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"The One With All The Rugby" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of Friends, which aired on February 26, 1998.

Plot

Rachel drags Chandler with her to the nail studio, where they bump into Janice, who has divorced her husband. Her feelings for Chandler rush back in, whilst Chandler can't stand the woman. Unfortunately for him, however, she has absolutely no intention of leaving him, so he has to resort to the very far-fetched excuse of international work travel to be able to get rid of her. Even more unluckily for him, the first place he can think of is Yemen. Janice's determination not to waste any of her time with him is such that she accompanies him to the airport with his luggage; he tries to obtain a fake ticket but ends up buying a genuine, expensive one. When Janice exclaims that she won't leave until she sees him take off, he actually boards the plane.

Ross, who is dating Emily, runs into friends of hers in the City, Liam and Devon. The two are rugby enthusiasts and invite Ross for a game at the park the next day. Even though he's never played rugby before, he's keen to participate in the game, but Joey is highly doubtful that Ross will make any headway in the game. Ross is accompanied at the park by Emily, Joey and Phoebe; Emily asks the guys to take it easy on Ross, who loses no time in displaying his total ignorance of the game. When he finally gets in the game, Ross ends up blocked in the middle of a scrum on his hands. A few minutes later, he is practically reduced to rubble. However, his liking of Emily and the determination he possesses to make a good impression (together with some hints from her with regards to the others' physical weaknesses) help him inflict some of the pain back.

Monica is preoccupied by a switch at her new apartment which has no apparent use. When she asks Joey, he points out that the switch does nothing, but she doesn't take his word for it and investigates further. She obtains electrical plans of the building, but to no avail; then she ends up tearing parts of the wall to try and follow the wire from the switch. Eventually she leaves the switch be, flicking it uselessly - or so it would seem for her, as the switch powers the TV at Joey and Chandler's.

Cast and Crew

Main Cast

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green
Courtney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

Supporting Cast

Helen Baxendale - Emily Waltham
Maggie Wheeler - Janice Litman
Mark Thomas - Liam
Adamo Palladino - Devon
Robin McDonald - Ticket Counter Attendant
James Michael Tyler - Gunther

Crew

Directed By:
James Burrows

Written By:
Ted Cohen, Andrew Reich & Wil Calhoun

Trivia

  • Ross jumps in the middle of the scrum during the rugby game. However, there is a referee there and a referee would never allow a player to jump in the middle of the scrum like that in an actual rugby union game.
  • In the uncut DVD version of the episode, it is revealed that Monica has also knocked a hole in their ceiling. Monica asks their neighbor under them, Mrs Petrockas if she had met Kenny, who lives above them. Rachel screams in horror when she sees this.
  • This episode marks the end of Janice and Chandler's off and on relationship.
  • In the scene where Rachel returns to the apartment and finds drawings pasted on the walls, Monica is seen reading James Hadley Chase's Like a Hole in the Head, even though the book had the name Jen Branbury on the cover. This is a copy of the same book the man reads on the plane whom Rachel explains her situation to in The One With Ross's Wedding, Part 2 (S4E24).
  • The Magna Doodle says: "Nice Nails Chandler".
  • Janice says the fake address that Chandler gave her is "15 Yemen Road, Yemen."; this is the 15th episode of the season.

Goofs

  • Ross asks Joey if he remembers when they went to see Dances with Wolves at the cinema. However, that film was released in 1990, and Joey and Ross met in 1993, as seen in The One With The Flashback . A later flashback (The One With All The Thanksgivings ( S5E8)) shows Joey already with the gang in 1992.
  • The way Rachel holds the green bottle in the apartment when she's watching the rugby with Ross changes between before and after she takes a drink. It couldn't have changed round that much.
  • When Ross, Emily, and Joey return to Central Perk, Ross has a bloody ear. However in the next scene, his ear is no longer bloody.
  • In the scene at Central Park Phoebe has got one, then two and then again one hair stick in her bun.
  • Ross mentions that when he was 4 he made his father cry when he washed his Porsche with rocks, but in The One Where Joey Moves Out Jack (Ross' father) mentions he got the Porsche when he was 50, which means that Ross would have been in his teens or early 20s when he got it.  
  • When Rachel is ripping off the drawings on the wall, the scene skips weirdly so that Rachel is suddenly in a different position, showing a cut in editing.  
  • When Monica says "She gives up" with regards to the switch, she then adds "I guess Jody's right" rather than Joey.  

External links

Episode Navigation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Preceded by
"The One With Joey's Dirty Day"
Series Four Episodes Followed by
"The One With The Fake Party"
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