Beyond the Score: Get Your Feet Underneath You
Boland were in trouble.
Seventeen points down against the Lions, the scoreboard wasn’t particularly interested in what Boland might be capable of. It was telling us what was happening.
Then came a small moment.
A referee spoke to a Boland hooker:
“Get your feet underneath you.”
It’s a perfectly ordinary rugby instruction.
But sometimes ordinary words arrive at exactly the right moment.
Get your feet underneath you.
Before the next movement.
Before the next decision.
Before trying to make something happen.
Because what happens when we try to move before we are properly grounded?
We stumble.
We lose balance.
We compensate.
We make the next movement harder than it needs to be.
And perhaps that applies to rugby in a way that reaches beyond the field.
Sometimes we assume that when something isn’t working, we need more.
More effort.
More speed.
More confidence.
More ability.
But perhaps the ability is already there.
Perhaps we simply haven’t put the right things underneath it.
Boland eventually found their way back into the match. They didn’t merely survive the Lions’ start; they turned the game around and won 38–29.
The referee’s words didn’t cause that comeback. There were eighty minutes of rugby, decisions, pressure, opportunities and execution between the instruction and the final whistle.
But the words stayed with me.
Get your feet underneath you.
Because sometimes the first step isn’t to make the move.
It’s to make sure you are in a position to make it.
That can mean finding your balance.
Finding your rhythm.
Finding the people around you.
Finding the confidence that comes from knowing where you stand.
And perhaps, sometimes, simply stopping long enough to notice that you are trying to move before you are ready.
Boland showed us something that day.
The scoreboard at 17–0 didn’t tell us everything they were capable of.
Their ability hadn’t disappeared.
They just had to find a way to bring it into the game.
Maybe that’s the lesson hiding in those six words from a referee.
Get your feet underneath you.
Then see what you can do.