Soo (their most capped and star player) on the flank. He got a couple of quid for it too and offered a few nepo-esqe jobs.

GiftofGab

I played rugby in Melbourne. With a population of about 4million people they only have about 8 clubs in total. I played at the lowest standard in Oz which is the equivalent of about J3 over here. Most of the clubs are taken up by New Zealand Maori, islanders and ex-pats.

I found the game to be alot different. It was alot more fast paced, more back orientated rather than the traditional Munster style play.

A friend of mine, played in Brisbane and he said there is such a lack of clubs that he would sometimes have to travel up to 2 hours to a game.

Winters

We have had a good few non Irish players in the club and its facinating to hear their opinion of rugby in Ireland. We had a Brazilian player who said all of our J1s would walk into their national team.

We have had a few tough Polish players who said that their wingers are the size of our props and that it's mostly an arm wrestle over there.

We have a player from Philidelphia with us too who loves the continuous physicality rather than the stop start nature if gridiron.

Scotland, England and France all represented at some stage too.

I played in Scotland during uni and it was very similar to here.

Buer

Best avoid playing rugby in Australia:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/03/snake-rugby-game-australia/

Nope.

Swiwi.

chupacabra wrote: »

Im curious to know if any regular expat posters here play rugby in the countries they live in?

Id love to hear about what its like in your area.

Also i found out that the Estonian national team has open training days. If I get fit enough and try out maybe I have a chance at being an International rugby player

I don't, no.

But there appears to be a thriving game at all levels.

I'd like to think if I gave it a good lash, I could be an international rugby player too.

pickarooney

I play at the lowest level possible in France (about J9 if such existed!) although our team is a mixture of complete newbies like myself, decent players who have been playing a while and the odd ex semi-pro. We have an Aussie, a Scot, a Kiwi, an Englishman and the odd Italian or Spaniard who shows up every so often. Ages from 14 to 62.

The atmostphere is fantastic, really welcoming and there are barbecues and parties more often than there are matches.

Micky Dolenz

Play in Italy, until I got injured(again). I really should give it up.

Instead of passing the ball, there is a lot of forwards going into contact and ping pong kicking. the back line can be a lonely place at times.

Molester Stallone

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Play in Italy, until I got injured(again). I really should give it up.

Instead of passing the ball, there is a lot of forwards going into contact and ping pong kicking. the back line can be a lonely place at times.

Is hypothermia really classed as an injury though?

Thomas D

Anyone play in Holland? I'm curious to know the standard and I'll be joining a team in the new season.

pickarooney

Thomas D wrote: »

Anyone play in Holland? I'm curious to know the standard and I'll be joining a team in the new season.

When I lived there a mate of mine played a bit. The skill levels were very low and there were constant fights. Make of that what you will.

CatFromHue

pickarooney wrote: »

When I lived there a mate of mine played a bit. The skill levels were very low and there were constant fights. Make of that what you will.

That's just how the Dutch do teamwork :pac:

astonaidan

decisions wrote: »

There was a doc that I saw online about an Irish guy playing for a national team. They were going for WC 2007 qualification I think.

A lad from my way is playing for Dubai now

astonaidan

Im tempted to give it a shot in Canada, met a lad in Australia who said he plays in the top division in Toronto, he was ok in the few mess abouts we had, nothing to write home about mind, any idea what its like over there. Right now Id be 30/70 between playing at that level or giving Basketball a chance

CNTRLR

Thomas D wrote: »

Anyone play in Holland? I'm curious to know the standard and I'll be joining a team in the new season.

i played a bit in maastricht, but it was the pub team and we mostly played against the university teams.
They are in no way up to a decent standard at the start of the season but usually after a few weeks they get better, but we the expat pub lads would usually give up, and just go on the lash at half time.

I do know of a much bigger scene in belgium, including a multi-national all gay rugby team that play in a local league in brussels,

jimmii

I played in Kenya used to be in bits by the end of a match the pitches were rock hard! The Safari 7s used to get a decent crowd and teams came from all over the world to play. Its pretty competitive over there but not the best technically as you would expect! I saw Kenya plays at the 7s tournament in Edinburgh a few years ago and there was a surprising number of Kenyan flags in the crowd!

rje66

Played in southern calif.and on long island ny . They have great weekend tournaments there in the states.
Cant recommend enough getting involved in a club while over seas.

minnow

Thomas D wrote: »

Anyone play in Holland? I'm curious to know the standard and I'll be joining a team in the new season.

I just finished playing a season of Div 4 rugby (lowest) in Holland, which is basically made up 2nds teams, students teams, and veterans who still want the run out on a Sunday. Standard suits me fine and atmosphere is very relaxed. The teams tend to be about 2/3 Dutch with a few English/French.

The higher divisions are of a decent standard, with the typical Dutch physique meaning that the players tend to be big from 1-15.

PM for more details if you want.