I think I've mentioned more than once that in terms of skill, power and pace I was definitely NOT up there with my team mates. I was a fat, wonky knee'd Winger (mainly because at Winger you rarely passed which saved my team mates) however that's not to say I didn't have my good games.
One of these games was up at Cumbria, where for 70 minutes I played some of the best Rugby of my life in what was one of the most a gruelling games I've ever played in. What was even more amazing is that I wasn't even the best player on my team that day. In the last few minutes of the game I clashed knees with a huge prop forward who was trying to wipe his feet on my face. I went down like a sack of shit, and dragged the fat tosser with me. I couldn't get back up and rolled away in agony. My mates all thought I'd done my knee again and the game carried on. Fortunately I hadn't, although it did feel like someone had just took a sledgehammer to my kneecap. I hobbled about for the last few minutes and we won the game, we didn't realise until the referee told us we had won (we all thought we were behind). Fast forward two days, my knee is now completely black and I'm walking down the stairs backwards.
Saturday comes round and we're playing with a scratch 14, I'm playing in my usual position because we're short. I end up eating a load of painkillers and spent about twenty minutes in the physios room whilst she tries to manipulate my knee to bend.
We're playing against someones C team (their third team), they had a team in the NCL and the Premier as well. Now when you play against someones C team you come across a few players that have "passed their best days". A certain number of these players don't like the fact that you're still young and are able to muster a jog, these players then take it out on your face. For 80 minutes it was a scrap, our halfback ends up on the floor somehow getting nutted whilst he's on the deck! Naturally we are behind and don't have the fire power to fight back against guys who basically want to punch first tackle second.
But in the 65th minute something amazing happens, despite no longer being able to bend my left leg, I manage to hobble onto a pass from my centre and outpace the 40 year old winger I'm against and score a try in the corner. I'm frikking delirious, for the first time in 4 years I've actually outpaced someone and I've only got one leg.
Then something better happens, it happens again, (mainly due to my centre again making a great drive and pass). I slide in the corner in slow motion trying not to snap my leg and end up with three players landing on top of me. As I try and ungracefully get up with one leg, the other teams captain runs across.
"How the fuck has he just scored again, he's absolutely WANK"
At this point I turn back around "Yeah I know, and I can still score past you twats" thankfully they decided not to try and beat the living crap out of me as it quickly dawned on them I was right.
So remember this, no matter how slow you are, how much you can't pass, no matter how many times you get put on your arse ......never give up. Because somewhere out there is a player even shitter than you are.......
This is a really good statement I was in a similar position myself been the winger. Sounds just like my first game for a new team I started up at when I was younger.
ReplyDeleteNot to forget that wingers in my eyes are underrated but the do a lot of try scoring because of the speed and agility that a winger has, nimble and slim, it’s easy to slide through small gaps in a rugby team.