The “Super 14” provincial competition consists of the top 14 provinces in New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. They all play each other once, and then the top four teams go into a playoff. The finalists this year were two New Zealand teams, the Canterbury Crusaders and Wellington Hurricanes.
Unfortunately the final as a spectacle was ruined by an amazing fog that rolled in an a hour before the kick-off. Spectators on one side of the stadium at times could not see the other side of the field.
The match was won by Canterbury 19-12.
The following picture (note the fog!) shows Chris Jack of Canterbury flying high in a lineout. He gets the elevation by leaping while simultaneously being lifted by teammates. Jack is about 6’6″, so his head has to be about ten feet off the ground.
Lineouts occur when the ball goes out of bounds. Both team’s forwards (think lineman in football)form lines perpendicular to the line of touch (out of bounds line) and then a player from the team that did not put the ball out of bounds throws it down the middle, between the two lines. Lineout play is very complex, with signals where the ball is going, and a high degree of coordination between the thrower and catcher. And then plays developing off the lineout.
By the way, the player on the right wearing #9 is the scrum-half, the position I played for 20 years. In many ways, the most interesting position on the field, since you are usually in the middle of the action, and handle the ball more than any other player.
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