La jugada ganadora

A thoroughly entertaining and (for the most part) well-crafted series. Rugby is so little known in some countries that the opening show feels the need to carefully explain how the game works. Fortunately we get past that quickly and into this very physical sport and understanding the boys who play it. But the rules of rugby are not what this drama is about. It's about people, trust, and caring.

The secondary plot about the shooting team appears to be there so that the show is not exclusively about male bonding and to introduce the mandatory romances. It is OK, but minor.

Most of the members of the seven member rugby team are fully written, but by the end of the series we realize we know very little about some of them - a mistake or a deliberate choice? Some blank canvases there waiting to be fully painted.

I couldn't wait for each new episode, so it clearly worked for me. But I have one technical quibble: why does this director (and a number of others in Korea) ignore or deliberately break the 180 degree rule (sometimes know as "crossing the line")? It exists for a good reason, and has served movies and TV well for many decades. Is it ignorance of the rule, or a desire to be different? It certainly bothered this viewer.

Nevertheless, a very entertaining series. Congrats.

The 1st episode sets up the premise.

The 2nd episode gets interesting. The story goes deeper into the meaning of sports/rugby that can be applied to life. It is exciting to see how the underdogs will overcome all odds.

Overall, the drama covers serious social & system issues, peppered with humour. Lastly, tons of eye-candies.

A disgraced rugby star (drug abuse) is hired by an athletics school to coach a bunch of no hopers. The female principal Miss Kang is an old friend of his. She seems to have some power but is easily over ridden by the dirty tricks of the schools corrupt officials The story begins with the rugby captain not accepting him - and the rest of the team going along with him. However when he takes up the cudgels for them they soon change their minds.

And this is where the story gets bogged down. Every time he beats a challenge another is presented to him by the corrupt officials - it goes on and on - every scene they pull a dirty trick on him which he narrowly overcomes. To add insult to injury this is one of Netflix's drawn out series that takes weeks to watch. I was bored by the constant conflict and the poor acting of some of the cast. What passes for Korean comedy does not appeal to me.

To make matters worse the resolution is obvious and I saw no reason to endure the never ending same scenario until the end of the month.

This was a losing game for me.

It was fun in the first few episodes but then, it's like almost all of the preceding episodes were full of false hopes and disappointments . It gets boring eventually. Definitely not a feel-good drama !

Would have been nicer to watch the rugby team play more games , trying to win, giving more meaning to the drama title .

The promotional posters would have you believe The Winning Try is a feel-good rugby sports show. It's kinda not.

Instead, what you get is a massive amount of school drama with some rugby on the side. Rugby is just icing on the cake. The actual screen time of rugby being played is shockingly low.

Rather, what's really here is a bunch of old crusty men scheming episode after episode with annoying little plans to set themselves up for promotions and to get rid of Joo Gam-ram (ML) from his coaching job.

Then there is the entire storyline the female lead goes through as an air pistol coach. Of course there's romance between the ML and her. But you can't forget that each individual player on the rugby and air pistol teams needs development too! Don't forget, the ML has his own problems he has to deal with alongside trying to keep his job every episode. Did I mention the entire air pistol sport takes just as much screen time as the rugby segments?

Simply put, the show is doing too much with so little time.

If you manage to enjoy the different storylines, it is rather enjoyable.

The kids have heart, and the ending is satisfying.