Given last week's disappointments, we showed up today with a record five subs. This included a welcome back to Taiwanese rugby champ Daniel, Ex-rep player Leroy and of course, the very special Ops with his knees starting to work again. Its left to us and the algebra now, to find out which was the factor that got us to smoke through our game today with a score blow-out in our favour.
Wha Kare aren't a bad team, their players work hard but today with so many subs we zeroed in on their every run. Our shooting was often relentless, our driving speeds unprecendented and our tries from those surely had to come. Everyone chipped in at every facet of play where as a team we possibly played one of our best games. Our defence was especially good as we covered our corners better than usual and gave them no chances for scooping through.
Earlier on I read the scoreboard, saying that prior to last week's mishap we are apparently placed first on the ladder - ahead of Galaxy and The Brothers. Strange to believe we know, but sometimes yellow magic is irreplaceable, since cheating is not one of our cards.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Tamaki Games 11/12
How depressing - we have a squad of 14 yet for these two games only three players showed up.
It used to be panic-stations when we only had one sub (when you can have up to eight). Now we think that is an abundance.
Naturally we lost these two games we could have, should have won, by default.
It used to be panic-stations when we only had one sub (when you can have up to eight). Now we think that is an abundance.
Naturally we lost these two games we could have, should have won, by default.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Okahu Finals day
D-day.
We came in to the quarters as underdogs against a team with an impressive record - Mean Mount Mean. Whatever the hell that means anyway. This was a young team, kids high on candyfloss and still growing on cheerios. One was singing songs just at the start to beam his ego out onto the field, but he could have been reciting his ABC's for all we care. We weren't there to give these teens an encouraging word about their hairstyles or their spelling abilities. We were there to throw off their confidence.
We shut his singing up in the first passage of the game through an early try, with the help of a very strict ref who was not going take any talking back. This ref was so serious, he sent Nick L off the field for yelling the swear word "Mine!" too loudly and one of their guys too later in the game.
It was a see-saw affair as we opened up the scoring. They'd keep matching us back somehow. Possibly our defence was a bit leakier than normal, can't blame us as we aren't all that interested in pedophilia anyway. Yet we played out of our skins. Sure, bits went wrong, but we handled shooters better than we have ever done and we controlled the pace of the game. Dean played out of his skin today. He scored the first, set up the second and knocked in the third when they rushed him too quickly. He also got involved in the fourth when we drove through the middle.
But they leveled the game at the end, 4-4. Time for dropoff.
Annoyingly enough, they didn't actually drop-off and we had play the first bit out one man short. Amidst our confusion they scooped through Dean who probably could have cornered harder and scored through several unmarked men. We were unable to score on our set and thus lost this tight game.
In the season finale we didn't quite get where we wanted to. But we played well - all of us. We can hold our heads high and now focus on the Tamaki comp and the impending Easter one too. As we build a bridge and get over this, we'll get even better.
Last night I went back home and grieved the final hour of a friend's life which ended in her hospital that very day. I immediately stopped faulting my every mistake or missed opportunity in the quarter final. The very frailty of human life is a stark reminder that the mistakes on our religious sports fields are but a drop of vapour in the wind. What matters matters, and what doesn't doesn't, if you get what I mean. No matter the result of our game that day it wouldn't have changed any facts of life - that breathing is a blessing and sport is but a hobby.
We came in to the quarters as underdogs against a team with an impressive record - Mean Mount Mean. Whatever the hell that means anyway. This was a young team, kids high on candyfloss and still growing on cheerios. One was singing songs just at the start to beam his ego out onto the field, but he could have been reciting his ABC's for all we care. We weren't there to give these teens an encouraging word about their hairstyles or their spelling abilities. We were there to throw off their confidence.
We shut his singing up in the first passage of the game through an early try, with the help of a very strict ref who was not going take any talking back. This ref was so serious, he sent Nick L off the field for yelling the swear word "Mine!" too loudly and one of their guys too later in the game.
It was a see-saw affair as we opened up the scoring. They'd keep matching us back somehow. Possibly our defence was a bit leakier than normal, can't blame us as we aren't all that interested in pedophilia anyway. Yet we played out of our skins. Sure, bits went wrong, but we handled shooters better than we have ever done and we controlled the pace of the game. Dean played out of his skin today. He scored the first, set up the second and knocked in the third when they rushed him too quickly. He also got involved in the fourth when we drove through the middle.
But they leveled the game at the end, 4-4. Time for dropoff.
Annoyingly enough, they didn't actually drop-off and we had play the first bit out one man short. Amidst our confusion they scooped through Dean who probably could have cornered harder and scored through several unmarked men. We were unable to score on our set and thus lost this tight game.
