I’ve not had many opportunities to shoot on-field sports photos, so when Old Glory DC, our local Major League Rugby franchise, announced an open practice in nearby Fairfax, Virginia, I jumped at the chance.
Rugby is a predecessor to American football, played with a fatter ball and in most cases with 15 on a side. It’s also played without helmets and pads, which gives the sport much of its mystique. Back in my checkered youth, I played six seasons — each spring and fall for three years — with the George Washington University rugby club.
The word “scrum” comes from rugby, which in today’s parlance has come to mean a disorganized mob. In rugby, however, a scrum requires intense and extraordinary teamwork; see for example Old Glory DC’s forwards in a real rugby scrum: 
I tried to capture in these photos the high level of skill and teamwork required of rugby players at the professional level. See the whole gallery in our TechNewsLit collection on Smugmug.
You will note that each of the images in the gallery carries a Creative Commons – Attribution license.
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