Well, here's how it all turned out. I turned up at the ground on Saturday morning and found out that the second-grade team had numbers and didn't need (or really want) me, so I could either play in the reserves and maybe get a bit of game time, or play for the fourth-grade squad and get a full game. Fucked if I'd gone out and bought new boots and headgear and shit just to warm the bench, so I started at No. 4 for the fourth-grade team in their game. The pace wasn't too bad, but I was fucking knackered by midway through the second half. Injury-wise I came out OK, it was a pretty clean game -- I took an anonymous fist to the face in one maul, had some mountain of a guy stomp my right foot in another (foot now purple and yellow but nothing broken), and I have a couple of sets of racing stripes where some opposing players decided that an unfit yours truly wasn't rolling away from a tackle fast enough. I was basically irrelevant in the lineouts, as I knew none of the lineout calls, but I think I locked pretty well in the scrums... my fitness is shit, but my legs are still very strong. I even managed to pull off an emergency halfback impersonation at the back of one ruck without dropping the ball (thank god).
So, all things considered, a successful morning, even though the team lost the game. I could barely move come Saturday evening, but I had a good run around, did at least a few things right and nothing totally wrong... not bad for someone as out of practice as myself. And fuck, that first beer after the post-game shower tasted bloody amazing.
In order for the club to have insurance coverage in the event of injury, I had to officially register and pay membership fees to the Australian Rugby Union... so I guess I'm doing this every week until the end of the season
