The Rugby

THE ラグビー (or The Rugby) is a team management game develop by Siesta for D3 Publisher Inc.’s Simple 2000 budget game series.

In “The Rugby”, you take the role of a high school rugby coach. Your task is to manage your team through the seasons with the goal of winning a national championship. Before your team can play, you will need to assign tasks. Practicing will aid in developing your teams skill attributes, but you also have to be mindful of player fatigue. You can also assign specialized exercises to specific team members. Other tasks include creating strategies, picking up new additions to the team and aiding players in their personal lives.  Instead of solely focusing on what happens on the field, you may be asked for advice on typical high school dilemmas. For example, a team member involved in a conflict with a fellow teammate may ask for your assistance. Your choices in these situations can affect the teams attributes and/or open up branching dialogue trees. 

When you enter a rugby match you are given the choice of watching a full 20 minute game, complete with small cutscenes, or a condensed version of the events. How matches play out depends on teams moral, attributes, strategies and successful buttons pushes during a minigame.