“But, and I suppose it’s not just rugby, it seems to be that a lot of sports are suffering from a lack of playing numbers these days.
“There are some sports where you can carry on playing longer than rugby but by nature rugby is a physical sport.
“I can also assure you that we at HSOB will be working hard to field a team this weekend.
'In the past we have always had more forwards than backs but this year it’s the complete opposite'“In the past we have always had more forwards than backs but this year it’s the complete opposite. Injuries, work and family commitments, and players no longer playing the game have hit us hard. It’s been like that since the start of the year but we have always fronted up — until last week.
“Anyone who has played rugby knows playing in the front row is a specialist position and one that takes years to learn properly.
“I can understand people being upset but at the end of the day, as a coach, I had to put the players’ safety first.”
Former Poverty Bay lock Jonathan Poole, one of the elder statesmen in the HSOB squad, said when he first turned up for training this season he looked around the dressing room and thought he was at the wrong club.
‘I couldn’t believe it. The backs easily outnumbered the forwards,” said the Ormond School principal.
There are some who questioned how HSOB were able to field a Senior 1 team against Waikohu at the weekend.
However, HSOB had only 10 players and the game was played under the golden oldies rule (no pushing at scrum time).
HSOB premier side are scheduled to play Athletic at The Oval this weekend.
