Page 34 - All Shapes & Zebras From Treorchy

In his days as British and Irish Lions’
Tour Manager, Gerald Davies talked of
players having a “sliver of ice in their
blood”, and rugby’s real hard men will
have that. A backward step will not be
taken, they may be sometimes bloodied
but remain unbowed. They are the
players who will lead the charge, make
the hit that signals the fightback, and
grind the hard yards up the pitch. All
players are unique but often these men
may not have the aesthetic widely
accepted as being beautiful; they will
have missing teeth, cauliflower ears,
cracked noses, and faint scars. Often they will wear a gnarled expression, as if they once grimaced just as a raucous wind blew past. They’ll be held together by tape. They are walking, talking rugby clichés. At times, they may look like they have no right to keep on going, but keep on going they do, game after game, season after season.
You can get hard, tough bastards in the backline of course, but usually, your bona fide rugby hard men are always to be found in the pack. Size and stature are not the sole measure of a man, but quintessential ‘hard men’ usually have to have a certain size and imposing build about them. Work horses, like the pit ponies of old, they keep on going and going. They’re the team’s totems and the rest of the team duly follow them...
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