Rugby

I have a friend from my computer group, TLUG　(TOKYO　LINUX　USERS　GROUP)　named Mauro and he plays rugby. One day while we were having lunch together with a couple of friends and he invited me to play rugby with his team Tokyo Gaijin Rugby Football Club. I had never played rugby before but was really excited to get asked to play. Mauro and I agreed to meet up the next weekend and he offered to let me stay at his house the night before so I would make it to the game on time with out hassle. I thought great! Night before I had some troubles at work with a server, so it took quite a bit longer than I wanted to make it to his place. When I finally arrived I found that Mauro had a excellent place and his wife had cooked a real south American style dinner with Mexican, and Argentinean dishes. I met Joffa too, he is the team coach and leader. He was learning from Mauro how to administer the teams web site. He looked to me exactly what I thought a leader of a rugby team should look like. He was a little ornery looking but had a friendly domineer and laughed allot while Mauro walked him through the steps of administering the site. Eventually every one left and Mauro and I watched some rugby on TV so I could get feel for the game . It didn't quite work out all the nuances but I had the general idea. No forward passing, kicking forward is OK, what is a scrum, and what is a ruck. I thought I was reasonably prepared for my first time out and hit the rack. Next Day The weather was cool the next day as Mauro and I got in the car. We drove to the station closest to the field and waited. When the rest of the team arrived I was a little surprised that not only was I one of the biggest guys... I was one of the oldest too. We made our way to the field and I met some of the guys and talked it up a bit. A couple of guys started throwing the ball around a bit and I joined in. BIG MISTAKE. This was the first time I had my hands on a really rugby ball. We passed it around a bit when some one through it high over my head and I jumped for it. When I came down there was a small curb where the grass met the asphalt and my foot landed half on it twisted and my ankle actually touched the asphalt while still on the curb. It hurt and inside I felt a little snap crackle and pop. I quickly tossed the ball away and tried to walk it off. It really hurt for a minute or 2 then I sat down got some tape from Marou, taped it up and forgot all about it. I went on to watch the game and try to learn as much as I could before it was my turn to play. There were allot of really brilliant players on the team and most of their names I cant remember at this time but it was great. With about 10 or 15 minutes left in the game I was asked to come in. We had a substantial lead at that time so it seemed that EVEN I COULDN'T MESS IT UP. Blocking I got on the field and took my position and listened to what the others told me to do. A few seconds latter the some one behind me had the ball and I did what came natural I put my body on 2 guys in front of me making a hole for my guy to run through. EH NO! Blocking is a major no go. Blocking is not allowed in Rugby. Blah... the ref didn't see it but you should have seen the look on the face of the guys I took out. I got back to the line and one guy yelled at me about tackling people w/o the ball. He was pretty serious about the whole deal, but I glanced behind us to see the rest of the team laughing and pointing basically. Ground The next blunder came when I saw a bunch of guys in a ruck and I charged head first, as I did and was falling to the ground I landed on some one and then saw the ball I swatted it back towards one of the guys on my team who scooped it up and was away with it immediately. Some one saw and told the ref that I was on the ground when I swatted the ball, technical I wasn't I was laying on some one else. What ever next time it wont happen. Put my head where? In a Scrum guys lock their heads arms shoulders and asses together in order to gain control of the ball when it is popped into the pile. I knew this but on my first outing I didn't think I would be asked to preform such a homo-erotic display. The second play I was, and I just shoved my head right in there next to some asses and that was that. Its like liver, not so unpleasant if you don't think too much about it. Final Outcome. We won by quite a bit and it was a good effort put out by all. I felt really good about competing in something again. It had been so long that I thought I would not ever get the chance to win again. Great or Brilliant as others on the team said. Allister the team captain was happy we won but still stressed the need for defense and a solid line, which is some key to Rugby defense that I am currently trying to comprehend. We walked away from the field and near the locker room (ya I was pretty shocked that there was one as well) a cooler was opened that was filled with beer and for 1000 yen we all took part.