Enough of the politics.

September 24th, 2010

So I am watching Gladiator as part of my nightly pre-rugby game ritual, and I just heard yet again another fantastic quote in the movie that reminds me of rugby:

It's in the beginning, when Russell Crowe and his wing man are about to fight a battle. The two of them are standing among the rest of the army, and they're just staring down at the Barbarians who are clearly outnumbered. It seems pretty obvious that Russell Crowe's army is going to win the battle (not just because he's the main character and on the front of the movie box), and his wing man says, "People should know when they're conquered..."

And then...the best line ever.

Russell Crowe says, "Would you, Commodus? Would I?"

It just makes me think of the most epic rugby mentality ever spilled out in a line of a movie right there. Even if you're outnumbered, or the opposing team looks bigger, faster, and stronger, you never ever ever back down and you never ever ever "know when you're conquered." There's never a time that you think before the referee blows that final whistle signaling the game is over that you should give up, or think that you will be defeated.

Owch.

September 27th, 2010

Well it's a good thing I watched Gladiator the night before the game, and wrote down what I did in that last entry because it's 100% applicable to how our game went. We lost 37-0, which is heinous not only in any sport but especially in rugby. But what I'm most upset about is the absolute horrible attitude our team had. We really carried our own weight in the first half and kept our cool, but after some bad referee calls and injuries, our team pretty much had a nervous breakdown. Like the last entry says NOT to do, we completely felt "conquered" before the 80 minutes in the game were up. I'm proud of myself for still hustling back to the 50 meter line after every single try the other team scored on us, no matter how earned or unearned the try was.

There were some people on the team who were literally screaming, saying mean things to other people on the team (including saying things to me), and even pushing and shoving their own players around the field. That is ridiculous. I mean, I know what it's like to really get into the game, to get frustrated and to get vocal on the field. But I know that whenever I get vocal on the team or need to yell on the field, I always try and follow it up with something positive, whether it's a compliment to the person I just yelled at ("nice hustle") or just a neutral comment that could be positive ("alright, let's hustle back up the field and try again."). I'm not usually affected by other people's attitudes and I'm usually able to keep my cool, but there were people on my own team who were yelling at me and making me nervous. I'm really upset about it, they actually started to make me doubt myself which is super taboo in rugby! One of the things that I absolutely love and treasure about the sport of rugby is how much of a team sport it truly is, and that gives no one on a team the right to yell at someone in a harmful way. Everyone is responsible for one another's actions, and everyone wins and loses as a team.

I'm also really nervous about the number of injuries we have had on the team. In the past two games (and the only two games of our season so far), we have had four concussions - and I'm pretty sure that sounds bad for any sport. Someone also broke their nose and we've had two blown out knees. I know that part of it is fitness, but I thought that ever since our team reinstated the 2 mile run before every practice the injuries would at least let up a tiny bit. Concussions obviously have something to do with how people are hitting the ground, since that's how they are caused. So it's either we're tackling wrong or being tackled wrong. One of our coaches did make the point that sometimes people on the team get tackled like they're stiff as a board, so I think that our team really needs to work on running lower. We'll whip out some rucking pads and hopefully work on that next practice. Our players just seem to be dropping like flies, which is so alarming!

I hope that things can get better. I don't care if we lose every game as long as we improve and work on our mistakes.