Rugby 101 with Team USA Star Cody Melphy

What's up guys? Leslie Robbins here for young Hollywood. Coming to you from dignity, health sports park where I am surrounded by rugby teams from all over the world. You know what that means? It's time for a little fun. To my right Mr Cody Melfi athlete on team Usa rugby sevens squad. Welcome to L. A. Great to have you and I heard you're the guy to know because let's talk about how much rugby I know little next to nothing.

That's okay, I never knew anything at one point in my life too. So we'll get you caught up. Don't worry.

Well before we get to the whole rugby wanna one part of things, let's talk about your life pre rugby. You started at a really late age you know when you think about sports.

Yeah I did I started when I was 18 years old I overheard a friend in the hallway talking about rugby and I was like I need to go out and I need to play and I went to my first practice and I just had so much fun. I couldn't get away.

So you couldn't get away but you played soccer really, really well before rugby. So what happened to your soccer career? You just kind of blended it in with rugby.

Kind of. So I did like about three months of rugby and then I went to college for soccer at a D. Two school and I continued playing soccer, I didn't play any rugby and then there was just like this itch that I needed to keep playing rugby so I actually ended up dropping out of college and dropping out of playing soccer, joining the local men's club and just began playing rugby in and from there, you know, got myself here, which is amazing, right?

So you guys play rain or shine I guess it's kind of fun when it's all muddy and wet the weather in L. A. Right now it's down pouring one second sunshine the next, tell me what you're doing here.

So we're out here at the L. A. Sevens and it's part of the HSBC sevens World Series. So we do 10 stops and it's all over the world that we travel. So this is our home tournament. We here at dignity Health Sports Park, we have six games, right? So we play six games in two days and at the end of that they crown a winner, gold, silver, bronze and everything down below. And then we go to the next tournament, next tournament in Vancouver next week.

Now you just mentioned this is your home turf, which is so exciting, the crowds, so excited to see you. What's it like playing for Team USa and bouncing around.

Oh, it's it's amazing. I mean playing on your home turf is the best because you got friends, family, they don't have to travel very far just across the States if anything. So you're playing in front of them and then obviously you're representing the crest, the flag, everything about, you know, being on team USA and everything that comes with that. So it's, it's an honor in that sense as well and traveling as an athlete. You love it, You hate it, you hate packing to this day.

Yeah, I mean the traveling can be hectic. Sometimes we're traveling for up to 40 hours getting in and out of countries and stuff like that. So it can be a little bit hectic. I mean driving up here from SAn Diego 3. 5 hour drive, you know, it's a little bit of a ways, but at the end of the day, you get a huge reward for it. So it's okay.

It's a global sport. What makes it different here in the States versus around the world, It is kind of different, right?

It is, it's a little bit different in the sense that just the traction is a little bit different. It's not one of the main, you know, four or five sports, maybe top 10 sports in the United States, but you know, somewhere else in the world it is, it's number one, number two sport in the world, right?

So how do you like spread the word about rugby, just like I'm doing right here with you today?

This exact opportunity is another opportunity to spread the word to somebody who doesn't know and they're following and let them know what rugby is, why we play it and what is so exciting about it, right?

Okay, so you just said the exact words, I want to tell me about rugby. I want the rugby 101 right now, talk about the sport in general.

Alright, so rugby is it's much like a mix of football, soccer and wrestling and in my in my eyes, I mean even a little bit maybe a basketball there. So in rugby like football, there's an offside line, there's two teams, there's two teams of seven in the olympic version of it. It's fast paced, it's mano a mano and it's a seven minute half game. So 14 minute games it's quick, you get in and you get out and like this ball you felt it.

Yeah, yeah, it's like a big football.

Yeah exactly mixed with the basketball, a little bit like that. Exactly. It's a little bit lighter, a little bit bigger. So in football you throw the ball forwards and rugby, you can only throw it backwards so I can't do any type of forward passes. I also cannot block. So it's a very like me on the guy across from me type sport right? Because I need to beat him, he needs to tap to the ground, right? And when a tackle is made is then when the offside line, just like football, you've got one team on one side of the ball and one team on the other side of the ball. So the tackle gets made, you go back to your sides, but unlike football, you just continue playing again. So it's much like soccer in the sense that, you know, you just continuously playing until the ball goes out or some type of penalty is made and the whistle gets blown, it just as continuous, continuous, continuous. So when you see a rugby match professionally speaking, it's like all hell broke loose out there, but they're actually our rules.

So give me some like top five rules of rugby because you know, it looks like a free for all out there, but it's not.

