The Winning Try

One of the best sports dramas I've watched!

The drama had a very satisfying ending and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish! It's a fun, inspirational drama with an impeccable cast.

Wasn't sure if I was gonna like it in the beginning since I'm more of a romance/slice of life enjoyer and this was more sports and teamwork heavy. But I was surprised to say the least! The characters were well developed (fav character Mun Ung- he's so cute!), the romance was there but not too prevalent, and the relationships and teamwork between all the characters... *chef's kiss*.

Giving this drama a 9.5/10 just because I felt like it was missing a bit of "oompf" i.e. that cherry on top. I would've loved if they included Ju Ga-ram's revenge arc. i.e. tell the reporters the real reason behind his doping scandal etc. I understand that, of course, the main people who needed to know were the ones from the highschool. But it would've been so much more satisfying if they revealed his condition to everyone who hated on him.

I also would've preferred if they didn't focus too much on the shooting team lol. Like it was great, with Bae I-ji and Seo U-jin and all, and since one of the main villains was the shooting coach, its understandable that the shooting characters would have mroe focus. But I feel like since they showed that much, there should've been more plot afterwards- like the big coach and Seo U-jin scenario... then what? Like there could've been more ygm. Or, if they just didn't put too much focus on the shooting team, and just added more rugby team scenes, then it would've be perfect.

Other than that, the drama is great! I for sure recommend! So fun and so inspirational. Definitely watch even if you're not that into sports dramas. You'll surely fall in love with the rugby team and Ju Ga-ram!!

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A heart warming story with a happy ending

Its a nice feel good drama, this is the best way to describe it, it will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy.

The drama tells a story of a school rugby team that has been written off by nearly everyone a disgraced former rugby player who comes in and helps the team turn things around.

It's not a complicated or unique drama but its enjoyable. Watch if you are looking for an easy to watch semi fast paced story, where the underdog comes out on top and everyone gets what they deserve and it has a happy ending.

Definitely worth a watch even if you don't enjoy sports.

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Try, try again - A Miracle in Us

I think I spent half an hour trying to come up with a catchy hook that could perfectly describe The Winning Try in one sentence - and based off of this preamble you can see I failed. That's because this drama invoked so many different feelings and emotions in me, joy, nostalgia, sadness, anger, frustration, ecstatic overload, hope, several of them together, and sometimes all at once.

I always say it's the miracle of sport, to feel these many emotions in a short span of time.. I've never seen anything else do it quite like sport does.

The Winning Try follows Ju Ga Ram and the rugby team from his alma mater, Hanyang High, as they begin a new year with a new coach in the form of Ga Ram, and all the chaos he brings with him. They are shaken up, first, because no one expected Ga Ram to return to rugby after a doping scandal three years prior, when he was a player - but most of the shake ups come when the rugby team realizes that their coach is smart, passionate, determined, and maybe just a bit of a dork.
Suddenly, the man who was once treated as an outsider even by his own team, is an integral part of the proceedings, he is their heart and soul.

He's bringing in new players, techniques, pulling all his cards to ensure his boys get the best possible chances of being miracles (something they say, I did not make this up), miracles that are going to win the national championship.

The lives of the rugby team aren't the only ones shaken up by Ga Ram's arrival - the entire school, including his ex, his former coach, former principal and former friend, all feel the impact.

I love this series. I love it. But there were so many things I didn't love about it. As a collective, I've rated it high, but honestly, the high rating is only because of the rugby team.

I love those guys. Along with Ga Ram, they are the heart and soul of this series. Again, so much emotion, so much at stake for each of them, but they learn how to put everything aside - just to come together as a team for their dreams. By the end of the twelve episodes, I was in awe of how much each of them had grown. And we did get to see all of them, this wasn't a situation where one of them is the star player, no one else matters - no, no. They were a team. They fought, argued, threw punches, felt jealous, but all that was just one percent of everyone they went through together.
This is why I seek out sports dramas - the human connection formed through teamwork and bonding is something else. I loved every single minute the rugby team was on screen.

