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![\"Pirates\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ruggerus.com\/rh\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Pirates.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis comes from my mate and ex-HARC coach, Jason van Wyck. The author is unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>When the battle scars have faded
\nAnd the truth becomes a lie
\nAnd the weekend smell of liniment
\nCould almost make you cry.\n
When the last rucks well behind you
\nAnd the man that ran now walks
\nIt doesn\u2019t matter who you are
\nThe mirror sometimes talks<\/p>\n
Have a good hard look old son!
\nThe melons not that great
\nThe snoz that takes a sharp turn sideways
\nUsed to be dead straight<\/p>\n
You\u2019re an advert for arthritis
\nYou\u2019re a thoroughbred gone lame
\nThen you ask yourself the question
\nWhy the hell you played the game?<\/p>\n
Was there logic in the head knocks?
\nIn the corks and in the cuts?
\nDid common sense get pushed aside?
\nBy manliness and guts?<\/p>\n
Do you sometimes sit and wonder
\nWhy your time would often pass
\nIn a tangled mess of bodies
\nWith your head up someone\u2019s\u2026\u2026?<\/p>\n
With a thumb hooked up your nostril
\nScratching gently on your brain
\nAnd an overgrown Neanderthal
\nRejoicing in your pain!<\/p>\n
Mate \u2013 you must recall the jersey
\nThat was shredded into rags
\nThen the soothing sting of Dettol
\nOn a back engraved with tags!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost worth admitting
\nThough with some degree of shame
\nThat your wife was right in asking
\nWhy the hell you played the game?<\/p>\n
Why you\u2019d always rock home legless
\nLike a cow on roller skates
\nAfter drinking at the clubhouse
\nWith your low down drunken mates<\/p>\n
Then you\u2019d wake up \u2013 check your wallet
\nNot a solitary coin
\nDrink Berocca by the bucket
\nThrow an ice pack on your groin<\/p>\n
Copping Sunday morning sermons
\nAbout boozers being losers
\nWhile you limped like Quasimodo
\nWith a half a thousand bruises!<\/p>\n
Yes \u2013 an urge to hug the porcelain
\nAnd curse Sambuca\u2019s name
\nWould always pose the question
\nWhy the hell you played the game!<\/p>\n
And yet with every wound re-opened
\nAs you grimly reminisce it
\nComes the most compelling feeling yet
\nGod, you bloody miss it!<\/p>\n
From the first time that you laced a boot
\nAnd tightened every stud
\nThat virus known as rugby
\nHas been living in your blood<\/p>\n
When you dreamt it when you played it
\nAll the rest took second fiddle
\nNow you\u2019re standing on the sideline
\nBut your hearts still in the middle<\/p>\n
And no matter where you travel
\nYou can take it as expected
\nThere will always be a breed of people
\nHopelessly infected<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s a teammate, then you\u2019ll find him
\nLike a gravitating force
\nWith a common understanding
\nAnd a beer or three, of course<\/p>\n
And as you stand there telling lies
\nLike it was yesterday old friend
\nYou\u2019ll know that if you had the chance
\nYou\u2019d do it all again<\/p>\n
You see \u2013 that\u2019s the thing with rugby
\nIt will always be the same
\nAnd that, I guarantee
\nIs why the hell you played the game!<\/p>\n
\u2014 Pirates Madalas This comes from my mate and ex-HARC coach, Jason van Wyck. The author is unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n