After returning home from my two-year trip to Japan, I was ready to bring rugby to my homeland and play with my friends, family, and hopefully my college team. I had been playing rugby once every two or three weeks for a couple of years whenever I could get my rugby loving friends together in Japan. As soon as I got home I started teaching my siblings how to play. It felt good teaching them because I felt like I was the king of rugby. My confidence built up consistently for months.
Then I met a guy named Anu. Hailing from Tonga, he is the epitome of a scary-big rugby player. He invited me to play with some friends one day and despite how small I felt in his presence, I figured it would be fun to play with some people who really knew rugby.
As soon as I walked onto the pitch for the first time I was invigorated. I felt like I fit in with these guys! They all asked me about my rugby background and I may have bragged myself up a little bit, thinking I was an outstanding flanker even with how small I was compared to many of them. Despite the size difference between me and the opposing team‘s flanker, they put me in the position anyway. I was stoked. The very first play however, I was tossed the ball and I fumbled it through my fingers. I quickly dove onto it and saved the fumble but I lost some dignity. I discounted the fumble to my lack of practice in recent months and the team still showed some trust in me. The game still wore on seamlessly. I was Passed the ball again but this time I received it successfully. I ran forward as fast as I could and in less that two seconds, the opposing prop (the biggest guy on the team for those new to rugby) smashed into my side. The force didn’t just knock me over, no. By God’s sense of humor I was comically knocked almost 15 feet from where I was previously standing. Rolling and tumbling right out of the pitch. In the process I had fumbled the ball. The prop had grabbed it and I stood up quickly to run after him. I wrapped my arms around his waist as I pummeled into him with all my force, and he dragged me 10 yard, full speed, over the try line. Sometimes you think you’re a lot better than you are, but hey, those are the things we learn from the most. I learned that the hard way. And twenty pounds later, I finally was able to tackle that bloody prop.
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