I occasionally played outside centre and the odd game at off half or fly half to you. I wasn't good enough to play stand off and struggled to control the game but was too good to play on the wing. Natural born centre if I say so myself. Always played centre at league as well.
Yeah, welbeck are the f**king dirty ****s who dumped me after the whistle that put my shoulder out and then back in on contact with the floor which is the injury that i never recovered from!! By a ever so slim chance you werent ever reffed by a man called Jeff Gay were you? Also, in my last ever season we were one county cup game away from the final where i would have been the openside against manu tuilagi - im only 5 ft 8!
I'm 40 mate so I dare say this Gay bloke( not being homophobic) may not have been reffing then. I cannot honestly name one single ref who officiated a game I played in any case. Best team I ever played against was Neath Tertiary College in 1990. They'd toured New Zealand unbeaten just prior to playing us. John Devereaux played in the centre. He literally bummed me all game long.
Interestingly out of our team we had 3 players in the EPDS of Leicester Tigers who were all tipped to make it big big time, but all 3 didnt make it due to injuries. Bad luck, or says something about our school....? The very best that i have ever played with was out no 8, who was captain of scotland up the age ranges but the coach joined in with a training drill, led to him having a double shoulder reconstruction and gone on to nothing now. Its a shame as im sure he would even be competing for the lion now, never seen a more capable player and leader.
I once broke my collarbone going over for a try in the corner during a school game. Funnily enough it was my mate who did the damage, he flatly denies doing it now. I digress. As you know OLM it smarts a bit so I wasn't best pleased when I was told to stay on the pitch and just switch to full back for the remaining five minutes of the game. I've broken my nose twice had my front tooth knocked out( own daft fault for not wearing a gum shield)and also broke my little finger( boo hoo) whilst playing rugby. Never had any serious injuries though.
At uni this year i took up lacrosse but shoulder went out again in the first session, apart from football- 5-a-side captain and 11 a side (much less suited to) and one-off rugby games. Anyone do any really obscure sports?!
The bloke who broke my collarbone, was already on the team and was the 'so called' mate, who got me to go for the trial.
3 shoulder dislocations, a broken colarbone, broken metatarshal, broke 3 metarsals x 3 (as in 3 on each occasion, 3 times), few broken noses, 3rd and 4th finger broken, ruptured ankle ligaments (one of my worst) and a lower back problem from it... been through the wars!!
Main issue is im only 5 ft 8, but am the same height and build as i am now when i was 12 so started as a second row, then got pushed to flanker. I actually ended up the last 2 years as a number 8 after an injury crisis and, despite being the smallest in the entire team, ended up staying on as the 1st team no 8 for 2 years until the end and as captain. I played a very different 'role' to the traditional no 8. I ran with it a lot but rather than steamrolling more quick feet than anything - i can see how being big helps but suprised that not a single team at/around the top has even a smaller 'niftier' option at 8.
... working OK for Man United this season ... To be fair, De Laet isn't the best defensive full-back but he has been one of our better players overall in recent times and I don't blame him for the lack of points - if others in the team had put in the overall effort, commitment and energy that De Laet has then we would have won both those games despite conceding the goals in question ...
