On LOCKdown

Tonight was our first home practice in over a week, and it was a doozy.  Lengthy, intensive, and a lot of shit I hadn't done before.  But, we also worked scrums, which are pretty much what everyone thinks of when they hear "rugby."

This was this first time I've been lucky enough to scrum down, and I loved it.  I was in the #4 position, lock, which means I had my head wedged between the asses of two burly men.  More picture time about how scrums are formed:

Locks get no glory in scrums but are the real driving force behind how much we manshame the opposing scrum by putting them on their heels.
While I will say this sounds like the story of my life, I will also say that I will end up with fucked ears from playing lock.  Having two hips grind your ears into the size of your head is not super awesome, and though I think I am genetically resistant to cauliflower ear, this will test it.

Even more pressing is the thought that I will be replaced by a dude who is just simply taller than me.  I'm about 4" shorter than your typical lock (which makes for a comical bind) but the real problem is that locks are tall.  Even a lock with the same driving force as me and longer legs will push out scrum forward father and harder.  It's like playing a sacrificial year, I suppose.

Then we did more lineout work, which as a jumper is awesome.  Being hoisted into the air so you can catch a ball 12-13' up is a really cool experience.  Also got to work as a lifter, helping one of our hookers (#2) ascend into the air so he could issue a high-ground "FUCK YOU!  I'M IN THE AIR HAHAHahahahah" to one of his buddies.

CWU rugby, lemme tell ya.