Rugby Trial

What a week. Training the u14s went well followed by a good seniors sessions that included the 4th grade senior players becoming cannon fodder for the u19s - I must say, they show a lot of promise. The u14s will be competing in the Super 10s comp - playing two games on Saturday morning for two weeks from next weekend. So the training schedule I prepared needs to be accelerated. I played in a preseason trial match against Wests and found it hard going. Now I have two black eyes and a badly bruised rib.

The u14s worked hard as we train to a plan - mirroring the need to play to a plan if we are to be successful this season. In juniors it is traditional to tackle and run however as the boys and their opposition get bigger and stronger the ruck cannot be ignored. So, following on from the tackle last week, we introduced the tackle zone and how a ruck forms - when two players from opposing teams bind over the ball. Then players must enter the ruck from the gate, the narrow area on the players side that defines the extent of the tackle zone. The offside line runs parallel to the goal line through the feet of the rearmost player in the ruck. The first point to make is that the ball carrier must release or play the ball immediately - when the tackler rolls away - generally by stretching as far back towards his own goal line to place the ball. The second point is this requires great support from his team mates who must join the ruck to clear out opposing players and give time for the scrum half - or half back - to pickup the ball out of the ruck and deliver it to the first receiver, usually the fly half - also called 5/8. The plan for next week was for the scrum, review the basics, then practice two-phase play onto a ruck. This minimal plan has been thwarted by the impending 10-a-side competition so, having two assistant coaches, the next training will include scrums and lineouts continuing onto ruck and clearing out into open play, including a bit of kicking for starts, restarts, dropouts, free kicks and penalties. A lot for one training but it promises to be a busy and satisfying one.

The seniors training was timely in also being preparation for the weekend trial matches including scrums from basics, and lineouts. After the tackle and ruck drills to exhaustion with two sore ankles and other bruising I limped away as the guys continued onto lineout practice. In a game, the only time I will join a lineout is to make up number in any case since I am a bit too short (5'7) to be a strong contender for the ball. Before my last retirement I shifted to loose forward or wing instead of the hooker position that I played in juniors and colts. As usual, we are short of front rowers so I have again been drafted into the hooker position. I am almost ideally sized for the position, I must admit, being solid and strong - 85kg, used to play between 72-75kg about 12-15 years ago (sigh) - able to play as a loose forward in open play, and a bit shorter than the props.

The trials match yesterday was hard going in the mid-30s heat and a bruising physical encounter. Even with uncontested scrums I got wiped out and hammered several times when cleaned out of rucks by Wests players. I barely suspect that my bruised left eye was a fist or elbow intended to intimidate me - I could not get up for a moment and then had to recover my bearings - second black eye to match the right one acquired in training. My right ribs are badly bruised from a heavy take down, his full body weight on my ribs, that was surely dangerous and if not deliberate than indicative of poor skills and coaching, the full body weight through elbow or knee into my side. Maybe both of these incidents were random, unrelated and it will get better week-on-week from here. Otherwise my playing career will be over before the season has started because I cannot continue to take this sort of beating and to continuously be carrying injuries on the field and at work.

UPDATE: Undergoing physiotherapy for badly bruised ribs and intercostal muscles. Cannot train for at least 10-14 days. Will remain painful while taking deep breaths (eg. while running) and to the touch for many weeks.