However, the further we went into the story, the less focus they got? My rating just for the rugby storyline (my current rating) is high, but if I factor in all the other filler scenes we got that actually took away from the team's screentime? My rating would be much lower.

These scenes added no real depth or value for me. The entire shooting storyline for example. Half of the characters were not required for the plot at all. We had Bae I Ji, shooting coach, player and Ga Ram's ex. It should've stopped there. Instead we had another shooting coach, two players, a corrupt vice principal and a corrupt education minister (?). And their roles were relevant to the plot when they were hindrances to the rugby team, but soon it branched off into its own, unnecessary storyline.

So many scenes that could have been devoted to the rugby team - instead I would say around one-third of the story focused on all the wrong details. My rating nevertheless remains high.. but oh.. so much I wish they'd done instead of what we actually got.

The acting on all fronts, nevertheless, was brilliant. I sound like a broken record, but, especially Ga Ram and the team. Haven't even mentioned their names yet for all the times I've referenced them, and here they are - Yoon Seong Jun, Oh Yeong Gwang, So Myeong U, Do Hyeong Sik, Kim Ju Yang, Pyo Seon Ho and the maknae, Mun Ung. All seven of them were played by actors who gave performances of a lifetime, so much passion and heart, so good. And Yoon Kye Sang.. my god. No one else could've portrayed the bold and enigmatic Ga Ram better. All the actors were simply brilliant.

The production value was obviously high, and the music! So good! Felt very refreshing and pleasant to the ears.

I love this drama - and highly recommend it. Absolutely do. I was moved to tears almost every episode if that says something. Because sport really does move you, doesn't it?

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Positive role models, healthy fun boys, no alcohol and parties but clean FUN

This drama is so cute and positive, I love this HEALTHY VIBRANTLY ALIVE bunch of boys. I love that there is no alcohol and getting ditzy and drunk and vomiting like in most kdramas. These are really really really FUN boys. I loved their dancing to celebrate. I think this is a great new role model for korean society, which ranks super high in drinking and alcohol problems. No wonder their birth rate is doing down, with so many ppl drinking, it is jus tnot healthy

I think these boys are a new hope for the future

And yeah there is romance but ever so slightly. My favorite is when the boys are teasing the captain about synergy LOL Or the bluberry smoothie and having to sit down LOL

The drama focuses on their professional growth as rugby players and what kinds of personal inner demons and external corruption demons they had to conquer to keep improving and growing. But they are not trying to become better people just bc they want to be better ppl. They want to be better players and that requires teamwork and that is their motivation for self improvement. They are not .... saintly people :)

So it is really about personal growth for the purpose of accomplishing a high level in sports, for the love of the sport as well as for the winning.

FYI This drama is not about rugby, if you want to see that, just go watch some rugby matches lol THIS DRAMA IS ABOUT PEOPLE WHO PLAY RUGBY AND THE WHOLE BACKGROUND OF "PRE-PROFESSIONAL" SPORTS

I think the part that is glossed over is that this is a DANGEROUS contact sport and that many people get really messed up injured, esp since they are playing this without any helmets. Knees, elbows, etc... are going in this sport. And even worse.
American football is probably even worse - super super dangerous, everyone comes down with torn shoulders etc. I know so many older people who say they wished they never played it as it injured them for life.

So dont gloss it over, this is not really a sport, there is a lot of fight in this, esp tackling, do NOT sugarcoat the dangers of this.

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Road to glory

Blood, sweat and tears - a rugby team's journey to glory. The winning try is definitely not your run of the mill drama, but instead a sports drama that utilises rugby to talk about second chances and leadership. A disgraced former star (Yoon Kye-sang) returns to his old school as coach, where he rebuilds both a team and himself—with help and friction from ex-flame Bae I-ji (Im Se-mi) and captain Woo-jin (Kim Yo-han).

What makes the drama work is its balance of grit and warmth. The training sequences carry weight - mud, sweat, collisions you feel in your bones - yet the show's core is in the locker-room banter and those tiny moments of trust.

