Netflix drops trailer for The Winning Try, a redemption-driven rugby K-drama

Netflix released the official trailer for The Winning Try, a new Korean series that revolves around rugby, missed opportunities, and second chances. The show premieres on July 25, and it does not feel like it wants to be loud or flashy. There is something quieter about how it approaches everything, as if it is not trying to prove anything too quickly.

What stands out right away is the tone. It does not move fast. The pacing in the trailer is a bit uneven, in a good way. Scenes take time to settle. Characters do not talk as much as they could. And the moments that linger are not the big ones. They are the awkward ones. The moments where nothing really happens, but something shifts. It is not easy to explain. The rhythm is off just enough to feel more believable.

A man with no clear direction and a team that is barely hanging on

The story at the heart of The Winning Try centers around Ju Ga-ram, a former professional rugby player who disappeared from the spotlight after a drug-related scandal. Now, out of nowhere, he ends up coaching a high school team that has never won anything. The place looks like it has not seen a proper game in years. The players do not seem interested. The equipment looks like it belongs in a different decade.

And Ga-ram does not come in ready to save anyone. He is not charismatic or confident. He is tired. The trailer shows him walking into practice as if he is not even sure why he said yes. There is no speech, no music swelling in the background. Just long stares and unfinished conversations. It is a strange kind of leadership, and that is probably the point. He does not pretend to know what he is doing anymore.

The team he has given is not much of a team at all. Teenagers are barely listening; most are more focused on their own issues than on training. It is messy from every angle. But somewhere in all of that mess, there is a kind of honesty that starts to form. Not hope exactly, not yet. Just a small sense that something could change, if they all stick around long enough. And that is where The Winning Try starts to take shape, not in the certainty of victory, but in the slow, uneven process of trying again.

Scenes that do not fill the silence

There is a stillness in the trailer that keeps returning - a hallway with no one talking, a gym where the lights flicker, a ball dropped and left on the floor. The story is not told through plot twists or intense confrontation. It shows up in broken sentences, side glances, people almost saying something but then changing their minds.

Humor slips in, but it is subtle - no punchlines - just those moments when the discomfort becomes a little too much, and someone says something that was not supposed to be funny but kind of is. One player asks why they are wasting time on this sport. Another shrugs. And the coach does not answer. That silence becomes the answer. And somehow, it works better that way.

Performances that let things breathe

Yoon Kye-sang plays Ga-ram with a kind of restraint that does not call attention to itself. He has been in roles like Chocolate and Crime Puzzle, but this feels more worn down, more internal. His presence fills the screen without doing much. It is the absence of effort that makes it convincing.

Im Se-mi plays Bae I-ji, a shooting coach at the school and someone from Ga-ram’s past. Their scenes together have tension, but it is quiet - no heated arguments or dramatic flashbacks - just a history that seems unfinished. Kim Yo-han joins the cast as one of the students, someone clearly not on board with the whole rugby thing. His resistance adds another layer to the group dynamic.

The performances do not lean into melodrama. Nobody is overacting. If anything, the restraint makes everything feel more personal, like something that might actually happen between people who do not really know how to connect.

Why The Winning Try is not a typical underdog story

Even with a setup like this: a broken coach, a hopeless team, a final tournament on the horizon, The Winning Try doesn’t go down the usual path. It avoids building toward a guaranteed win or an emotional payoff. The focus stays on the in-between moments - practices that do not go well, players skipping drills, a coach who still has not figured out if he wants to be there.

The sport itself, rugby, brings a different tone. It is not as graceful or easy to romanticize. It is rough, physical, and kind of awkward. It makes sense as a backdrop. The show is not trying to be pretty. It leans into contact, into things falling apart before they get better. Something is fitting about that.

When and where it lands

The Winning Try debuts on July 25, both on SBS and Netflix. Episodes will release twice a week, on Fridays and Saturdays. The season will have 12 episodes in total, and it is part of a growing trend of Korean dramas dropping globally at the same time as their local airings. The format allows international audiences to follow along without delay, but this series does not seem built for binge-watching. It feels like something better watched slowly, one piece at a time.

A different kind of pace

There is no way to know whether The Winning Try will find a big audience. But what is already clear is that it is not rushing. It is not trying to convince anyone too quickly. There’s space in the story. Space for silence, hesitation, people who do not know how to fix things but try anyway. Maybe that is what makes it worth watching. Not the promise of a win, but the idea that trying, in itself, can be something real.