Which position is potentially the loneliest in rugby?

When things are not going your way, which position is the one where you'd wish the ground to swallow you up?

When a lineout is malfunctioning, the blame is placed on the hooker.

When a scrum is being monstered, the finger is invariably pointed at one of the props.

When points are up for grabs and your team fails to collect, the goal kicker rightly gets the blame.

For me those are the top three and to be honest depending on the context of the game, I'm not sure which is the worst. We only tend to remember the last kicks of the game, especially if the game is a tight contest. The set piece is vital for securing possession and you can hand the game to the opposition if you don't get that right. However, it's easier to sub a hooker or a prop off than it is your goal kicker. You might change the goal kicker, which can alleviate the humiliation but if your team loses, the blame invariably comes back to you.

Anymore you think deserve to be added to the list?

Being bested in the breakdown usually results in the open side getting blamed

Loneliest player on the field? The Ref.

Fullback can get pretty lonely, especially when playing in horizontal hail just by the Humber Estuary in February. It's normally easier to catch the ball when you can feel your hands  

Irish wingers in the 1990s?

An injured Mike Ross v England at Twickers 2 years ago. Nowhere to hide, in front of 80,000 people and millions watching on TV.

So Tighthead -  when things go badly. The whole team visibly crumbles, under the sheer crushing weight of domination and humiliation up front.

Gibson wrote:An injured Mike Ross v England at Twickers 2 years ago. Nowhere to hide, in front of 80,000 people and millions watching on TV.

So Tighthead -  when things go badly. The whole team visibly crumbles, under the sheer crushing weight of domination and humiliation up front.

Got to a stage in that game when we were cheering England knock-ons, because we knew what would come next. As a tighthead myself, there's nothing worse than going backwards in the scrum, and if your opposite prop has your number it can be a long, lonely day.

robbo277 wrote:

Gibson wrote:An injured Mike Ross v England at Twickers 2 years ago. Nowhere to hide, in front of 80,000 people and millions watching on TV.

So Tighthead -  when things go badly. The whole team visibly crumbles, under the sheer crushing weight of domination and humiliation up front.

Got to a stage in that game when we were cheering England knock-ons, because we knew what would come next. As a tighthead myself, there's nothing worse than going backwards in the scrum, and if your opposite prop has your number it can be a long, lonely day.

I definitely think tight head is the most difficult position to play and possibly the most important. It can be a very lonely feeling getting off the ground trying to get the head shaped dent out from your sternum only to see your team mates 40 yards behind you with the ref sticking out his arm for yet another scrum.
Thats my personal experience as a 16 year old playing against Cork Con when our regular tight head was injured. "Try it" said our coach, "You might like it". When I go to hell, I know satan has a number three jersey waiting for me.

Wing, as Habana.  

I hated playing on the wing. For some teams you might as well be a spectator or in a fridge if its a cold day.

GunsGerms wrote:I hated playing on the wing. For some teams you might as well be a spectator or in a fridge if its a cold day.

agree with that. i played there for a few years and spent most of the time watching the fatties having a big man hug love in to keep warm, whilst out the wing we were all a lovely shade of blue.

We prefer podgy, not fatty.  

As a "retired" winger myself, a cold January morning, complete with stiff breeze for the authentic wind chilled experience, standing out on the wing was a lonely experience.

For Poopie the opposition outhalf might be kind enough to kick the ball behind you/between you and your FB which meant you got to sprint, but otherwise you shufled slowly up and down the pitch as the ruck/maul/scrum engaged in "patient" trench warfare.

Then, usually in the 58th/68th/78th minute (depending on age grade) an opposition lose forward would, by pure accident, end up with ball in hand running in your direction with the superior speed due to your dulled reactions (not to mention his size and weight advantage) and the benefit of having warm blood coursing through him, you were expected to successfully tackle him, be it at the cost of your frost bitten ear, with absolutely no consideration given to you by your centre or FB to go high/low when you'd made your choice. they would later claim that they were picking up "runners" but we all know they just left you to succeed or fail on your lonesome.

If by some miracle the tackle stuck however, the sadistic ref, annoyed at having to venture so far from a 20 metre circle he'd remained in all game, would probably ping you for not rolling away, something which he could have done 100 times to the packs in the previous entire match.

But I am not bitter, as my time came in March or April or the previous September/October when on relatively dry and firm tracks I got to run at and then step fat forwards or burn the ones that thought they had speed when showed the outside.

I moved from wing to ten Debaters it's how I got around that problem lol

neilthom7 wrote:I moved from wing to ten Debaters it's how I got around that problem lol

Ah, I thought about doing that but when I was younger I still had the speed and just enjoyed running ball in hand. Sad I know and if you saw me run these days (I'm only 30) you'd be sceptical that I ever had legitimate pace but until about 22 I was quick-ish.

If you're cold and lonely on the wing, come infield and look for some work! You're like the centre forwards who moan about not getting any decent passes and never come back to work on defence. No sympathy for you whatsoever.  

