The lighter side of rugby life (From Bucks Free Press)

The lighter side of rugby life

2:43pm Thursday 23rd October 2008

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Joe Ward – The Lighter Side of Rugby Life Im becoming aware that much of what I have blogged so far is starting to resemble a sordid gossip page in a trashy Tabloid. This will continue. I don’t really have too many serious stories to tell.

The best thing about being a fulltime rugby player is the consistent laughs, adventures and shenanigans that we get up to. As I have learned over the years with the different teams I have been involved in, rugby seems to attract a vast array of characters. In NZ I played for 2 teams that were synonymous with exciting and entertaining rugby (not winning rugby I might add), as well as being synonymous with after match revelry and tom-foolery of the highest order. This is not quite the case as it is at Wasps, but certainly we have an abundance of characters and banter merchants that would make Russell Brand blush. Legend has it that Wasps ladies man Dave Walder was hired on the spot after impressing Ian McGeechan with his scintillating wit at a post match function after a Wasps v Newcastle game. He has since failed to reproduce ANY of this comedic form since, but you can see how high quality banter is revered at Wasps. Pranks are also a feature at our Twyford Ave training ground, and I have been on the wrong end of many so far this season, but the following one still haunts me in my sleep to this very day.

Of the most memorable pranks I have experienced in my career, this cracker came when I was studying in Otago in the south of NZ. Otago at that time was a powerhouse in NZ rugby and it was every students dream to play for them while studying. Mostly because this meant free beer at the pubs and the flocking of what I thought were sophisticated women (they wore pants). I had just arrived back from winning the World U19 tournament in Wales so was on a high. I received a call one day from the ‘’coach’’ who informed me that because of my “stellar performances” at the tournament, it was his “great pleasure” in selecting me for the team as Tom Willis, the other hooker, was injured for the season. Fair enough I thought – about time really. After hanging up the phone, cool as you like, informed 6 of my flatmates of my latest rugby conquest. The comments of “great stuff Wardy” and “you bloody deserve it mate” rang in my ears as I walked out of my barely inhabitable student flat. As I parked up outside the 30, 000 seater Carisbrook Park for my first training, I rehearse my introductory lines to my fellow teammates – some of whom include All Black legends like Anton Oliver, Taine Randall and Jeff Wilson. As I approach my soon to be superstar friends, I suddenly see the supposed injured hooker walking un-impinged with his training bag into the dressing room, and it suddenly registers – I’ve been stitched up. Shit. As I sheepishly get back into the car, hoping no one has spied my near fatal humiliating mishap, I realise who the culprits are. I speed home at 30km/hr, as my student car was the one they bought out immediately after the Model T Ford, and kicked the door down to my flat. There pointing and wetting themselves laughing are 6 of my flatmates as well as 20 others who they had invited over to witness my downfall. For the next year my tale of woe was spread by my ‘mates’ and developed a life of its own. One story having it that I actually publically introduced myself to the bemused playing and management staff before getting laughed out of the locker room. Beautiful.

Because of incidents similar to this, Rugby is one of those sports where so much enjoyment comes out of being a good team member which then leads on to team cohesion where the will of the team will always override the will of the individual. That’s what I love about the game and that’s what I love about Wasps.

Finally, for the 8 people who read this blog, tune in next week where I’m starting an ex-Wasp round up, where you’ll hear first hand from players who are now plying their trade elsewhere around the world.

Till next time Joe Ward