Not that I'm stereotyping, but you wouldn't say your average front row forward would spend his working week aboard thoroughbred racehorses.
Think about it - Duncan Bell or Tony McCoy; Phil Vickery or Ruby Walsh; Andrew Sheridan or Willie Carson. It really doesn't compute, does it?
So, it was with just a little shock that, on Saturday, whilst negotiating a quagmire in Gloucester, a front row player from the home team gave me an explanation as to his apparent lethargicness.
"I've been up since 5.30 riding out, I'm knackered ref..."
"Excuse me? Riding out? For whom?" I enquired. "I work for Cheltenham Racecourse, so it varies and depends whose horses are stabled at the track..." replied the short, but stocky player.
And so the conversation continued and no, he wasn't winding me up (as if a front rower would ever pull the wool over the referee's eyes).
At around 5ft 6in and, at a guess, 12st - this stocky chap knew his stuff. But the middle of a rugby pitch is not somewhere you'd expect to find a jockey.
Fortunately his side won, but unfortunately he did not know the winner of the 3.30pm at Haydock and, as a result, I'm forced back to work for a living.
Dubai Corner: five weeks...
Weight loss: going in the right direction
Alcohol: five bottles of larger and three white wines (not good)
Exercise: Two gyms and a league match in the mud
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