Las Vegas Weekly

Rugby and its ‘gloriously brutal contact’ comes to town

Photo: Isaac Brekken

Forget football, with all its padding and rules about where you can hit. Rugby has more nonstop action, and the only thing that comes between players and gloriously brutal contact is a mouth guard. The ball is thrown backward, creating a kind of “rolling maul” until one man makes a try, often with a flying leap that skins the grass off the field. Locals have a chance to see the best teams in the world maul each other for HSBC Sevens World Series standing this weekend at Sam Boyd Stadium. Sixteen teams, including top-ranked New Zealand, Fiji, England and South Africa, will fight for tournament points. The U.S. Eagles, No. 12 in the series so far, will try to use their home-turf advantage to run away with some games. Whatever the outcome, you’re in for some of the hardest hits (and most impressive neck veins) in sports today.