RAIN DAY GAME DAY

I got on my bike and made my way to the station. Joffa, Dave and I all met up, and wiated for the train. While we waited for kicks Joffa and I called up team members who we were unsure about or KNEW for CERTIAN that were not comming, and harassed them. Finally we arived and started getting the field ready which was a task bordering on futility. The line painters were all getting clogged up because of all of the rain and we were having alot of trouble measuring the lines and getting things straight. Durring that time a team mate informed me that the leader of the leuge (who is also the oppositions manager) said "Agghhh its raining to hard lets just do rock paper scissors and call it a game." After hearing that in my mind the game was already won. Our forward pack was strong all game and Murray kept things constantly rolling along. Our back line was also strong even though the conditions were not perfect for passing the ball. When we were up by a good number of tries, with about 15 minutes left I got the call to go in. My tackles are still weak and from the moment I got on the field I could feel that it was a problem. The slippery conditions made it tough even with cleats to get my footing. I do not think my tackles are particularly bad it is just my anticipation of what the runner will do and abilty to react to it quickly is well pitiful. This week during my personal training time I will try to see if there is some exercises I can work on to help rectify this. I think it is just a matter of 3 things; 1. Not standing to flat on my feet 2. understanding how to read a backs moves as to where he will run 3. getting low and driving through the tackle not just hitting and going down Other than that and the 2 penalties I caused 1. for not releasing the ball, my feet were literally still on the ground but as the 2 players I was against ripped the ball to each other I started to fall and held on for a split second (or 3 too long) I was conscious of what I was doing but thought I was still in the right. Off of a Murray line out, we all got into a ruck and drove the ball 5 meters straight though to the try line. It was great the whole forward pack was in there pushing and when I felt the shift off of the one man I immediately pulled out ran around the pack and dove back in. When it was all said and done I heard the whistle blow and looked to see I was laying on one guy from the oppositions leg and under me was Polo who scored the try. Some time later the opposition scored. It was a hard fought try but I felt like I didn't do enough, hit hard enough or was just not in the right place or something.... it was just one try but still. The rain never let up the whole day and at the end of the game we were all a muddy gritty sandy dirty mess. The funny thing about rugby is you can play 15 minutes or 70 and you still get banged up. I had track marks on my legs and back from where some one thought I was part of the ground, and my leg was bruised pretty bad from where a guy I tackled landed on it. Even though I only got to play 15 minutes I felt thoroughly abused. 1 When it was all said and done the Gaijin were up 30 to 10 and our record was still unblemished. After that we had the man of the match which was awarded to Palo and Muz for their outstanding forward work. We showered up at a local sento (bath house) and then went to a izakia (bar) for some drinks. I left pretty early so I could make it back to see Eric and take him to the store to buy another puzzle, just like I promised.