Ah but Kia, when either of us did come back in looking for work in field, be it cutting angles or playing first or second receiver, we'd be balled out of it to get back on the wing to fulfil defensive alignment. And to be fair, that was our system between the 22s and then the fb would take the outside runners and we'd watch the dummies/inside passes etc.

I tended to play in one of the lower teams at school and wing was clearly the loneliest position.  The qualification included one of: having no skill/balls/body mass/co-ordination, being the disinterested off-spring of a rugby mad father or being Portuguese.  Occasionally some drugged-up psychopath on the verge of being expelled for disembowelling a teacher would be foisted on us in the hope that a team sport would somehow help him to see the light and become a responsible citizen, wing being the natural position to keep him away from trouble.

The ball rarely went past inside centre let alone second due to a combination of poor ball-handling skills and selfishness so the  wing tended to be a lonely spectator.  The only involvement was being b0ll0cked by the rest of the team whenever a try was scored or the ball rolled into touch in the 22 (including by the smackhead psycho wing who knew little about rugby apart from the fact you weren't really supposed to stamp on people lying on the ground when the ref was looking).

I would say props are the loneliest players, I mean if you look at their shape and size, general caveman type appearance it cant be easy attracting women. whereas in comparison you have those girly backs with their flowing locks and freshly manicured nails who women seem to stupidly be attracted too. AND then there are us backrowers who are as a well known fact the most superior beings possible.

in terms of a game situation I would say fullback is a position where a players skill will be heavily scrutinised, as they are the last line of defence and all alone their is nowhere to hide for any mistakes they might make.

Kicker - on a day when you can't hit a barn door it's horrible.

welshy824 (new) wrote:in terms of a game situation I would say fullback is a position where a players skill will be heavily scrutinised, as they are the last line of defence and all alone their is nowhere to hide for any mistakes they might make.

 
Not too sure I agree with you - if you read the game well it's easy enough to stay out of most awkward situations.

offload wrote:Kicker - on a day when you can't hit a barn door it's horrible.

Had that playing for the uni away in Galway the hail was coming down and I just couldn't get it right at all, there was only 50 people there felt like the whole of Galway was out to boo me lol still won right enough but certainl wasn't down to my kicking that day

neilthom7 wrote:

offload wrote:Kicker - on a day when you can't hit a barn door it's horrible.

Had that playing for the uni away in Galway the hail was coming down and I just couldn't get it right at all, there was only 50 people there felt like the whole of Galway was out to boo me lol still won right enough but certainl wasn't down to my kicking that day

Know the feeling. I was a SH but the best place kicker for 2 seasons. I hated it. Then we had a new FB join and he had a brilliant boot. I was so happy I offered to have his babies.

I am not sure if wing is the lonliest or simply the only position on the pitch where a player can get bored. Unless he likes watching other players actually play Rugby, that is. At youth and lower levels we always buried the kids who really didn't have the fire for Rugby on the wing. Like all of us I remember those days freezing in the rain and sleet and looking to take the ball up just to be surrounded by warm bodies for a second or two. The poor wings just froze. Yes, some came into mid-field looking for the ball. But on those days the ball was hard to hold because of the wet and the cold and the mud. Dropped balls were the rule of the day so the wings were needed to hold their position. At least, there was no real contact to damage their manicures.

A bang on the ear in freezing rain. That used to hurt like fock. Or getting your finger caught wrong when going for a high ball. Extreme cold makes things hurt more.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:A bang on the ear in freezing rain. That used to hurt like fock. Or getting your finger caught wrong when going for a high ball. Extreme cold makes things hurt more.

I think Buck Shelford felt more pain than the owner of the finger. But the real pain came when somebody sprigged his ball loose.

Leo Cullen (Leinster captain) had something similar in a HC game a couple of years ago.

Thankfully I was spared all that. Long enough to have plenty of kids anyway.

Definetely full-back, if you miss a tackle it's a try, any ball you drop makes you looks stupid even if the weather conditions are such that it's practically impossible. If things aren't working the opposition kicker can make your life hell.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Leo Cullen (Leinster captain) had something similar in a HC game a couple of years ago.

Thankfully I was spared all that. Long enough to have plenty of kids anyway.

George North when he first burst onto the scene also managed to burst Leo's sack when he steamrolled him in a Leinster match. He showed the goods to the ref who almost vomed on the pitch.

Had to be stitched up on the side of the pitch. That would be fun wouldnt it.

To all the people saying wing, I can't agree. As a retired winger I found you could always hang around on the touchline and have a chat with the supporters (of either side), as well as cadge a crafty drag on a fag or sip of their pint if they were feeling charitable.

In the unloved stakes it must be hard sitting on the bench and seeing it empty and you don't get to play. Like a Mr Ryan Grant for example. Especially when the guy on the field is having a mixed bag (at best) of a day.  

Full back on a windy day and looking up to see an old flay half who you know is a good kicker. Doesn't seem to matter where you stand you are going to be in the wrong place all the time. Or even worse when the guy has managed to locate you with a massive high bomb and you know that your hands are freezing and the ball will have two blokes arriving at the same time.

Loosehead prop has the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Hooker can be as bad as loosehead prop
It's the loneliest number since the loosehead prop