Drags v Scorps - a jolly afternoon

Evening all

Bit of, er, fun on Saturday for Dragons and Scorpions (final score around 35-12 to Drags but don't quote me on that). Scorps came out firing with all the guts and application you would expect from a team bearing that name, and from any team billed as the underdog in an intra-HKFC derby. Drags may not be happy with the manner of their victory but they walked away league champs after Valley succumbed to PLA 23-20.

In particular, I would like to offer the front-rower's salute to the men of the Scorps front row: Messrs Wong, Nazer, Kim and Browne, who fronted up admirably. While Drags had the upper hand in the scrummage, this determined band and the rest of the Scorps pack tested them every step of the way - and came back at the Drags with interest on occasion.

Apart from that, it was a scrappy, aggressive, niggly and rather disjointed match, full of venom but strangely muted as a contest compared to some of the Scorps v Drags superclasicos of old. I don't think the referee enjoyed it either - he kept blowing his whistle to try and liven it up. I tried to cheer him up a bit by asking what was the only thing worse than refereeing a club side? Refereeing two of course. But he wasn't really in the mood for my outstanding banter so I let it drop.

The game was really only notable for being Andy Boucher's last match for HKFC - for the Bouchers are off to the USA - and for the debut of a young man from New Zealand called Sam, who terrorised the Scorps from number eight and who I doubt will be playing much more for Dragons if he stays in Hong Kong. Sam is a friendly, amiable soul unless you happen to be anywhere near him on a rugby pitch as part of the opposing team. Then he would be better named Samageddon. After a few contact situations with him on Monday in which I came off marginally second best, I would counsel a very low body position and the advantage of a long run-up to his future opponents. But he seems like a bl*ody useful chap to have on your side, so welcome, Sam.

Furthermore, a strong Select side also celebrated victory in Division 3, beating Macau 25-21, while Sequins were likewise crowned champs in Division 4 with a hefty win over Causeway Bay.

Harps

Back to Business - A Look Ahead at Saturday

Morning all

Trust you enjoyed the Bledislioe Cup weekend. Not a classic by any means but it was great to be there as rugby geopolitics shifted. I understand that Zinzan Brooke confirmed Kiwi rugby players' reputation for fine public speaking at the Brunch beforehand. It's hard to imagine that he could have been any worse than former Wallaby prop Dan Crowley, who embarked on the Mother of all Rambles at the Sevens Long Lunch - but apparently he was. Crowley is said to work as a motivational speaker these days (specialising in motivating people to fall asleep perhaps?) so there is clearly still hope for the audacious All Black drop-goaler of 1995. Now that I have insulted Australia and New Zealand equally, I feel we can move on. And please understand I wouldn't dream of saying any of this to either of their faces...

In other news, I can reveal that Club Chairman Donough Foley and Captain Tony George have sent their congratulations to US President-elect Barack Obama during a private phone call minutes after Obama's victory had been confirmed. "I told Barack he had the full support of the HKFC rugby section," said Foley. "And I invited him to come for a pint in the Chairman's next time he's over. He's got great potential but he's so young. I told him I would get Woots and Don Rider together and that we could give him a bit of a tutorial on leadership."

It also emerged last night that Ben Stobart's long absence from sight at HKFC was due to him having accepting a last-minute request from the Obama team to persuade undecided voters to cast a ballot in their candidate's favour by talking until they agreed. "It wasn't the way we would like to have done it, but the end justified these extreme means," said an Obama aide.

On to this weekend's fixtures. Club take on Causeway Bay in what should be one of the more straightforward contests in Dvision One. With so many quality players at his disposal, selection will no doubt present a few dilemmas. While Club will look to get into form against CWB, the real highlight of this weekend should be the Dragons v Scorpions clash at 3pm. For those new to the club, derbies like this are always fiery encounters. Some say they waste our energy by turning it inwards. I would say that matches like these are the reason why we play rugby and that the competition we foster internally makes us tougher competitors externally.

However you see this perennial question, though, any notion that the partisanship and individual team spirit of the different teams could be abolished along with their names will surely be shot down once again on Saturday. Drags and Scorps have experienced contrasting starts to their seasons, but the fierce pride felt by each team in a game like this has always been a great equalizer, making club derbies closer games than league table positions would suggest. There is always a personal element to these clashes as well: players in both teams want to prove a point against the man who is selected above or below them. It's a little Darwinian, I grant you, but it makes for cracking games of rugby.

