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“Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical” – Yogi Berra.
My summers as a teenager were mainly spent on a baseball diamond.
For all of its hand-eye coordination and physical requirements, baseball is best enjoyed for the tactical and mental side. ‘First and third plays’, bunt or sacrifice plays, knowing your signals, trying to distract runners on base or confuse them as to who might have the ball when they go to take their lead.
Pure joy could be exacted from the mental warfare. Knowing the play and how to exploit the rules beat athleticism every day of the week!
But I still remember my first season of rugby.
My mates had convinced me to come down and pull on a jersey for the local club after I won the 100-metre sprint at school. I was quick, had a childhood of soccer on my side, and so could kick well off both feet. And so was put on the wing, where I likened myself to a young Joe Roff!
I can’t remember the tries I scored – although I scored a few – but what I distinctly recall was that, for all my worth as a speedy, evasive runner with ball in hand, I was a complete liability and penalty magnet.
Because I didn’t know the rules. I was a rugby simpleton!
Rugby is a complex game and in my first season, I definitely cost my team more points than I scored.
I look back and laugh at the 12-year-old me, making a tackle, only to pinged for ‘not rolling away’ or ‘not releasing’, standing up looking bemused at the ref, “What does that mean?” I wondered. “Was that against me?”
Saturday night was a night to forget for Australian rugby fans, players and officials alike, but among the rabble that was an international Test match, there was a moment that will stick with me.
The Pumas had overcooked a high ball slightly and their usual target for the evening, Israel Folau, caught the ball uncontested inside his own 22. He then went on to make a classic error – walking off his mark in an attempt to gain a run up for his kick into touch, not realising he was now back in play, and a charge-down almost resulted.
Israel Folau (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
This concerned me deeply. How can he not know that rule? How can anyone on the field be seriously playing this sport without knowing all the rules?
Now, I don’t want to go pillorying poor Izzy, he actually had a pretty reasonable game up until the 80th minute. He is also not the only example I could give of a Wallaby in recent Tests not knowing the rules – it appears normal for even our captain to be misinterpreting a law while discussing it with the ref!
But for the Wallabies fullback for the last five years not to know the rules around taking a mark seems beyond belief!
Richie McCaw apparently sat the referees’ exam every year and studied so hard he attained a very high mark – I’m inclined to believe this, although I cannot find the appropriate source to confirm.
What a great rugby man he truly was – not because this is so remarkable a feat but because it is so straightforward. He worked hard, yes, but this is something every professional rugby player in the world should be doing. No wonder every referee in world rugby let the All Blacks skipper have his say – the man might impart on them some sub-clause of a law that they may have missed!
I can take the losses, the inevitable slide down the world rankings, the bizarre selections, tactics and a coach whose passion spills out all over the floor and into the press conference.
But when players don’t even know the rules, you gotta wonder why you bothered wasting your night watching.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.