Gai Who?

Final Score: Phoons 28 vs. GaiWu 12

Yes! We won again! And no-one got their leg smashed this game. Physically and mentally this was probably one the harder games we've had this season, despite the fact we lost a game earlier on in the year to the Police. I'd say this game was tougher, and we won. We kept our energy long enough to hold on in the end. Up until about 6 minutes left it was really close. I think we were only winning by a few points. The final minutes saw us score a few tries to make it convincing enough for comfort. Also one of our star players Jensen (who is leaving for England for a couple years) scored a last minute tri which made everyone happy. All the best Jensen.

As for myself, I played the whole match once again. My fitness is improving. The opposing hooker was quite tough, he knocked the wind outta me as I attemped to tackle him. I still haven't quite got my timing back for tackles. In the scrums it was a tough battle all day. I only managed to steal one put-in away from the GaiWu side. I don't think I gave away the ball at all, so that was a highlight.

Lineouts improved a tonne this game. Not only did I actually manage to throw the ball straight, our jumpers were jumping as well. One tri came almost directly off the lineout and a couple other good runs as a result of good technique on the lineout.

After the game we all went down the street to a local pub, and I think the owner was dancing in the back, because we were his only customers, and from what I could see, I think we almost drank the place empty. They had to go buy the food we ordered down the street, which was funny, as we should have just got it ourselves. Also another high/lowlight was singing Karaoke to Backstreet Boys for about 10 minutes. Nothing funnier than seeing Gareth (the largest member of the team) busting out the boyband lyrics. hahaha. Other tunes were heard from Madonna and Britney, as well as a Canto-Beatles song (very funny). Karaoke here is a lot different than back home. The videos are all of locals singing the songs on a huge stage with lights and everything with very bad backup dancers. So when you watch the TV screen, you're singing Karaoke of a cover basically. Except a few North American videos, which usually show the original artist's video.

We got the win, wuuuu hoo. I forgot to mention that Gai Wu is an all Japanese team. They are small, but wholy crap did they hit hard. Unlike the big fat white guy teams, these guys hit with very pinpoint percision, so it hurt a lot in one small spot. As oposed to the 'larger' guys who sort of hit you with a more absorbing blow. Oh well, No blood on me this game so I'm happy. The team is now 4-1, and constantly improving.