Life in the Ice Age

First of all, congratulations to Royce Chan, Kim Kan, and Antje Keim for making the Women's XV National Squad. They will be heading to Singapore in two weeks for two test matches against Singapore, used as a build-up to the Asian World Cup Qualifiers in 2009. Royce Chan will also be one of the Captains of the squad.

After substantial wins over the past two weeks, Ice is now the undefeated champions after Round 1 of the Women's League. According to the schedule, we now have a much needed rest before coming face to face with the ladies of CWB Phoenix again, followed by yet another clash with those known as Valley. So for now we will let things thaw a bit.

Back to the past two weekends. We at Ice decided that it might be best to lump the past two weeks of write-up into one as there really wasn't much to write about due to the bulldozer known as GAICE. The weekend before saw us pitted against the ladies of DeA Tigers at HKFC. For those who saw the game, I'm sure you will all agree it was a sound thrashing, despite the excellent DEA defense. Tries were scored by Kim Kan (x2), Emmy Chan, Fiona Foxon, and Royce Chan brought the score to 27-0.

This past weekend saw us against the combined team of Aberdeen and Kowloon, fondly known as Abaloon. Unlike DEA, whose team consists of mainly petite 18-year-olds, Abaloon has its share of sizable girls. Add the fact that the game is played on the Valley Pitch (a.k.a the Dustbowl) where the pitch becomes a sandstorm if more than one person runs and you can see it presents a big challenge indeed.

In the end though, it was once again our speed and fitness that won us the game. Tries were scored by Ah Ying, Ah Kwan, Royce, Emmy and Monster [Any relation to Animal? A.H.], with one successful conversion from Emma Holland, ending the game at 27-0 (again).

Meet the Girls - Fiona Foxon

We at the Blog are all about the 'One Club' dream and it is with great pleasure that I present the first in a new set of features to you today. You've had 'Meet the New Lads' and even 'Meet the Old Boys' (and what a collection of ne'er-do-wells they were). Now it's the turn of the ladies. May I introduce to you the first personality in our new series of 'Meet the Girls' - the one and only Fiona Foxon.














Above: Fiona surges forward. Her would-be tackler appears content to keep a close eye on her rather than attempting any kind of tackle at this stage.















Above: And this is why. Fiona delivers a mean-looking fend to an Aberdeen tackler.

Name: Fiona Foxon
Age: A lady never tells and a gentleman never asks
Occupation: Marketing and Business Development Executive
Nationality: British and Singaporean, oh and quasi-American...
Rugby position: Scrum-half/Centre
Previous rugby clubs: University of Virginia Women's Rugby Team
Favourite things about HKFC rugby: The pitch, and my teammates!
One thing you would change/introduce: A mandatory post-match drink up with the opposing team, with songs...lots of songs! [Hear, hear! Harps]
Most embarrassing rugby experience: My first 22 drop out. Had no idea what it was and somehow found myself with the ball. People are screaming instructions at me to tap the ball over the line, drop kick it and just get rid of the darn thing. So I did all three, much to the amusement of the ref and the crowd. They called me 23 for the rest of the season.
Meat or Veggies? Meat stuffed with veggies
Beer or Cocktails? Cocktails
Mint/Prive/Drop or Devils/Mes Amis/Dusk Til Dawn? How about Drop/Mes Amis/Dusk Til Dawn [You'd go to Drop first??]
Gerard Butler or Orlando Bloom? No way! Give me Hugh Jackman or Patrick Dempsey any day.
Cosmopolitan or Erica Jong? Not all ladies' rugby players are lessies! Cosmopolitan all the way.

NB: For those of you who are wondering (and I was), Erica Jong is a writer. Wikipedia says that: "Jong is best known for her first novel, Fear of Flying, first published in 1973, which created a sensation with its frank treatment of a woman's sexual desires."

Rock solid Ice beat CWB

From Kim Kan of Ice. Photos by Jacky Yeung.

The HKFC ICE/Gai Wu (GAICE) women kicked the season off to a great start with a grueling victory over Causeway Bay this weekend, 10-5. After last year's Grand Championship Final saw an 80 minute battle in the trenches against CWB with the ICE women emerging victorious, CWB was looking to settle the score.As the game opened, it looked like they were heading into a repeat of the Grand Championship final with both sides playing fast and furious defense, but slow to launch any offensive attack. Nerves got the better of both teams as knock-on after knock-on forced the forwards to repeatedly scrum down.

Unfortunately, GAICE found themselves at the mercy of an outside overlap by CWB, bringing the score to 5-0. GAICE quickly answered back with a lovely series of inside ball by the forwards, and after sending a quick ball down the back line and into the hands of speedy winger, Emmy Chan, the score at the end of the first half stood at 5-5.

The second half saw some great improvements by the GAICE scrum and several just-missed opportunities. After a scrum down near the CWB try line with merciless attempts by the GAICE forwards, scrum-half and pitch captain, Fiona Foxon, managed to push the ball over the try line leading the team up 10-5.The game ended with GAICE staunchly defending their try line with the cheers from the Sportsmans' Bar urging them on.

Great team work and determination saw the ball ripped from CWB hands and brought into touch as the final whistle blew. Well done GAICE and good luck against Valley next week.