Shuto round 5: Kichijoji Wild Turkey

On a wet November day, two sides meet to determine who will take home the trophy.  Both the Gaijins and Wild Turkeys come into this match winning all their games and all that is left is eachother.  On top of that, this game would be the last game of the year for the Gaijins so everyone is hoping for a strong finish.

The gaijins started strong,with Masatoshi Uotsu snuck past the Turkeys defence, picking off a ruck to score the first try within minutes of the first whistle.  The game continued on with plenty of hadling errors from both sides no thanks to the horrendous weather but 20 mins in the Gaijins scored yet again as the forwards plowed through and Richard Jobson touching it down.  A few moments later, a handling error from the opposition gave Diego Santos the oppurtunity to scoop the ball up before popping Jamal Slaughter and Yuchi Mori finishing of the phase with another try.  The brought a strong half to a close but unfortunately the weather was only looking to get worse further into the afternoon.

Halftime Score: 19-0

Straight from the get-go Jamal was showing-off his Fijian ansesteral skills, popping the ball as he was going to ground into the hands of Lelio Brun to run half length of the pitch to keep on racking up the points.  The Gaijins were not wasting anytime today, managing to score a couple of phases off kick-off with Hiroshi Fukasawa completing the sequence off with another half field sprint, almost short of the line but sliding across the line to score his first of the game.  The backs were not going to let all the forwards hog the glory.  From a scrum on the halfway line, Oisin MacPartlin led the backs as they pierced their way through the defensive line with Conan O’Sullivan adding to the tally.  The Turkeys had a great chance when the Gaijins gave away a penalty, but even that would not be enough for them to score.  With the Gaijins defending valiantly to keep the ball held up in the zone as they tried to drive over from a lineout.  Wasn’t long after for the us to mount another string of phases to go over the line ourselves with Jamal touching it down.  Hiroshi managed to add to his try count with a run off of a lineout.  Jamal who is neck and neck with Hiroshi in the race for top try scorer got one for himself again capitalizing on a knock on.  A great chain of hands through the backs led to another try for Martin Dulhoste with Jamal missing the conversion by a mile.  With the final whistle blown, the cheers from the team can be heard as the Gaijins are crowned Shuto League Champions again, completing a Double Double (2X Katsushika and Shuto League Champions).  Despite the treacherous conditions, the lads performed admirabley with a clean sheet to boot against runners-up Turkeys.

Thanks a lot to Haruna Setoguchi for recording the game.