Global warming or not, it must be noted that the 2009 Tokyo Cup is probably the hottest I have ever personally played in. Hot dry days every weekend - it is great! Unless you are a 100kg Gaijin forward going into the final quarter of an 80 minute rugby match. The heat had shown up the Gaijin fitness or lack thereof over the first few rounds where we competed bravely but were ultimately put away by a faster and more committed opposition over the final 20-30 minutes.

Ye Gads, our fitness fanatic, try scoring wing-man is freelancing as a Mr. Harlequin - one of the three faces for the Canadian romance novel publisher in Japan. Andy's part as Mr. Cool.

The successful 2008 Tokyo Cup campaign started with a shock loss to Fuji Club but was followed by a couple of resounding wins from which the team was able to sneak into the Semi's and ultimately promotion into the First Division. It was hoped by all that the 2009 campaign's miserable start (loss to Musashino) was just a blip on the radar, with better things to come in the second match of the tournament against Kurumi RFC. And that is pretty much what transpired on a hot sunny day in Misato, Saitama. Well, sort of.

Rugby is a complex game with a number of laws that are to be interpreted by the official on the field.  Those laws give rise to a number of different styles of play and structures with which to guide your team towards victory.  Game play is dictated by a number of different aspects such as; Pre-conceived gameplans, stages of the game, team strengths, opposition stregths, score, weather conditions....

Below are some video links of full games from different competitions in order to view the tactics and approaches of different teams in different situations.  I hope you enjoy your viewing of them and that they help in better understanding your role in the game and ways to to improve your affectiveness.