We had only ever played them in Tens and they seemed to be a good outfit. The day started off with us trudging to the wrong field from Yawatajuku Station. Man of the world, Steve Bull, hadn`t thought to ask his contacts for the name of the field. After being shuttled to the field by those with cars (Thanks Noriko & Kitahara) the next problem was to find a few reserves. Due to the Public Holiday weekend, Rob Poulton doing his usual no-show, business commitments among the Japanese members of the squad (Yes, on a public holiday weekend!) and a raft of injuries the Gaijin had only just managed to assemble the bare 15 players. Luckily a few players from the Ichihara Club, who had just finished a game, promised to stand by.

On what was a particularly sticky day for playing rugby, two of the foreign teams based in Tokyo met up at the Yanokuchi rugby ground about 30 minutes west of Shinjuku.  The Crusaders and Gaijin were to play their second encounter of the summer on a ground that looked short of the regulation yardage and a little worse for wear.  Some severe pot holes around one of the 22m lines would be sure to create havoc for anyone who could find the gap with their kicks.  With the Crusaders coming away with the win in the previous game, the TGRFC would be hungry for victory.

After a very successful day yesterday in the Sugadaira 10`s the Tokyo Gaijin RFC were due to play a game against Joso Club in the regular 15-a-side game. As only 14 players went to Sugadaira we were already scouting a few back-ups. As the players filed in to the breakfast room at the New Davos Hotel it was obvious that we were struggling for a squad and even more back-up players would need to be found.

    Dana Post and Rob Reinebach limped in together. Steve Bull (sprained ankle which turned out to be an old fracture), Jonathon Dean (ankle), Mike Parks (broken finger), Jo Iwasaki (ribs), Niall Conlon (knees covered in scabs from previous game), and Richard Beard (looked like someone had stuck a pencil a few centimetres into his leg just above the knee) were also on the walking wounded list.