THE STORY OF RUGBY is an epic six-part global documentary series that takes a cinematic exploration of the fastest growing major team sport in the word: rugby.
Episode Three The Global Game
Discover how rugby football was first played in North America in Montreal (McGill v Harvard in 1875) but, without residual cultural ties to a British home (like New Zealand and South Africa) – and with the innovation of Yale’s Walter Camp – ‘American rugby’ quickly became… American football. Learn how the fascist nations of Germany, Italy and Japan tried to crush rugby yet, in a supreme aboutface, all three used the game’s values to help restore national values post-war.
The French, for centuries rivals to England, and its nemesis in just about everything, embraced rugby like no other nation outside the British Empire. Pierre de Coubertin, an aristocratic Frenchman was so inspired by rugby he used it as his driving force to revive the modern Olympics (where rugby was introduced to the Games – and the USA has won the most gold medals).
Featured rugby matches:
• Harvard vs. Yale in Boston
• Racing 92 vs. Grenoble in Paris
• Lyon vs. Pau in the South of France
• Austin Valkyries in Texas
• Jaguars in Buenos Aires
• Christian Old Boys in Montevideo
• Heidelberg in Heidelberg