Rice terraces and 'turtle shell' scrums: barefoot rugby in Vietnam

Barefoot and muddied, a group of youngsters sprint across a makeshift pitch in rural Vietnam, passing the ball in a game of touch rugby in a country where few people have ever heard of the sport.

They belong to Vietnam's only rugby programme for locals, rolled out for kids in a remote commune where some players have to travel by boat to training sessions often held against a backdrop of rice terraces and curious onlookers.

Few knew anything about rugby when they joined the scheme, marvelling at the egg-shaped ball, but are now keen fans planning to closely follow the Rugby World Cup in Japan, which starts in September.

"I haven't watched international rugby... but if possible I will surely watch the Rugby World Cup," said 14-year-old Bao Cham, a player on the Silver Fox team in Kim Boi district.

With the first Rugby World Cup held in Asia, organisers are hoping to boost rugby's popularity in backwaters like Kim Boi, where most kids count Lionel Messi as a hero but have never heard of New Zealand great Dan Carter.

Vietnam is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia with no rugby federation, and international games are not regularly aired on cable television.

That means the sport remains on the margins, making the rugby clinic in Kim Boi something of an oddity.

- First time on a plane -
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- Colonial roots -
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