Touch Judge Training, and England win
I drove up to Sacramento this morning for 3 1/2 hours of training to become a level 1 certified Touch Judge. This means that I'm, ostensibly, certified to run up and down the side of the rugby pitch, waving a flag whenever the ball goes out. It seems pretty straightforward, but, for instance, if someone is standing outside the playing field and the ball comes towards him and he bats the ball back towards the field, is it out ("in touch") or not? And what happens if you take the ball into in-goal (what American football would call the "end zone") and someone from the opposing team grabs the ball from you before you touch it down, and then you push that guy out the back of the in-goal area? Anyway, I'm now certified. Excellent. In a little bit of time, with a bit more training, I'll be able to start judging touch at games around here.
And speaking of rugby, I'm terrifically glad that England finally won an international match, 23-21, over South Africa. We're a long way from the England XV that took the last RWC in 2003, but it's nice to have a win.