Okay, so number one rule passed backwards, but you can't kick forwards so pass backwards, but you can you can you can kick forwards if you want to. Second rule would be when a tackles made tackles have to be made below the nipple line because we don't wear pads out there, we've got cleats and a mouth guard below the nipple line and everything has to be a wrap tackle. So that's where the wrestling comes in because it's like two double eight takedowns, it's like grappling, you gotta take the man to the ground so you won't see any like head on head contact, you won't see people come in flying off their legs. You got to make sure that both you and the ball career are safe to the ground right now, when a tackle is made, that's when the offside lines are created, you have to get back on side and then the ball is played out of the ruck, which is created by a tackle and then the game is continued on from there. Right? So in football when you score, you just put the ball across the line and rugby, you actually have to touch it down. So do that for me. Touch it down, Yeah, just touch it down, boom, downward pressure, that's a try. So if we were running over the try line and we scored, that would be a score right there. So when you score, that's five points, five points over a line and now you get an opportunity for the two extra point kicks, like football, but football is a one point extra, right? You get two for your kick because in rugby you take a kick in line with the poles from where you scored, not right behind the so scoring.

Generally speaking, you have to place it or get over the line, you have to get over the line and place it on the ground is for the extra points. Just like football, that's not the main way of scoring.

Absolutely got it the same in football too. You got field goals right? And rugby, you can do the same thing. It's called a kick for points, three points. Any time there's a penalty on the field that you think that you can make the kick, it's like a field goal. Like you know where your forward progress has stopped, you're on fourth down, right? You just decided to go for polls and you take a kick through the polls.

So like football, we have four quarters, How is rugby broken down?

So that's where rugby comes into the soccer side of things. Again, it's two halves in the olympic version of the sport, it's 27 minute halves with a one minute halftime.

Now, the thing that's tripping me up is no pats, how do you stay safe out there?

You as much as you're trying to get the other guy down and get him to the ground and kind of complete a tackle, you have to think about yourself as well. So that's why they kind of made the rule about the nipple line. You know, it allows for safer tackling, you have to wrap So you have to, you know, kind of like grappling skill work, you have to wrap the players so I can't come kind of lead in with the shoulder, I can't come flying off my feet, can't do like chopped blocks, kind of like you do doing in football everyth it is very controlled and it's directly to the ground, right? No one's getting lifted up, You can't lift guys, like it's very it's very safe in the way the rules were made around the game to protect the players.

Now, you're part of rugby sevens, how does that differ from regular rugby rugby sevens?

It's just quick, fast paced. It's seven verse seven and it's seven minute half. So the world, what the world recognizes as rugby, the main kind of type of rugby is 15, 15 verse 15 and its 40 minute half. Okay, so it's very it's very similar to soccer in that way. It's 40 minute half, 10 minute half times 15 verse 15, it's the same same size pitch for both teams, whether you play seven or 15. So that's kind of why it's like faster paced, more evasive, more mano a mano because we only have sev Guys out there on the same size field as what would be 15 normally.

So how does one choose? I want to be part of sevens or rugby? General rugby?

Yeah, it's kind of a skill takes you. Right, right. Yeah, it is, it's a skill set thing, it's kind of what you want most of the guys on our team are very fit, you know, a little bit smaller version of a rugby player, very fast and they're very good at all the skills that encompass rugby right? In regular 15, you might have guys who who are £280 you might have guys who are 100 and 80 you have this big difference wearing seven, you know, the average player is very similar to each other and it's a very quick type of rugby.

Well, you said the word fit and of course I have to ask about your regimen because you are in perfect shape as you should be, You're a professional athlete, break down the kind of ritual that you have off the field because to be in shape to be on the field, you have to be working out constantly and eating right as well.

Absolutely. So we take we take everything into account for that. I mean, like you said, eating nutrition the supplements you take and then on the field were working monday through saturday most weeks and we're out there from seven AM till four PM every day and we're working to three training sessions a day. And and that's very specific to the type of training that we do. So it's a lot of high speed running. It's a lot of explosive movements and so everything that you see in our type of sport and the way that they train us is to what we do on the day to day when we get to play the game right?

Are you in a gym like everybody else or?

No, it's pretty much out here, majority, about 85% of what we do is on the field. But yeah, we are, we are in the gym about three or four times a week as well. We've got guys who are ex NFL players, We've got soccer players, we've got wrestlers, we've got cheerleaders, we've got everything, we got basketball stars, we've got guys who have the backgrounds of all these different sports coming in and kind of just making that cohesive rugby rugby team.

I wanna learn what it's like to be on a rugby team, I don't think I'll be on one. But what could you show me today that maybe will get me started into the sport?

Well one of the things that I'm kind of specifically good at is kicking, so maybe we just go show you something, kick a ball through the poles, get that extra point kick that called the drop kick, It is going to teach you a little bit.

I studied a little bit, that's a little bit, that's that person, that little bit. Okay, Cody, we've taken to the field and as I've mentioned previously, I know little to nothing about this sport, but I'm excited to learn. So what are you going to teach me?

We are going to teach you exactly what to do today, which is kick a ball through those posts right there, We're gonna teach you from A to Z exactly what you need to know from holding the ball to actually kicking and scoring.

