New Kid on the block
Hello there Rugby Lovers! I have been asked to write a fortnightly blog to give you guys an insight into the life of a professional rugby player. To get the boring stuff out of the way I will give you a quick insight into my background. Your new mate here is Kiwi born (slash Irish/English) Glasgow Warriors centre Troy Nathan. I joined the Warriors at the start of the season and have had a great few months in Glasgow. Hope you guys enjoy the read and have some healthy banter and comments for me.
What a year of rugby we've witnessed. The Northern Hemisphere competitions have been so tight and what about RWC 2011!! Go the mighty All Blacks. I hope some of you guys got to witness the atmosphere and beauty of 'Rugby country'.
First of all I'd like to say what a great bunch of fellas we have up at Glasgow Warriors. A healthy mix of experience and youth (to keep us old boys on our toes) not to mention the coaching staff celebs; ex Scottish international Shade Munro, ex leaguey Gary Mercer and the Gaffer, Scotland 1990 Grand Slam winner (and fellow Kiwi) Sean Lineen.
Before joining the Warriors in June I had a four year stint with Connacht which is based in the beautiful city of Galway on the west coast of Ireland where they produce the finest oysters. Where better to enjoy a pint of Guinness than on home soil...Like Mummy's Milk! And here I was thinking Ireland was cold...but its got nothing on the Scottish winter I've experienced so far Brrrrrrrrrrr!! Playing with Connacht was a life changing and cultural experience on and off the field, from every second word being 'Bro' to 'Lad', from 'Fun' to 'Craic', from chilling out in a quiet Kiwi bar to being crammed in the middle of hundreds of passionate Irishmen watching a sliotar being hit around the pitch in the All Ireland Hurling final.
The last six months have been a great experience and it's true what 'they' say, the Scottish are so welcoming and helpful. Thanks to all those Glaswegians who helped me find my way home when I got lost (and I have to say it happened more than once) The Long-Lost-Maori!
Sitting in 4th place in the Rabo Direct PRO 12 reflects the performances that the team has put together in the past five months. During the World Cup we had 10 internationals missing which gave the younger boys on the team great opportunities to showcase their talent. Beating Cardiff away and then breaking Leinster's 29-game home winning streak gave the team enormous confidence leaving us unbeaten in the competition since September.
The last couple of weeks we have had some great new signings at Glasgow Warriors with David Lemi -the Samoan speedster- who has just come off an awesome World Cup and Rory Lamont -the Scottish Xfactor- who for some reason didn't like the weather in the South of France and reportedly was missing his right hand man Graeme Morrison's home made Sunday roast.
Sunday's game v Montpelier was a hard physical encounter; 20-15 is a reflection of the close battle. There was a lot of pressure to bounce back from the disappointment back in our last Heineken cup fixture v Leinster at the RDS but with a stadium of screaming Glaswegians we knew we had the edge. It's so rewarding seeing off the scrum a well executed backs move straight off the training pitch to see Argentinian veteran Federico Aramburu scoring the try in the corner to seal the game.
We have a massive couple of weeks coming up with Montpellier again away this weekend and back to back games against Edinburgh in this season's 1872 Cup derby over Christmas and New Year, so while you guys are stuffing your faces with turkey, mince pies and booze I'm afraid it will be another year of portion control and resisting temptation for me and the rest of the Warriors boys.
This week we travel to Montpellier to take on the mighty French which is gonna be a hell of a tough place to play. Preparation is key and we've got through a lot of hard work for this game, especially after last weekend's win.
Until next time,
Merry Christmas to you all and I'm looking forward to any comments or banter you throw at me.
Stay Cool,
Troy
@dizTroy_
.jpg "Andre Esterhuizen scored the opening try for Harlequins")
