Rugby, first time - Wow what a sport! (7 pics)

[Spearin]

My third straight evening out with my new baby, the 70-200mm f/2.8L. I am very happy with it combined with the 1.4x II extender. Even when shooting rugby after two nights of U16 girls soccer, with the latter being a lot slower paced, I am still impressed with the focusing and quality of the shots.

This was really my first time watching rugby first hand and it's quite the interesting sport. I could definitely see myself playing it and might actually consider looking into it.

It is just local teams who do compete, but as you can see, things aren't incredibly serious (uniforms mismatch, etc) yet the blokes and lasses really do take it to heart. A lot of commonwealth accents out on the field too ;)

Two games were playing, both starting at 7pm as the light was nice, which another lovely clear evening kept it interesting. For the men's game, it was the Gophers (red) demolishing the Oats (green). For the women, the Oats (green/white) killed the Vixens (blue/gold). I don't know the scoring system so I can't tell you what it was ;) Enough talk, photo time:

1. A Gopher being thrown down...

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/dump/72006/IMG_3478.jpg

2. Some of the lads seem quite seasoned.

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/dump/72006/IMG_3512.jpg

3. On the chase...

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/dump/72006/IMG_3526.jpg

4. Above them all.

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/dump/72006/IMG_3546.jpg

5. Keep away.

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/dump/72006/IMG_3496.jpg

6. Close, but not good enough...

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/dump/72006/IMG_3557.jpg

7. Attacked from all sides.

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/dump/72006/IMG_3572.jpg

Shot Manual with 20D and 70-200mm f/2.8L + 1.4 II extender @ f/4, ISO 200 or 400, 1/1000 - 1/1600
Post-processed in CS2: crop, usm, levels, curves

Comments or crits? I really enjoyed the action of this sport and plan on going down again to shoot! The fields are only a 10 minute bike ride away :)

[mtonsbeek]

Excellent shots! And I totally agree, it is a great sport!
BTW I think you images could do with a bumping up the saturation a little.

[Katzy]

hi,

here is some info on the scoring,

try - 5 points
conversion - 2 points (after a try)
field goald - 3 points
drop goal - 3 points.

nice photos, enjoy the lens, I just got one myself and am very impressed.

katzy

[Spearin]

Cheers Maarten, I think the colours seem a little desaturated from the evening light and partly from the contrast adjustments in post-processing. I will have a play once I get home from work though on the saturation, and I agree they probably could use a little more in order to improve the images.

Thanks for informing me katzy :) There were quite a few trys for the teams that won, and I don't think any for the losing teams. The men got a couple of conversions, but I don't recall seeing the ladies scoring any.

[gsgary]

Nice shots, this is one of the best sports to shoot and my favourite

[Little Fish]

The pictures are great and I really like the job you did on cropping down to the heart of the photo. There seems to be no wasted space and no deletion of relative detail.

[Pete]

Very nice shots, certainly show the physicality of the game. Shame that all the players are so clean, unlike in proper English rugby...

Excellent DOF judgement.

[Spearin]

The pictures are great and I really like the job you did on cropping down to the heart of the photo. There seems to be no wasted space and no deletion of relative detail.
Thanks :) I paid specific attention to cropping (and even shooting) tight to emphasize the action. For example, I had the full body of the player on the left in the frame... but I cropped her out a bit to draw your attention more to the player with the ball.

And Pete, if it rains before or during a match that won't stop me! I love rugby shots when the players are all dirty... it helps to show how brutal the game is and how much the players are dedicated.

There is a Division 2 game this evening which I will probably go to ;) So, more shots later!

[annab_99]

Wow! These are great action shots!

[Spearin]

Thanks annab_99 :)

Well as it turns out, there wasn't a game last night. So a friend of mine and I went to shoot at the race track:

http://www.spearin.ca/andrew/images/20060721211837_img_3672.jpg