Okay, let's get to it a alright, hey, the way we hold the ball is this is a rugby ball, is this is a rugby ball?

Yes. Okay, so step one is going to be how you hold the ball. So you're gonna, you're gonna focus on two hands at the top of the ball, you're going to think of the ball up and down straight with the ground. Alright, there you go and then you're just going to drop it. Okay, perfect. So now this time we're gonna do the same thing, two hands top of the ball, drop it a little bit lower to the ground, boom. There you go. And try to get every single time that you drop it, you want to get it to bounce back up straight up and down like it was there you go right there. So what we're gonna do is when that bounces, you have to then kick it. Okay? So now wait, it just down poured so everything's slippery. That doesn't matter. Rugby is rain or shine?

Oh yeah, absolutely. We're going to play through everything. Here we go. They can't just cancel it. So do we want to take an attempt or do you want me to show you? And then maybe you take attempt, what do we want to do?

You think you have to show me and break it down for me? Okay, so like I said, you're going to take the ball and drop it and then as I drop it, I'm going to kick it through those poles right there, right like this drop and kick straight through. That was beautiful. You've made the team, you're good? All right, now you need to make the team.

Okay, but here's my question. Does it, do you kick it before it hits the ground?

You have to kick it after it hits the ground after it bounced? So it's not a pun it's a drop kick All right, it's gonna go like this and then

Yeah, so what you're going to do is think about it's to kind of steps but it has to be fluid every single time that you do it. So the first step is that drop I told you about and if we can keep that ball bouncing because what we don't want is to bounce like that because it's gonna be hard to kick. Have you ever played soccer?

Sure. A little bit.

Okay, so when you kick through it's going to be right there on the top of your foot. It's just a nice easy kick through. So the first step is the drop, the second step is to kick through and then follow to your target. And we're not using our toe raising the side leg and soccer.

Yeah, just at the very top of your foot, the hardest part of it. Okay. All right, okay, now, if I'm a righty, go over there. Yeah, so face yourself towards the goals. Now, it's just like soccer when you when you kick through, you gotta follow through to your target, you're going to follow through to your target trying to get under the ball and get it up and over the poles, it has to go through that little box right there. Alright, so practice your drop a couple of times. First step into it, step into just the drop part. There you go. Let's do it again. Nice now without the ball. Try just doing a couple of kicks, pretend you dropped it and then a kick? Just pretend that you dropped it. Boom. That's what you're going to do. But with the ball, Oh, sure if I make this, then we have problems.

No, it just means I'm a great teacher.

That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. Think about the bounce the way you hold it, aim for those polls, those polls, those polls, you got this, You can do it. Oh, not bad. A little off the mark. All right, we're gonna get this, we're gonna get it. You get one more. Try, come on. All right, one more. At least one more, but you're here. So what? It's going that way? Yeah. Face your hips this way, so face. Exactly. Yeah. There you go towards the poles and now this time you got to put a little bit more boot into it too. Okay, You got to really try to get it over because it's not super far, but it's far enough. You got to put a little bit more into it. The bounce was great. Okay, not bad. You just have to put a little bit more leg into it, right? So you may have just kind of, you short footed it. We need you to follow through all the way through it. So when, when I go to drop it, right? So the drops the same every time you're literally facing that way.

Why was I facing that way?

Well you did the first time, but we corrected it. You kind of have to make the mistakes to learn from them. Sometimes I can't just teach everything without you learning a little bit, right? So the ball bounces the same every time and then when I approach it so the bounce is going to happen and I just have to lift my leg up and threw it. Beautiful. Okay, now I'm going to face it, you gotta put everything you've got into it so close that was so close. So we have to get the drop perfect first which will have to come back up to you every time like that and then you just kick through as right as it's hitting the ground. I'll kick through it gorgeous. It's not easy. That's why that's why athletes celebrate when they score because it's not easy. Absolutely. Let's move you back just to that white line. Yeah, there you go. It gives you a little bit more distance for it to get up and over. Yeah, yeah, good job. That was amazing. It was that was exhilarating. It almost wasn't going to go and then it's like yeah, we'll give it to you know, that's awesome. Of course it does. That's amazing. I think the really cool part about rugby, you think about when you score a try or touchdown in football, they always take it from the middle and rugby wherever you score is actually where you take the kick from. So this is just the beginning of the kicking skills.

You could be taking kicks from all the way over on the sideline. So when you're playing in a game, what's your mindset? Because you're getting beat up quite often out there?

Yeah, I mean once you get out there on the field it's all work and you've kind of, you've put in all the practice, you put in everything that you need. So you have the confidence in your own skills, your teammates skills, so you just go out there and you know what you need to do. So kind of the nervousness, all that. It goes out the second step on the field to be honest.

Well, have a great weekend.

Yeah, I will. Thank you very much.

We will.