As the world gets spanked… it seems like Putin has scored a pushover try

Way back in the previous century, when I was still a little boy in what was then called standard 2, our rugby coach did not tolerate mistakes.

He arrived at every practice wearing his rather tight-fitting varsity rugby shirt, whistle around his neck and with his rugby socks pulled up all the way to his knees.

His attire, however, did not draw much attention from the group of 15, barefoot boys under his command. Our focus was mostly on the cane in his right hand.

ALSO READ: ‘You started this war… You can stop this war’: Schwarzenegger tells Putin

Whenever one player in our team knocked the ball on, all 15 of us had to line up for a cut or two.

In practice sessions against boys a year older, we got four cuts if our opponents scored a try.

Being a very scrawny little boy stationed at full-back, I was inevitably confronted by the choice of either earning myself and all my teammates a hiding, or the prospect of fractured bones whenever an oversized prop steamrolled his way to our try line.

The humiliation of a public caning, combined with the wrath of my teammates, ensured I tackled like a boy possessed.

Needless to say, I was a rock in defence. I also did not play rugby for many years.

The notion of being punished for someone else’s errors was not something I could tolerate.

Almost half a century later, I, together with millions of people around the world, are in the same boat.

READ MORE: Hackers shift towards taking advantage of other governments focused on Russia-Ukraine war

While the Western leaders have imposed sanctions on President Vladimir Putin, everybody but the Russians are feeling the sting of it.

In Britain, like here in South Africa, fuel prices are skyrocketing.

Companies and farmers around the globe, including fruit farmers in the Cape, are facing bankruptcy because goods and produce that have already been delivered will not be paid for now that Russia is expelled from the Swift international pay system.

Italian pasta factories are in dire straits because they won’t be getting wheat from Russia or the Ukraine.

To me it seems that Putin has scored a pushover try and we all have to line up for a caning.