I went to the Rugby League World Cup game in Thomond Park, Limerick last night, Ireland lost to Australia 50-0.
It's a professional game in Australia, so their players were bigger, faster, better trained than the Irish, but you'd still expect at least one score from the boys in white*
They did get close the Australia try line a few times, but poor decision making meant it never led to a score. I've only seen bits of games on Sky Sports, never a full match, so I'm unfamiliar with the rules but the way it seemed to go to me is this:
player in possession runs at opposition, up to three players are allowed to tackle him (at least I didn't see more than three players in a tackle) and this involves wrestling him to the ground until...something happens and the ref blows. The player who took the ball into the tackle is allowed to stand up, the tackling players stand off him, and he puts the ball on the ground, stops it with his foot, and rolls it back to a teammate, and play resumes as before.
There's no lineouts, if the ball goes out of play on the sidelines, an opposition player collects the ball, and passes it from the sideline to a teammate, who touches it to his boot (think tap-and-go in rugby union) and then play resumes.
Not sure why scrums are awarded (is it for knock ons?) but a scrum only has six players on each side and appears to be uncontested, although this may have been because of Ireland's amateur status.
A try is 4 points, and a conversion is another point on top of that.
Play is 40 minutes a side, and the team with the most points at the end wins.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the unique attraction of the "World Cup" element to the occasion, I more than likely would not have attended and it's unlikely I'll be at any games in future.
*Australia played in green because they are higher ranked than Ireland, Ireland played in white.