Tonally, the drama sits in that feel-good sports lane—think classic underdog beats—yet it sneaks in sharper notes: institutional politics, the cost of hero worship, even health and dignity in sport. Dare I say, this drama beats even the likes of Hot Stove League and Racket Boys, each amazing in its own right.

Whether or not you care about rugby, this drama is a must watch!!

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Try, try try until you Win!!!!!

I would just say one thing, the story did justice to the title, Beautiful story line and direction. The way the story was revolving not only around a single star success player but the story of how an athlete actually faces the world despite their condition and the choices that they have to make to keep their team together. He didn't let his past mistakes come in while being the most dynamic coach ever to exist. The way he taught them to motivate and try until they succeed is the best learning and moral. Try until you win but also accept your defeat with grace.
While you're in your field be a team player always and have the guts to accept the result no matter what

I have no words for acting, everyone killed it :)
Worth watching <3

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Ju Garam the Goat

Maybe it's my first time actually watching a kdrama with a sports theme but i really loved the story of this one. Because the love story is balanced as well as the reputation and the typical evil side of the story is really nice to watch. Is it the best show ever? No. Is it a good comfort show? Yes. Let me talk about some things that I don't like. There was only 1 opponent through out the whole drama that was shown. Just one school which is Daeseung. They only focused on the matches with them. Even at the nationals they skipped every single match then move all the way to the finals with yet again, Daeseung. What i was expecting was different teams, different opponents and a ton of drama between the new opponents. Im sort of disappointed in that, i wanted more teams to be shown. But i gave a 9 for out main character, Ju Garam. He might be one of my favorite main character. Im probably biased because he looks like one of my cousin. But yea, overall a great comfort show to watch when you want to watch something not too serious. A good show to watch with ur loved ones too.

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Being a better adult and learning to loose

This drama makes very little sense and gathers a whole lot of terrible, terrible adults, mostly terrible masculine adults. Selfish, hot headed men who do more or less anything to trample on anyone they see fit. Brining out my anger and making me wish doom upon them. I also kept wondering how these men could survive in an environment where there are guns and physically strong teens that out number them by quite a lot.

But seriously very little of the reasoning in this made sense... Like dude has a non contagious illness, we can't have that guy around the kids but a violent dude who assaults them is just peachy. WHAT? Or Throw the match to let your student win or else you are a bad coach?

As a vice principal I shall do all to oppress the kids so I can move funding to impress the guy up in the chain.... again WHAT? Or and a lead who rather be remembered as someone who doped and took away the nations gold than come out as sick....

The friendships among both adults and teens are top, top. The character growth is sweet, there is a little bit to much yelling and several highly annoying characters however annoying as they are they are kind of needed for the plot. So I let it slide.

That said it has some moments of fluff, other moments of suspense and decent acting. And the message is actually pretty nice. We should all focus on being decent adults and loosing is a natural part of life.

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The Winning Try: A Rugby Drama Without Rugby

Overview:

This drama is 12 episodes long and has the tag “sports.” In reality, throughout watching this drama, I started questioning whether it was actually a sports drama at all. It seemed more like a corruption drama or some kind of politics K-drama, because for a show about a rugby team, there was barely any rugby being played. We saw more of the shooting team than the rugby team, which is pretty weird. And even the shooting wasn’t shown that much compared to all the endless politics.

Plot:

This drama was more about Ga-ram and his disease, Ga-ram and his love story, Principal Jong Hyo and her questionable kindness (which I would just call incompetence, because she’s not good enough to be a principal), Vice Principal Jong Man being an annoying, ambitious man obsessed with replacing her, and Shooting Coach Nak Gyeon, who is just a piece of work and has no purpose other than being unpleasant.

Then there’s the female lead, I-ji. She is written like a carpet, a welcome mat. Everyone steps on her and ignores her opinions. She loses everything because she easily lets them get to her head. By the end, she becomes a coach and throws away her dream of being a player in a way that felt completely forced. It was as if the writers decided she wasn’t allowed to become a medalist. I didn’t understand why they created this plotline that forced her to immediately switch to coaching.

