A new start

So after getting my first operation ever in Perth, rugby unfortunately was over for me that season. The lack of a car, Uni and work made it hard to go down to trainings or follow the team on Saturdays. That season UWA Rugby 1^st grade were the premiers which means basically that they won the championship. Great year for Uni. A pity I’ve missed it completely.
In February the wait was over and a new season was starting. Conditioning, trainings, teammates, parties.. I was feeling great again. Uni rugby this season has been competing with 6 senior teams:

·         1^st Grade

The club celebrating Uni's success

·         Reserve Grade

·         3^rd Grade Gold

·         3^rd Grade Black

·         4^th Grade Gold

·         4^th Grade Black

There are 10 major clubs in Perth and all of them have a team that competes in the most important grades. Above that is Super 15 with the Western Force. In 2007 the Australian Rugby Union tried to fill the gap experimenting a national championship but it didn’t work, the losses were too high. Anyway, I started to train with the 3^rd Grade and since the previous year I got injured during a trial game, my goals were set pretty high: make it through the trial games!

I had the post injury complex, but I wasn’t just thinking that I had a weak shoulder and that at the first contact it would fall apart.. I was also convinced that it would happen during those bloody trial games! It did not.
Luckily when you are on that pitch all those images disappear and the desire to put down the opponent carrying the ball and to hold that ball yourself wins over any other thought.
Eventually I made it through and played my first game in Australia, then my second and a third and so on… and man the game here is so fast. I can’t compare it to the level I was playing back home.
There are a few other things that got my attention at the beginning:
First, the most important thing, my favourite. There is NO kicking, unless strictly necessary. Southern hemisphere rugby doesn’t like kicking. In fact I remember a super15 game I went to watch, Western Force against Chiefs in April back this year, and through the middle of the game the two teams started  to kick the ball to each other for territorial gaining, which is pretty common in European rugby at all levels, but here, after a few kicks in a row, the crowd started to boo the kickers aggressively. The sorts of boos Justin Bieber would receive if he tries to get on stage at a Metallica concert. The two teams stopped kicking and played just ball in hand from then on. Awesome.
I always  considered territorial kicking as nothing more than a low skill solution to the overall lack of success and options in attacking play elevated only by the word strategic. Ok sometimes it works, but I don’t like it.

On the left one of those Deceiving Units (Picture: Peter Best)

Another remarkable thing, compared to back home, there are not many fat props or hookers. Here they are all fit. And even when  you find one, be aware cause it’s a trick. They deceive you by looking fat and making you think they are slow but they can be pretty damn quick. Especially when they are Maori as well. I’ve been fooled myself a couple of times.

Here I’ve seen props kicking conversions and penalties like Johnny Wilkinson at his best. You wouldn’t expect that from such big boys.
Next, the incredible rugby culture mix.
I’ve talked about it in a previous post, there are people here from all the major rugby nations. South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand represent a good part of the players in our club, but there are also guys from England, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Scotland, France, Chile, Canada and some others I don’t remember. It’s quite handy when you need to take the piss out of each other and just pull the old good stereotypes.
One last thing relieved some of my concerns. Acknowledging that all these people were coming from different countries made me  worry less about my English, I realised the Irish guys were struggling more than I did…