Hi,
My first attempt at rubgy photogrpahy, shooting with Tamron 18-250 lens, any C&C welcome.
Learnt that it's hard to get the action shots so I tried for differnet types of shots (as well as action but none included here).
I used center focus, which probably wasn't the best option (e.g. in photo 2 the player is off focus).
1.

2.
A bit blurry but I like the 'body of hands' and the player looks like he's lost his and looking for it:

3.
Down but not out

4.
Time out lads

5.
Ready, steady, jump

6.
They just ghosted past us...

It's game over man, it's game over. This is my favourite one.

Cheers,
Pa.

[altopiet]

Hi Pa, I'm no expert in photography but being South African I do know a bit about rugby. What I can say, is that I think you'll have to up your shutter speed for these kind of action shots. Even if you have a bit of low light, the higher ISO capabilities of the K-x should still allow you get you good shots. At f5.6, your DOF for such shots might also not be ideal. I also tried using the drive mode continuous shooting the other day at my son's cricket game, and you might try that. I use AF-C with spot focus, normally Tv mode (as there is lots of movement I believe shutter speed to be the priority), shutter speed about 1/500, Auto ISO set between 100-3600.

If you had the drive mode on in the third shot, you might have got a shot of the players contesting for the ball in the air, which would have made it more interesting in my opinion.
If you don't know rugby, the shots will most probably not "speak" to you, although the third shot tells me a different story. I tells me, " o what the hell, lets have a rest and leave them doing the hard work"

[slowpez]

Even though they may not be as sharp as the could be I really enjoyed the series. 1, 3 and 4 were especially nice. The sepia tone really suited the fourth one.

[Scottnorwo]

A very nice series. As with all action sports you always will do better on the next game. As altopiet said the shutter speed has to be up to stopping the motion. Also where you position yourself can make a difference. If you can get ahead of the action you might be able to get by with the shutter speed you used, and also that vantage point can get great facial shots. Keep on shooting