Sweaty palms, a bloody nose, fingernails torn from the cuticles: these are the things I love most about rugby. The pain is immense, but the reward is all the greater. At the end of the game you know that you have played your heart out, not unlike the guy standing across from you; however, one of you will have the bragging rights everyone who steps onto that field desires. To claim that your the best; that you go harder; that you take more pain. These are things every rugby player desires. I have that desire.
It was an odd day in March. A field with more brown dry spots than green. A field with sand pits strewn throughout. It was not pretty, but it was all that we needed to play the game. The gritty, dirty game we all love. Rugby is not like football; there is no glamour. It is short canvas shorts and long sleeved, collared shirts that are anything but comfortable. But we play regardless.
I lined up at the outside center position. A previous game had taken longer than expected so my stretching was forgotten a solid hour ago. Our maroon canvas uniform sat heavy on my shoulders; I really did not being on that field. Not that day, I knew we were going to get murdered by the other team. Our team happened to a rag-tag group of rejects gathered together to lose and claim that they played the game like champs. Only myself and one other player possessing any skill, it was not my day. I should have exited that field. Like any true player of the game, I stayed.
Halfway through the first period, I blocked a kick and leaped over the opposing inside center. The ball laid rest on the opposite side of the try line. My eyes widened and I rushed to touch the ball down for a try. All I had to do was touch it. A sudden popping sound resounds into my ears and rattles my eardrum. I knew immediately that something went horribly wrong. My knee was the cartilage and bone version of jello. My rugby career was temporarily halted due to a lazy body flung into the side of my leg at full speed. I hobbled off the field.
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