Dateline: Sunday April 13th, 2008. Thirteen is often an auspicious number and on the weekend it proved to be once again for an overconfidence, dare I say, apathetic Gaijin team.
Fresh from a five week layoff from our last game, the Tokyo Gaijin arrived in Saitama for our first game of Tokyo Cup 2008. The Gaijin were scheduled to play the Fuji Club at noon. Having won our previous two meetings with the Fuji Club, the first victory in last year’s Tokyo Cup, and most recently a comprehensive victory by the Gaijin back in October, the Gaijin went into Saitama confident of another victory.Sunday March 9 saw the TGRFC squad head to the National Japan Rugby team’s training quarters in Tatsumi for an anniversary game to celebrate 10 years of Deaf Rugby in Japan. Normally the Tatsumi ground is off limits to anyone for matches, but the Deaf Rugby crew had scored a win and gained access to the hard dry turf that made for a great running rugby spectacle.
Saturday March 8th, 2008, saw a small band of Gaijin head to Shibuya for the Shuto League closing ceremonies for the
Close 2007 season (prolonged because of rained out games). There they were awarded the Shuto League Champions Cup and were privileged to have one their own named as Tournament MVP for 2007: APISAI BATI.. This comes on top of winning the Tokyo Gaijin`s MVP award for the 2007 season.
Apisai Bati, a Rishkul College product from Suva, Fiji, joined the Tokyo Gaijin club back in