New Zealand v South Africa (2006). Creative Commons use.
Little Passports is a monthly subscription program (of which I’m an affiliate) that introduces kids ages 5 to 10 to countries around the world. Every month kids get a little package from a certain country with souvenirs, an activity sheet, and access to online games. My kids have been marking where they’ve visited on their map. This article on rugby is brought to you by Little Passports.
Have you ever heard of a game called rugby? It’s a really fun sport, especially if you’ve seen a game being played. The rules are similar to games that are familiar to you (such as soccer or American football). Two teams, with 15 players each, try to earn points by getting a ball across the opponent’s goal line or between their goalposts. However, in rugby, you can only throw the ball backwards!
Rugby is popular in countries such as Australia, England, Italy, and Argentina. Can you find those countries on a map? It’s watched by over 2 billion people worldwide, especially during world championships. There are many different competitions each year- so don’t get confused! The Rugby Championship is an annual contest between the best rugby teams in the southern hemisphere (countries south of the equator)– including Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand! Let’s learn more about these countries.
Argentina
The Argentinian national rugby team is nicknamed Los Pumas, and their emblem features a jaguar. It is the first year they have been included in this Championship. Argentina is the second largest country in South America, and people in Argentina speak Spanish. Argentina’s version of the tooth fairy is a small rat called “El Ratón Perez.”
Australia
The Australian rugby team is named after the Wallaby, an animal that looks very similar to the Kangaroo. Scientists are closely watching a volcano called Big Ben. They believe it may be the next Australian volcano to erupt! The last volcanic eruption in Australia was over 5000 years ago at Mt. Gambier. The warmest months in Australia (and the other countries in this tournament!) happen when people in the US, Canada, Europe, and the north part of Asia are having winter, because Australia is below the equator. Australians speak English.
South Africa
The South African rugby team is named the Springboks, which is also a small antelope found in West Africa. South Africa has 3 capital cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein and 11 official languages, including Zulu, Afrikaans, Xhosa and English. An interesting fact: South Africa has a thriving penguin colony near its western coast, thanks to cold Antarctic currents.
New Zealand
New Zealand won the Rugby Championship last year in 2012. Before rugby games, players often chant a battle cry called a haka, to instill bravery and scare the opposing team (see below video). This country is made of many islands, though the 2 main islands contain most of the population. One of New Zealand’s popular animals is the kiwi bird, in part because it is native only to this country.
Resources to Learn about Rugby
There’s an 80-minute match broken into two 40-minute halves, and two 15 player teams (with six substitutes). Learn the basics of the game and then play a tag rugby game with your friends.
Play online games that introduce the rules, history, positions, signals, values, and then learn more about the countries, including their flags and location.
You can watch some of the matches on-line here, and if they’ve already passed please check out these rugby highlights from the 2013 match New Zealand v Argentina.
Have you ever played rugby before? Have you ever watched a game? The 2013 Championship will run through October. Will you be watching?
I had to chuckle about the information given about South Africa 🙂 The last thing most of us would ever think about sharing about our country, is the penguin colony (although a firm favourite with locals and visitors alike) Most South Africans will find it hilarious to think that there are people out there not knowing what rugby is, since around here it is more of a ‘religion’ 😉 than a sport sometimes!! (Oh, and PS: HUGE game against the Aussie All Blacks this coming Saturday!)
My kids don’t know much about Rugby but we have subscribed to Little Passports and certain countries have been a big hit.
We’ve been having a lot of fun with Little Passports too- the geode from Brazil was so cool!
GrietjieThorne:) hehe. The penguin bit was me trying to think of a fact that kids wouldn’t know about South Africa. But yes- can you believe that people don’t know much about rugby? Let’s expand our minds a bit beyond our communities and realize there’s this whole world out there!! 🙂 I think I like watching the fans as much as I enjoy the crazy lifting (http://youtu.be/DhskvFHeb6Y). And I have a question- how are they not wearing helmets and padding!?
pragmaticmom We had to develop a system for putting the stickers on the suitcase, the pin on the map, getting to read the letter, etc because my 4 kids were (ahem) arguing about who got to do what:). They love it!!
Love that all Backs war dance!