My bet is that Saturday will be a tense encounter, with plenty of physical confrontation. I would expect Scorps to come out firing and try to rattle Drags in the first 20 with some very direct rugby. But I believe Drags' quality and greater structure will enable them to pull away in the second half and I would expect to see the game open up considerably in the last quarter. Sadly I will not be playing any part. A nasty clash of heads on Monday night (well, my face, his head) has left me with 11 neat little stitches above the right eye. For those in need of rugby-related needlework in the future, I can thoroughly recommend the Sanitorium.

In Division 3, Select take on Typhoons on the Valley pitches at 3pm while Sequins meet with Comvita City (whoever they may be) at 'THT' (wherever that may be) in Division 4. Bulls take on CWB in Division 5 (HKFC at 1.30pm) and GaIce will meet DEA (HKFC at 4.30pm.) All this weekend's fixtures in the divisions relevant to us are listed below, with the club games in bold.

Finally, don't forget the Walton Brunch on Sunday!


G4S League Fixtures by Division 2008/09
Week 4 - Saturday 8th November 08

Division 1
DeA Tigers v Synovate HKCC, KP, 6.00pm
CBRE Club v Manulife CWB Rams, HKFC, 6.00pm
InProjects Kowloon v Tradition Valley, SKP, 6.00pm

Division 2
Nomads v Synovate HKCC II, KP, 4.30pm
CBRE Club II DRAGONS v CBRE Club III SCORPIONS, HKFC, 3.00pm
Laxton PLA v Tradition Valley Knights, Guangzhou, 2.30pm

Division 3
DeA II v Synovate HKCC III, KP, 3.00pm
Rouse & Co Typhoons v CBRE Club IV SELECT, HV, 3.00pm
SJM Macau v Tradition Valley Mustangs, SKP, 4.30pm

Division 4
Comvita City v CBRE Club SEQUINS, THT, 3.00pm
Gai Wu J v Manulife CWB Pirates, HV, 4.30pm
InProjects Kln Barbars v Tradition Valley Broncos, SKP,3.00pm
Police v University. PBS, 3.45pm

Division 5
DeA III v Synovate HKCC IV, KP, 1.30pm
CBRE Club VI BULLS v Manulife CWB Marines, HKFC, 1.30pm
InProjects Kln Beavers v Tradition Valley Griffins, SKP, 1.45pm
Police Panthers v University II, PBS, 2.30pm

Women’s 15s Division
Club/Gai Wu v DeA, HKFC, 4.30pm
CWB v Abaloon, THT,4.30pm

Sequins sparkle, Bulls falter

From Tim Wright of Bulls

Bulls are taking a bit of time to settle in this season with quite a few changes from last year.

We lost Saturday's against Kowloon match 12-0, which was hugely disappointing because we had about 90% of the possession. No-one could fault the forwards, who rucked and mauled tirelessly, but execution in the backs left a lot to be desired - the most notable incident was when our 11 and 15 collided while trying to collect a clearance from the opposition, allowing the ball to land straight into the hands of the Kowloon chaser who touched down under the posts looking extremely bemused.

With a few of the usual starters returning from injury in the next week or two, there are positive signs, though. The goal from here is converting our domination of territory and possession into points. If we can achieve this then without doubt we could be challenging the best in the league.


Sequins beat Kowloon 27-5 with tries from Simon Aird, Simon Hague, Damien Kelly and Alex Boggis and Steve Thomson.

Not harping on any more

Good afternoon all. It's a beautiful day outside, the world (at least according the definition of those in the financial services industry) would appear to be staring into the abyss once again and I have found a few moments to bring the old blog up to date. It's a pleasure to reach you via the tremendously clever communication system brought into being by the efforts of club stalwart Brother Paul T. McGee. Did you know that he personally entered everyone's email addresses into the system? Well he did. "If I didn't do it, it wasn't going to happen," says the reclusive billionaire. That's the spirit.

Like an old ocean-going liner, the rugby season is beginning to get underway. However, at the last minute, the HKRFU has taken the rather odd 11th hour decision to play the knockout cup before the league season, meaning there will be no league rugby until November 8. Lord knows why, but there it is. The knockout cup will start when the league had been due to kick off on October 11.

