I want to go abroad for a semester or a summer session...where would be best to go to get better at rugby???

Question

I also want to join a local team wherever I go for the duration of time i spend there...would this be possible?

Answer 1

If you are American i guess Ireland or Wales , England would be more your pace or take a trip to the Highlands in Scotland.Rugby is good there.New Zealand ,Australia would be too demanding and wouldnt boost your confidence if you couldnt make a decent side(no offence mate}Good luck

Answer 2

If you want to seriously improve your rugby to a professional or semi-professional level try the international Rugby Academy of New Zealand (iranz.co.nz) or the NZ sports academy which is a primarily Maori academy (nzsaportsacademy.co.nz)  To attend either of these through a university framework you can do a rugby/university exchange through Massey university in NZ.  In Australia you could try the University of Queenland high performance Rugby academy (uqrugby.com) or liveandplay.com which places students with Sydney clubs.  Finally south Africa's premier academy is the Stellenbosch academy.

.....Then again if you are just wanting to get on the p**s and muck around on the rugby field you should try Japan.

Answer 3

I'm assuming you are American?

For one thing, go for the whole year.  I did a year abroad, and I would have been very bitter to have left at the semester.  It takes time to adjust...why cut it short if you don't have to?

Basically, any of the 6 nations will have opportunities for you to play good, hard rugby.  Just as valuable will be that it gives you a way into the local scene.  I found that, in many study abroad programs, there is a tendency to spend a lot more time with your fellow students than with locals.  It's understandable, and pretty cool as well...I went to school with some great people.  But, by playing rugby, I was also able to be a part of local life in a way that many others weren't.  It was also a good opportunity to develop my language skills (I was in Italy).

If you go for a summer session, go to NZ or Australia...European rugby is not in season during the Northern Hemisphere summer.

One thing you may want to do once you decide where to go is to research the local clubs and contact them.  In my day (pre-internet) all I could do was to write to the Italian Rugby Federation for more info...and they didn't write back.  Once I was in country, I had to call them to find the local club.

Answer 4

Go to New Zealand or Australia , if you want to get better at Rugby, Northern Hemesphere  Rugby is pretty boring stuff, mostly kick and clap stuff.

Answer 5

Go to France....Rugby World Cup will kick-off on 9th September.....the life's best rugby experience....

Answer 6

Britain