Scrumhalf – one of the most vital positions on the field. As a scrum half, you’re the link man between backs and forwards. You’re the one calling the shots when it comes to distributing, whether it’s the pop pass to a forward, a clearing kick, or a perfectly timed pass to your fly half.
There’s a lot of pressure that comes with being the smallest and often most important guy on the field. So, to cope with being a few inches smaller and sometimes getting lost in the grass, scrum half’s quickly develop short man syndrome. That is, they become aggressive, noisy, chirpy, and at times, punch above their weights. They have to, it’s the only way to survive really.
Our young friend Rory Kockott from the Sharks is a prime example of this. Extremely talented, he’s gifted with speed, strength, kicking ability and has had such a good season that he’s in fact kept regular starting number nine Ruan Pienaar out the team on a few occasions.
One thing about Rory though – he is as feisty as they come. He won’t stand down to anyone, and no better example of that is this clip from the game against the ‘Tahs on the weekend. Kockott decided to deliberately toss the ball into big lock Dean Mumm’s face, which was followed by a little push and shove.
Now, in every day life, imagine walking up to a guy that much bigger than you and tossing something into his face. It just wouldn’t happen. But this is rugby, and as Kockott knows, there’s guys like The Beast just around the corner waiting to bail him out of anything he can’t handle.
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