Competitive rugby of a kind began last weekend with the Valley 15s, a competitition that really demonstrates why it is a good idea to reduce team sizes if you cut down match time. Nonetheless, rugby is rugby, and the Club boys will be disappointed to have succumbed to three successive defeats. With a growing casualty list to compound his woes, Coach Quinton Wrigley's blood pressure will be rising well before the real shooting match begins. There was better fortune for Dragons and Ice who won their divisions and claimed the club's first silverware of the season. As I understand Murray Sargant's epistle on the subject, Dragons' final came down to a draw and it had to be decided by a sprint race which 'Usain' Payne won.

On an entirely different subject, I would like to recommend H.E. Andrew Boucher's blog. He does appear to be preoccupied with one issue in particular, but his peerless style and the contributions of some other notable Scorps make this a highly entertaining read. Take a look now on
http://www.rugbyisnotbroken.blogspot.com/

Finally, I have one or two further points to make on the issue of team names, or the absence thereof. Firstly and most importantly, let's be absolutely clear that the greater good of the section is of paramount importance to everyone involved. We all want a system under which teams co-operate as much as possible and in which players play for higher and lower teams than their accustomed team when selected to do so.

But I do not believe that changing the team names is the best way to achieve this - it contributes to the appearance of 'one club' but I'm not so sure about whether it brings that reality any closer. I'm inclined to think that worthy ideal can only be fully achieved if management and the selectors are able to enforce selections by bringing meaningful penalties to bear if people disappear when they are asked to play for a team that is not their preferred one.

At the moment, I believe it is fair to say that a majority of players feel that they have lost something important to their rugby experience without having been consulted on the change. A poll on my previous posting revealed 59% against replacing team names with numbers, 25% in favour and 15% indifferent. There were 32 respondents, which shows you how few people really read the Blog. But I also suspect the majority of these were Club and Drags players. A straw poll of club stalwarts from other teams certainly suggested that there is even stronger support for team names elsewhere in the section.

I admire and support the goal behind this initiative, but I disagree profoundly with the method and, should anyone care, I will not be using the numbers myself. Nor, I suspect, will we see the Sequins' Corner being renamed "The Corner Formerly Known as the Sequins' Corner" (and I can't take credit for that one) or any talk of "Mighty" FC4. In any case, I think there has been more than enough from me on this issue and you will be relieved to hear that I am going to pipe back down and concentrate on rugby.

Harps

The Blog is Back

Gentlemen

The Blog is back for its second season of crisp analysis and aimless banter. There are rumours that we will shortly be taking this content to a newly revamped Rugby Section website masterminded by Brother Paul McGee, who has recently taken a vow of silence, but for the time being, we are live again at http://www.hkfcrugbysection.blogspot.com/.

I am quite happy to take the Blog's content into an official HKFC portal. After all, this Blog has been officially sanctioned from its beginning. And I love the idea that PT is pushing of an integrated web platform for the section: one that will allow information, team lists, results and so on to be easily distributed to the whole section and that will enable the build-up of an invaluable archive of data. But whether we are here or on a new uber-website, the Blog will never become a tame noticeboard for the section's leadership, even though it exists to support, celebrate and inform the HKFC rugby section. I may be a bit of a weapon, but I will never be a tool...

Because it would be a sad day if 'we' at the Blog felt uncomfortable to be critics when criticism is a fair response, either in assessing performances on the pitch, or decisions made in the Club's boardroom, more normally known as the Sportsman's.

Indeed, I would like to start this season's Blog on the offensive. It is my understanding that the noble and ancient team names within the section will be abandoned in favour of depressingly bland team numbers. That is to say: firsts, seconds, thirds and so on. For those new to the club, and for clarity, the six club men's teams, in order, are: Club, Dragons, Scorpions, Select, Sequins and Bulls. The ladies' team is called Ice (and I confess I am not sure what happens to that under the new numbers system).

The reasoning behind abolishing the team names (as if it were possible) is that having team names and strong identities for each team discourages movement of players between the teams and restricts players' and coaches' thinking to their own little world. In short, so the argument goes, the team names are divisive, create silo mentalities and hold back the section as a whole.