In the season finale we didn't quite get where we wanted to. But we played well - all of us. We can hold our heads high and now focus on the Tamaki comp and the impending Easter one too. As we build a bridge and get over this, we'll get even better.
Last night I went back home and grieved the final hour of a friend's life which ended in her hospital that very day. I immediately stopped faulting my every mistake or missed opportunity in the quarter final. The very frailty of human life is a stark reminder that the mistakes on our religious sports fields are but a drop of vapour in the wind. What matters matters, and what doesn't doesn't, if you get what I mean. No matter the result of our game that day it wouldn't have changed any facts of life - that breathing is a blessing and sport is but a hobby.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Okahu comp game 12 - O for Awesome
The final pool game! Against a team we'd yet to play and one we knew was good, we came in with 3 subs, the best turn-out in a long time! Alas we lost to these apparently awesome guys 6-4 in a contest that was tight for at least the first half.
We opened with a furious pace playing the game like cats fighting on a fence. As the ball clawed through hands from all ends of the field, defensive flyers were pouncing in from everywhere to maul isolated dummy-halves. After a few push and pulls both teams felt like they got to know each other and a swirl of tries started to flow - starting with us and evened up by then. Our memorable try was through Martin the winger who scorched their winger for a try that ripped fire-marks into the rain-washed field. Interestingly enough, he intuitively balanced it back by sleeping on his man and their winger took a floated pass on his turn to burn Martin back.
These guys played with a wave of backdoors - not too fast - but they still caught us napping at the corners too many times to score plenty of tries at the wing. Not only that, our saves were there to bash the receivers but we got there too slow. On attack we had our moments where we tore up the field with shrieks of rage but at other times we lacked the awareness to poach the gaping holes left by their sniping shooters.
Lesson to be learnt: Corners, mirrors, saves! Gotta get them right!
We opened with a furious pace playing the game like cats fighting on a fence. As the ball clawed through hands from all ends of the field, defensive flyers were pouncing in from everywhere to maul isolated dummy-halves. After a few push and pulls both teams felt like they got to know each other and a swirl of tries started to flow - starting with us and evened up by then. Our memorable try was through Martin the winger who scorched their winger for a try that ripped fire-marks into the rain-washed field. Interestingly enough, he intuitively balanced it back by sleeping on his man and their winger took a floated pass on his turn to burn Martin back.
These guys played with a wave of backdoors - not too fast - but they still caught us napping at the corners too many times to score plenty of tries at the wing. Not only that, our saves were there to bash the receivers but we got there too slow. On attack we had our moments where we tore up the field with shrieks of rage but at other times we lacked the awareness to poach the gaping holes left by their sniping shooters.
Lesson to be learnt: Corners, mirrors, saves! Gotta get them right!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Easter Team 08
We've entered yet another competition in the ACCCCCCC sports tournament. Here is a picture of our beautiful members. We couldn't find a picture of Dean so we stuck in a picture of Jimmy Dai instead.
Tamaki touch Game 10 - Ginyu Force/Nailed
No game - apparently the other team didn't really show up (either the Ginyu Force who apparently got kicked out of the competition, or the Nailed who were not properly notified their bye had been replaced with a game with us) and we played a social game.
Boo to the organizers.
Boo to the organizers.
Okahu comp game 11 - All Drunks
It was the first day of the Chinese New Year and traditionally the meal of that night would be vegetarian. "Stuff that" we all thought, and flocked together to celebrate the new year on the touch field and it inspired us to a 10-1 victory over the All Drunks (a huge improvement from the last time we played them).
We began with a Dean-classic, a solo effort skipping through defenders that we've all seen before. Everyone played their part in piling up points for our team from all over the field, including ring-in Shaun, who scored at least a hat trick, meaning that the tries were not quite evenly distributed across our team. There is no "I" in "TEAM", but it seems there is "ME".
Worth recording is a memorable moment where Stu stole an intercept (first time ever?) and hooned down the field for a long range (first time ever?) solo try (first time ever?), a proud moment I'm sure will be etched into his memory forever.
We began with a Dean-classic, a solo effort skipping through defenders that we've all seen before. Everyone played their part in piling up points for our team from all over the field, including ring-in Shaun, who scored at least a hat trick, meaning that the tries were not quite evenly distributed across our team. There is no "I" in "TEAM", but it seems there is "ME".
Worth recording is a memorable moment where Stu stole an intercept (first time ever?) and hooned down the field for a long range (first time ever?) solo try (first time ever?), a proud moment I'm sure will be etched into his memory forever.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Easter Seeding Tournament
Lord of the Rings featured the same battles - a side with too few men against one with many vile and vicious creatures. Today we were to try our own style out with only a handful of guys against a group of teams with overweight sub-boxes. Today it was to be our Alamo. We were to be the Magnificent Seven.
