If you had Australian Rugby in the “First Sport to get Swine Flu” pool…well, shame on you and your epidemic wagering ways.

Degenerate gambling humor aside, two players were forced to sit out an Australian rugby league match today and at least nine others were quarantined after a player tested positive for swine flu.

Gold Coast forward Ashley Harrison and St George Illawarra winger Darius Boyd were pulled from Monday’s NRL match on the Gold Coast as swine flu concerns gripped the league.

They were the only two players from the Gold Coast and St George Illawarra teams who were in camp with Queensland for last Wednesday’s State of Origin match. Bulldogs forward Ben Hannant, who was part of that Queensland team, remains the only confirmed swine flu case in the NRL.

All members of the Queensland Origin team have been placed in quarantine and will remain so for a further 72 hours unless otherwise directed by health officials (Swine flu fears lead to 11 players pulling out of Australian rugby match).

In vastly less important news, the Sydney Bulldogs won the match 28-18.

The Guardian reports that over the weekend the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Australia rose to over 1000 – tripling in the past week! Other teams- specifically, those with players who took part in the State of Origin game as teammate of Hannant – are taking similar precautions.

Hannant told the Melbourne Herald Sun that he is feeling better and expect to join the team tomorrow at the latest, and be ready to play on Friday.

Every instance of a rugger or ref getting blasted in the following video helps define how I feel about this Monday. Most especially, the guy taking a pass off the noodle that bounces into the hands of the opposing team. Fitting on doom and gloom day like today.

H/T Your Scrumhalf Connection for the link (follow them on twitter as well)

In an attempt to shed their obscurity ’round campus, the UCLA Women’s Rugby team hosts an annual prom dress rugby match, with their third ever happening this past weekend…

Not to be confused with the thrift store three-piece suit match…hosted each year by the UCLA water polo team. Or the bikini car wash that the UCLA cheerleaders are perpetually running in my wildest dreams.

( UCLA Women’s Rugby )

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England will take on the famed All Blacks of New Zealand next month for the inaugural Hillary Shield. The match honors Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest and huge rugby enthusiast, who passed away earlier this year. (via The Telegraph)

Video of the All Blacks after the links…

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According to reports, four minutes of porn stars havin’-a-go slipped its way into the broadcast of a schoolboy rugby match Sunday on New Zealand’s Prime TV.

Rugby parents are like the crazed hockey parents of the Auckland region, so obviously this will not stand. One parent said of his eight year-old son, his innocence is lost.

Prior to this, I had this vision of what down-under rugby fans are like…one man’s system distribution fault is another man’s bonus coverage, right Russell?

Kids, rugby, porn; this is such a slippery slope. And Prime TV apologized for the mix-up after all. We’ll quit while we’re ahead.