TOP 10 HEROIC FEATS

HEROES. THE very word summons visions of muscular Greek gods and warriors from The Odyssey. Achilles sulking, Hector chivvying his Trojan troops. Rugby union has its fair share of men who fit the bill as the bruising, battling type. They will receive recognition for those with a predilection for the ‘hard man’ category of hero.

These are the ones who defy the odds with the example they set. But maybe the sport is too obsessed with that hard man (and his feet of clay). Maybe there are all sorts of other heroic feats that bypass us as we rewind the TV controls to see that thunderous tackle, the savage hand-off… The stuff – let’s not kid ourselves – many of us love. Rugby is physical. It remains brutal in terms of intensity, if not the old-fashioned violence of last century.

I’ve tried to consider the term ‘heroic’