Today it was the battle of Gribblehirst. Our tribe came out to fight the other tribes, many willing to die for the cause. What was the cause? It was ego. Respect. Pride. It was a battle between good and evil. And we know how that battle always ends. We just need to decide which side we are on.
We fought 6 battles, 3 with the men of war, 3 with the women joining the fray wielding screams as sharp as axes and locks of hair as long as the unstoppable warrior Samson.
The first was against the Wizards, and we had them bound for half of the game. An early try from David came as he tore through their defensive robes for an early lead. But these were oldies blessed with experience and they slowly dominated us with their magicry and launched a couple of good tries from 5 m set-pieces. The next two were soft and towards the end, as we fell onto their heels grabbing for boots but only snagging their boot marks. We lost 4-2. We also lost Sean in battle so we replaced him with Jeremy who did everything required of a fill-in (thanks!).
The second was against Flow, formally Blitz, formally KAC. Unsure of their name, they were also unsure of their attack as they dropped the ball. But their defense was a human wave, it would inspire and Chinaman fighting in the Korean War. How does one stop the fundamentalist who would give his life for his sport? Giving it all they had, they shot like fit freaks and shut us down. We scored two early ones through quickies as they lack defensive policies and rested on our lead and lived miraculously through their firing range of human bullets. But with a ball in their hand their fingers were lead and were unable to puncture through us. We didn't defend hard and just bided our time for unforced errors. We scored a couple of late tries in conjunction with two of theirs, but we can remember this game as the smart one. With their sub-bench that continously unloaded and reloaded fresh ammunition to splatter on us, we won this battle with policies and trusting each other. We won 4-2.
The third was against Jeffrey's team, as we always term them. These fellas were backyard touch players and they used their skills well. As our tired men (1 sub, Jeremy a stranger) started to cramp our old tree legs up we were very ineffective and only managed one try. We were losing the will to fight. These guys tried everything, wrapping and cutting and bouncing. They were a roller-coaster of movements and again we played it smart and shut down their bow and arrow-like plays. But we slowly broke down and they soon spilled through on a ruck for Dean (our very own defected member) to score. We missed our opportunities (that when you're tired are few and rare) and obviously a 1-0 lead is never enough to sit on. We drew with them.
Lunch then got served and we all recharged and gave thanks to free food.
The fourth was against a clearly non-Asian team. Not that we really cared, touch is a sport celebrated by all. As the writer, I spent more time putting on sun block (so I didn't get burnt) to actually watch what happened but we lost to this well-drilled team 4-1.
The fifth was against Flow, seeking revenge with their ladies to swamp us with slaps, spits, swipes and a barrel-load of aggression. They played much better with their girls and piled up a heap of points against us to win a very throrough victory. Credit to them, but we'll win the victory of having prettier girls in our team :-) As the reader can see, our team never truly loses!
The sixth and final game was a social game against ACPC and they were new to the game. We chilled out with them and gave the girls a good chance to show their wares. Jules scored one and scored a bruise on a her bum in doing so. Winning always comes at a cost. And thanks to her sacrifice we won this final one.
In summary, we played well with what we had, but we really need a fuller team - one with no pop-out shoulders, one which doesn't go to work on public holidays, one which does not play other sports like tennis. Skillfully, tactically, we can fight out the mens one we believe - we just need all the soldiers to come to do battle. In the mixed, we'll rely on our women to stun their men with beauty and gracious running and catching. Then we might win that too.
Today it was the battle of Gribblehirst. Our tribe came out to fight the other tribes, many willing to die for the cause. What was the cause? It was ego. Respect. Pride. It was a battle between good and evil. And we know how that battle always ends. We just need to decide which side we are on.
We fought 6 battles, 3 with the men of war, 3 with the women joining the fray wielding screams as sharp as axes and locks of hair as long as the unstoppable warrior Samson.
The first was against the Wizards, and we had them bound for half of the game. An early try from David came as he tore through their defensive robes for an early lead. But these were oldies blessed with experience and they slowly dominated us with their magicry and launched a couple of good tries from 5 m set-pieces. The next two were soft and towards the end, as we fell onto their heels grabbing for boots but only snagging their boot marks. We lost 4-2. We also lost Sean in battle so we replaced him with Jeremy who did everything required of a fill-in (thanks!).
