SUPER RUGBY
Chiefs loose forward Luke Jacobson has every incentive to get on the field in Super Rugby this year after spending the last six months recovering from concussion.
The former New Zealand Under20s captain, who had two stints in the Under-20s, suffered the injury against the Hurricanes in the last round-robin game in 2018. What made it worse was he came off the bench and was on the field for about two minutes when he suffered an elbow to his head.
He got his clearance to return to contact this week after six months in which his day-to-day life was impacted significantly, especially in the first months.
That was when he missed the chance to work on what he had learned in Super Rugby in the Mitre 10 Cup with Waikato.
“I was really looking forward to playing in the Mitre 10 and trying to bring back to the team what I had learnt. I love playing for Waikato and I was looking forward to another place where I could try and add to my game and develop as a rugby player, but it wasn’t to be,” he said.
Coming in raw in 2018 Jacobson felt the adjustment was the biggest hurdle. It was a big step up from anything he had played before and it was the physicality that he noticed most.
“There’s a whole lot more bigger boys and they know how to use their size better than anything I had played against before but there was the skill set as well, the decision-making was so quick. You get a taste of that at training but then it steps up even more in games,” he said.
His weight had slightly increased, by 3kg, to help him get used to the collisions which was important when at training he had Nepo Laulala or Atu Moli coming in looking to clean him out.
It had taken a game or two to deal with the extra requirements and processes he was required to do but once he started to find his rhythm he felt more comfortable.
While everyone looks to get as much game time as possible in their first season, Jacobson found injuries to others increased his chances to play, including three starts towards the end of the season.
But in that time he felt his appreciation of his game, and role, had increased substantially and he felt the benefit of having Sam Cane and Liam