Sugadaira 10's & 15's Sugadaira, Nagano, Japan  

INTRO-- In the first weekend of July the Tokyo Gaijin Rugby Football Club made their annual pilgrimage to the mountains of Nagano and the resort town of Sugadaira – Japan’s own ‘Rugby Heaven’.

In a country where a fully grassed sports field is a rare luxury, the tiny town of Sugadaira has over 50 brilliantly manicured pitches. They also have a number of specialist rugby shops. In my reckoning, this gives Sugadaira (population c. 1,000) more high quality rugby facilities than the Greater Tokyo Area (population c. 35 million).

A few members went up the night before and were met the following day by the rest of the Gaijin. Some time after 1 pm the team assembled for their their warm ups and practice. A sparse 11 players managed to make it to Sugadaira. With Capt. Al Nimo out injured he rallied the team with the help of the other members from the I.R. list Bully and Blake Walker from the sideline offering advice, jeers/cheers and water support.

 First and foremost, we would like to say thank you to all of our supporters who came out and helped us for the game.  The weather was miserable and the ground was a mess, but without you we couldn’t have played in the mud. Now, on to the story.

Fired up by their recent success in the first round of the Tokyo Cup tournament, the TGRFC once again headed to Kizoochi Rugby Grounds in hopes of putting another victory under its belt.  While May 6 may have been a beautiful day in many parts of the world, with couples strolling leisurely through sunny parks and children playing in grassy knolls, this was not the case in the dreary outskirts of Tokyo.

 With a grey sky, continuous rain, and soup for a field, the conditions were perfect for two things: Spartans defending Thermopylae and stressed-out working men playing Rugby.  Throw a little bad blood between teams into the mixture and the stage was set for a classic TGRFC battle.  The boys were also hoping for a little revenge from last year’s narrow loss to the Donkeys. 

After a thorough dress check to ensure that no players had faded shorts and that their underwear was color coordinated, the Gaijin took the field ready to take on the Donkeys, the weather, and a thoroughly incompetent referee.