The second was against Flow, formally Blitz, formally KAC. Unsure of their name, they were also unsure of their attack as they dropped the ball. But their defense was a human wave, it would inspire and Chinaman fighting in the Korean War. How does one stop the fundamentalist who would give his life for his sport? Giving it all they had, they shot like fit freaks and shut us down. We scored two early ones through quickies as they lack defensive policies and rested on our lead and lived miraculously through their firing range of human bullets. But with a ball in their hand their fingers were lead and were unable to puncture through us. We didn't defend hard and just bided our time for unforced errors. We scored a couple of late tries in conjunction with two of theirs, but we can remember this game as the smart one. With their sub-bench that continously unloaded and reloaded fresh ammunition to splatter on us, we won this battle with policies and trusting each other. We won 4-2.
The third was against Jeffrey's team, as we always term them. These fellas were backyard touch players and they used their skills well. As our tired men (1 sub, Jeremy a stranger) started to cramp our old tree legs up we were very ineffective and only managed one try. We were losing the will to fight. These guys tried everything, wrapping and cutting and bouncing. They were a roller-coaster of movements and again we played it smart and shut down their bow and arrow-like plays. But we slowly broke down and they soon spilled through on a ruck for Dean (our very own defected member) to score. We missed our opportunities (that when you're tired are few and rare) and obviously a 1-0 lead is never enough to sit on. We drew with them.
Lunch then got served and we all recharged and gave thanks to free food.
The fourth was against a clearly non-Asian team. Not that we really cared, touch is a sport celebrated by all. As the writer, I spent more time putting on sun block (so I didn't get burnt) to actually watch what happened but we lost to this well-drilled team 4-1.
The fifth was against Flow, seeking revenge with their ladies to swamp us with slaps, spits, swipes and a barrel-load of aggression. They played much better with their girls and piled up a heap of points against us to win a very throrough victory. Credit to them, but we'll win the victory of having prettier girls in our team :-) As the reader can see, our team never truly loses!
The sixth and final game was a social game against ACPC and they were new to the game. We chilled out with them and gave the girls a good chance to show their wares. Jules scored one and scored a bruise on a her bum in doing so. Winning always comes at a cost. And thanks to her sacrifice we won this final one.
In summary, we played well with what we had, but we really need a fuller team - one with no pop-out shoulders, one which doesn't go to work on public holidays, one which does not play other sports like tennis. Skillfully, tactically, we can fight out the mens one we believe - we just need all the soldiers to come to do battle. In the mixed, we'll rely on our women to stun their men with beauty and gracious running and catching. Then we might win that too.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Tamaki touch Game 9 - Shambles
This was a slog-fest. As the Shambles team played like scrambled eggs, we as the coach described played like to their shambled mess. Its a risk to do as the Romans do - the saying "never argue with an idiot, for he may bring you down to his level and beat you with experience" was almost ringing true as we found it difficult to hold our own composure and couldn't breach their line very often. Anyway, we scored a couple to get home safely, 2-0.
Their saves were pretty tenacious on defence, which shut down alot of our drawing and passing. We ran a dummy off a JC (go down on the save) and Chris scooted through from dummy. Of the 5 other players of ours on the field, only Jimmy C decided to follow after him and amazingly, despite the all their defenders caging them in we scored a try that way as Jimmy flew onto Chris' pass like a crashing dove. It wasn't pretty but hey. Chris teamed up with his brother next to scored through a simple Waikato on their line.
Through poor handling and composure, and also terrible team work (too many of us trying to do it on our own) we never really got to their five-line again and couldn't launch too much more at them. But our defence held stronger than the walls of Jericho, no amount of screaming or shouting from their on-field war chants was going to bust it up that evening. As with Joshua's soldiers, trumpets did sound at the end, but this only signaled the end of the game and we held a nice defensive record at least.
Lesson to be learnt: Eggs get cooked in the heat. We can't play like eggs all the time and expect to get away with it.
Their saves were pretty tenacious on defence, which shut down alot of our drawing and passing. We ran a dummy off a JC (go down on the save) and Chris scooted through from dummy. Of the 5 other players of ours on the field, only Jimmy C decided to follow after him and amazingly, despite the all their defenders caging them in we scored a try that way as Jimmy flew onto Chris' pass like a crashing dove. It wasn't pretty but hey. Chris teamed up with his brother next to scored through a simple Waikato on their line.
Through poor handling and composure, and also terrible team work (too many of us trying to do it on our own) we never really got to their five-line again and couldn't launch too much more at them. But our defence held stronger than the walls of Jericho, no amount of screaming or shouting from their on-field war chants was going to bust it up that evening. As with Joshua's soldiers, trumpets did sound at the end, but this only signaled the end of the game and we held a nice defensive record at least.
Lesson to be learnt: Eggs get cooked in the heat. We can't play like eggs all the time and expect to get away with it.
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