Rugby, where concussions are the least of your concerns

To prepare for the Super Bowl, Richard and I watched the England versus Scotland rugby match this evening. I've heard rugby and "American football" are similar....but now I'm not so sure.

Here's my basic understanding of rugby:

• Each team goes in for a big group hug and plays cat and mouse with the ball.
• Once someone grabs the ball, it's complete chaos and everyone runs around with no real purpose.
• You cannot throw the ball forward, only backward. This seems counterproductive.
• If you get bored, you can casually kick the ball down the field.
• Once you get the ball in the special end zone thing, you have to touch it to the ground...running around and dancing in the end zone doesn't count.
• Making it into the end zone gains 5 points, making a field goal gains 2. Haven't figured out if they have something like a safety yet.
• There's a field position called "Number 8" and I'm still trying to decide what they do.
• There are no pads or protection, no stopping of the clock, and no whining.

So I guess I didn't really learn much, but it was exciting. The one thing that was missing was all the good ads.