July 3, 2006

TGRFC versus The Crusaders

June 11th, 2006/06/29

 

ImageWith the completion of the recent Tokyo Cup the Tokyo Gaijin RFC had organized a few ‘friendly’ games to give some of their new players experience before the summer break. On this wet June morning they had gathered out at Misato station in anticipation of a tough game against The Tokyo Crusaders. It had been three or four years since the two ‘Gaijin’ teams had played each other with the TGRFC victorious in that one. A squad of 23 had been named by the TGRFC earlier in the week with all the reserves being forwards, due to a few injuries to the teams` backs. However, four starting members and two reserves had failed to show and time was running out. It had rained quite a bit the day before but it is just water after all, so we thought that maybe the early meeting time of 9:15am might have been the problem.


June 28, 2006

5 Happy Donkeys, 1 Sad Goat and a Horrible John.

(May 21st, 2006)

 

donkeyAfter the characteristically shambolic buildup to another Tokyo Cup Game some members could be excused for damn near throwing in the towel and conceding defeat before kickoff.  With a large number of players out for various reasons such as injuries, personal commitments, and getting drunk in Fukuoka and missing planes, the team was struggling to get the compulsory 15 players and 108 Tokyo cup accredited support staff with Bachelors Degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a B+ average in POLS 109 (introduction to Tokyo Cup Political Bullshit and Rope jumping).  In particular the grade point average of Ian Roy came into question, with his lack of understanding of the intricacies of green bib wearing.


June 26, 2006

GAIJIN SNEAK HOME THE HARD WAY

Gaijin 36 vs. Doronco 31

ImageOn Sunday TGRFC, a Tokyo Cup 2nd Division side, took on Doronko (3rd Div.) in a friendly match to fill in the blanks of the encroaching summerschedule. What could have and should have been a sizeable victory to the Gaijin turned into a see saw battle of who could make it hardest for themselves to win the match. But what a ripper of a finish it was!

The opening 10 minutes saw the Gaijin looking solid: forwards crunching itup the middle, making 10-15 yards through the likes of Mauro Sauco, Chris Lucas and Taka Kitajima, supported well by loosies Dave Kelver and Eric Hermand. The forwards were followed by Alistair Nimmo snapping away at half back and launching the backline into action; generally making solid ground through the line breaks of Shaunne Hughes and the offloading of Nial Conlon.The forwards were, generally speaking, up with the play and in support. Only small errors such as losing the ball in the ruck cost the Gaijin possession at this stage.

May 18, 2006

‘Slow?’ ‘Fat?’ Voyage Round THIS.

Tokyo Cup 2nd Round - TGRFC 39 Voyagers 7

 

    Most of the team gathered at 10 am in the usual spot to summon taxis for the trip out to the field.  We say most, as for the 2nd week in a row we were still lacking that very important component in a team, the captain.  To our surprise, even though captain Al Nimmo is conversive in Japanese he cannot differentiate between the slowest train in the world, and one that gets there on time.  Possibly he was penning the reply to that very nasty email that fell into Gaijin hands. Unbeknownst to
the opposition, a mail they had formulated was mistakenly sent to one of our members.  This was promptly shared on our own mailing list, and all but provided the fuel we needed to kick-start our Tokyo Cup campaign again after a disappointing defeat in the first round.