Notice how until now I’ve barely talked about the rugby team. That’s because there’s barely any rugby in this drama. The rugby team exists, and they do play matches, but the only time we actually see them play is against the exact same team three times. Literally the same team. Not once did they play another team in front of us. The only times they played against other teams were shoved into montages, without showing the actual games. This is why I say this isn’t a rugby drama. What kind of sports show about rugby only shows them playing one team over and over? It’s like they didn’t have enough actors, so they reused the same opponent. And every match followed the same cliché: the rival coach trash-talks them, says they suck, Hanyang's team loses (twice), and then they finally win the third time. It was very repetitive and it felt like those cliche high-school movies from the 2000's.

And when the team finally does step on the field, it isn’t until episode four. Before that, they spend their time training in swimming pools, running around, and climbing stairs. What kind of sports drama is this? And even then, how are they suddenly good? What kind of potential do they have if they’re not even training properly? The show never once showed us any unique, genius training from Ga-ram that would explain why the team suddenly improves. In a show like Hot Stove League, we actually saw what made the manager special and what made the team better. Here? Ga-ram was a great player in his prime, but that doesn’t automatically make him a great coach. The show never explained what his tactic was. They basically put all the blame on the old coach and made it seem like just switching coaches turned the players from terrible into competitive. That’s nonsense.

Characters:

Ga-ram is written as if being a former player automatically qualifies him as a good coach, but the drama never shows how or why. His smiling and overly casual attitude often made him seem more like a teenager than a leader. I-ji is constantly stepped on and eventually forced into coaching, which felt like the writers didn’t want her to succeed as a player. Principal Jong Hyo is presented as kind and supportive, but her decisions come across as weak and naive. Vice Principal Jong Man is portrayed as the villain, but ironically his logic wasn't all that horrible tbh. His philosophy was that if you win, you win; if you lose, you lose. Harsh, yes, but logical in a sports-focused school. If a team keeps failing, why keep wasting resources on them?

Shooting Coach Nak Gyeon is one-note, existing only to stir conflict.

Minister Gyu Won and his daughter Seol Hyeon make up most of the shooting subplot. He is willing to rig matches and cheat to make her win, and he abuses his political power to do it. But honestly, this whole storyline felt meh as it was -again- not sports related. It was the entire focus of the drama, and it had nothing to do with rugby (and shooting ironically).

Don't even get me started on some of the Rugby team's characters. Most of them were there for comedy relief which somehow carried this drama actually.

Sports Element:

As a sports drama, The Winning Try completely fails. Rugby is barely shown, the matches are repetitive, and the only real improvement we see comes through montage. There is no convincing explanation of how the players actually got better, no strategy, no training methods, and no sense of growth. Meanwhile, the shooting subplot dominates everything, with Gyu Won pulling strings for Seol Hyeon. That storyline is boring and irrelevant to rugby, but it stretches across most of the series anyway.

Themes:

The show tries to pit two philosophies against each other: Principal Jong Hyo’s belief that everyone deserves a chance, and Vice Principal Jong Man’s belief that only the best deserve resources. The writers clearly want the audience to side with Jong Hyo, but her stance comes off as naive, while Jong Man’s logic feels grounded in reality. In fact, his reasoning made more sense—if students don’t have what it takes to win, maybe they should focus on academics and prepare for university instead of wasting time on a sport they can’t pursue professionally.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

The one thing this drama has going for it is the comedy. It was surprisingly decent and helped lighten the otherwise heavy and frustrating tone. Some of the characters were at least memorable, even if they were poorly written. But the weaknesses overshadow everything. There was little rugby, the matches were repetitive, the players’ growth was never shown, the focus on corruption was too heavy, and the disease and romance subplots were unconvincing.

Verdict:

The Winning Try was marketed as a rugby drama, but it turned out to be a corruption drama dressed up in sports clothing. The shooting team, politics, and side plots took center stage, while the rugby team and their journey were left in the background. All in all, I would give this drama a 5 out of 10.

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