And Club don't travel. That at least would seem to be the conclusion to be drawn from the last round of league games which happened, ah, the weekend before last. As I've said before, there's nothing quite like real time news.
What can I say? It's bl*ody disappointing, rather like England losing to Wales. Both Club and Drags went down by narrow margins at, respectively, Aberdeen and the PLA in Guangzhou. But in case anyone from our rivals is reading this: we are facing up. Yes, we lost. Yes, it hurts. And, yes, we'll be back stronger and hungrier in the Year of the Rat.
A special mention is due to Scorps here, who bucked the trend by putting one over their old rabbits Valley. Details of that one and the Club game are a bit thin (Giles Disney seems to have been overcome by modesty and Cookie by embarrassment), but I can tell you what mattered about the Drags game because I was there in the frozen wastes of Red China.
Firstly, Drags fronted up like trojans for an incredibly tough, physical game. We went toe to toe with the PLA and played, in many ways, better than we have all season. We rose to the occasion in that respect and deserved an early 5-0 lead through Peyton Burnett. But our lineout was shocking and our scrum inconsistent (forward on their ball, often back on ours). PLA took their opportunities, scored three tries, and defended welll when we threw everything we had at them in surge after surge in the second half. Richard Gallagher crashed over late in the game to make it 12-19 but the referee blew his whistle stright afterwards and Drags' dream of an unbeaten season was over.
It was a gutting experience, the more so because we had played harder and with more commitment than in any game during the long winning streak. To be honest, though, our set piece let us down and we didn't help ourselves by continually carping at the referee, who, it must sadly be said, was well below par.
Needless to say, a veritable mountain of grub from the Scottish restaurant and a rice-wine fuelled fines session on the train going back helped to ease the pain. This was masterminded by Junior Naylor wearing a jester's hat that increased his height by approximately one third and which he earned for taking the unusual step of hitting a PLA guy in the face with the ball as he attempted a tackle.
So, Club and Drags must raise their games after the Lunar New Year break in order to go on and earn the titles they deserve. For Drags, there is the added incentive of proving they are once again ready for Division One rugby by winning a four-way cup competition with PLA and the two bottom teams from the first grade.
In the meantime, enjoy the break. I'm off to Cambodia with Nick James, Nieto and Nazer....Lord help us!
Kung hei fat choy!
Harps
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2 comments:
Very learned reference to Robert Duval's line from the film, no doubt in the light of your forthcoming trip to the Herat of Darkness on a speed boat with Welsh Tup, Peak Laddie and Alibaba.
Good Luck and Have a Good Time.
Thanks Yute. I had no idea Callum was called Peak Laddie, but the thought occurs to me that we could switch that round to Leak Paddie? Have a good CNY. Harps
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