* At the first team BBQ  for the year, Ikuo Fukuda won the place kicking comp, and doubled his monthly spending money. Blake is still crying about it.

* Daisuke Ikegami & Ikuo Fukuda's close friendship is on the rocks after Daisuke got himself a new girlfriend.  No more sento baths together for the boys I guess.

* Richard O'Shea & girlfriend Hitomi got engaged on May 30th.

Dateline: April 25, 2010

It was always going to be the match of the competition for the Tokyo Gaijin RFC.  Superman had not had a hard match in several years of competition as they made their way back to the higher divisions after indiscretions several years earlier.  The final scoreline of 48 - 10 flattered Superman, but  at the end of the day their bodies told the story of a team that knew they had been challenged.

Timeline: March 17 - March 22

After 6 years of trying, the Tokyo Gaijin finally won some silverware at the Manila 10`s.  The team won the finals of the Bowl Division 19 v 5 after winning all the 5 lead-up matches. The Tokyo Gaijin RFC's name now goes on a big perpetual Cup and the team received a trophy - a running Carabao (Water buffalo) with a rugby ball under his arm - as well as medals for each player. They also won bragging rights and before leaving Manila the next day the legend had already grown and players were boasting of their heroics and had a little extra swagger to their step. Free drinks were even provided at a few bars in town as the news filtered back before our arrival.

The first game of the Tokyo Cup in 2010, held on April the 4th,  pitted the Gaijin against Doronco RFC, a team we had beaten comfortably in a friendly game a month or so earlier. Given our propensity to start the Tokyo Cup with a whimper rather than a bang, and the fact that Doronco had only 15 players on board when we had beaten them recently, the senior members of the team had endevoured to expel any complacency that might have existed prior to the game. Sure enough, Doronco looked like a different unit during the dress check, with a number of muscular specimens in attendance that hadn't been there for the game earlier in the season.