LUKE BALDWIN
THE WORCESTER SCRUM-HALF TAKES US THROUGH HIS PET HATES FROM THE RUGBY WORLD AND BEYOND.
1. Wet changing room floors
One thing that really grinds my gears is when I come out the shower and I am trying to get ready and my socks get wet and dirty because there's muddy water all over the place from the lads' boots. How I look is important to me in quite a shallow way, and I am a bit OCD as well, so any sort of mess is not what I want.
TRP VERDICT: Sock it to them, Luke! Great start.
2. Back-slapping motivators
One thing that really annoys me is when lads are getting fired up for games and they come and slap you on the back really hard.
Rugby is obviously a very physical sport but a sharp pain in the middle of the back inflicted by a 140-kilo prop is the last thing I want when I'm focused and trying to prepare for a game mentally. It just makes me want to punch my own team-mates.
TRP VERDICT: We'd rather be happy clappy than slappy, too.
3. Unsightly skid marks
I'm labelled the poo police at Worcester. Quite often when you go into a cubicle, they are an absolute mess, to the point where I don't even know how people get into that situation.
I am always piping up in team meetings telling the lads to clean up after themselves.
There's no excuse (Francois Hougaard!) because every cubicle has bleach and brushes in them. It just breaks me, and I think some of the lads do it on purpose to wind me up.
TRP VERDICT: There's no stains on your charge sheet, you finish with an unblemished record.