It's easy to follow the logic of the argument, but there are two powerful reasons why it is a misguided initiative and destined to immediate failure.

Firstly, consider the motivations of a rugby player taking the field. He or she plays for his or her own pride in what they do; they may play for a coach sometimes; but I believe that, for the largest part, they will play for their team. They will play for the people around them and for the identity of the team and, without wishing to become too prosaic, its spirit. The spirit is created by the people that get together with our player every week to train and play rugby. But the spirit of the past players, in the way that it influences the players still there who remember them and what has gone before, means that every rugby team is, if you like, a distinct fabric into which a large number of personalities, past and present, are woven.

It sounds rather obvious, but the idea of the team is the essential building block of rugby life -its DNA. And a team is not effective as some kind of loose, technical grouping that serves an abstract greater good. When people go out to play, they cannot be expect to think of and play for several hundred other people in the rugby section. They cannot be expected to think of themselves as part of one team of 105 players lining up in seven matches on Saturday. They are part of a squad, a team, that can only give its all in its own game. Ask rugby players to think beyond that, or to play for more than that, and you are missing the point of the game.

The team name is like a flag or battle standard. It's what the captain shouts to rally the team on the pitch. The aura of the name creates a strangely potent bond between the players that it joins together. If you've ever played the game, you will know exactly what I'm talking about. The Club is full of teams that have attracted incredible loyalty down the years and developed quite distinct cultures of their own. These distinctions aren't big but they are important. It's to do with they way you play (or the way you think you play) and the personalities in your team and the kind of chatter they create.

In HKFC, teams have always defined themselves against the other teams, which isn't surprising. Every team - maybe every group of individuals - naturally likes to differentiate itself and stand out. Remember Bulls' red socks; Select's "Mighty" sobriquet and their bauhinia jackets; Sequins' Corner and their preposterous waistcoats; Dragons' sense of us-against-the-world-when they were the Dvision One whipping boys and no-one wanted to play for them. When I thought I would have to leave Hong Kong a couple of years ago, the-then Scorpions captain wrote me a very kind letter with a Scorps' letterhead and implored me to remember that I would always be a Scorp.

I clearly remember one player declaring to anyone who would care to listen at a Captain's Dinner that he "embodied the spirit of Bulls." I have no idea what he meant (although I bet I would if I were a Bull) but it's hard to imagine anyone saying "I embody the spirit of co-operation across the rugby section" and feeling proud of it. It's a worthy ideal, but it's empty when we consider why we play the game. We all love the rugby section as a whole and we all want the whole Club to do well. It's just that we play for a team, not a section, and that team should have a name, an identity and a spirit.

The second reason follows on from that and is less fundamental, less philosophical and more practical. It won't work. At a very simple level, people will continue to use these team names for ever and aye. I went to university in a city where the biggest, nastiest and best nightclub was still called Sindie's despite the fact that it had been called about three other things in the twenty-odd years since it was last Sindie's. When people like names, they stick.

And it's not going to alter players' willingness or ability to move up the teams. There are plenty of players in the Club and Dragons teams today who started in Scorps, Select and Bulls. Good and committed players will always be ambitious to play for the best team that they can.

Nor, I fear, is such a cosmetic change going to alter coaches' attitudes much. Coaches are naturally dedicated to their own team, and so they should be. I don't think the following conversation will ever happen:

Coach A: Right, I am delighted that four of my best players have been asked to play for the team above me. It's always a great pleasure to support the section as a whole. May I ask you if you will kindly provide me with your four best players to replace them?
Coach B: Why, certainly good sir. It would be my honour.

Nope, there will always be wrangling and fighting and coaches trying to hang on to their best players. It was ever thus. But it will essentially work as it always has - the best players will move up as demand requires. It hasn't always happened as quickly as it should have, but it happens.

Alright, for anyone still listening, that is the end of my rant. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who feels differently and can assure you I will start writing about rugby again soon.

In the meantime, please let us (and the section) know how you feel about these changes by voting in the poll below...

Harps

Knocking on Heaven's Door

Life has returned to normal. Chinese New Year's been and gone. Skiing/golfing/lying on a beach/boozing is done and dusted and we're back to rugby weekends. You know what that means. Q will wear a perpetual frown. Tim Griffin will get yellow-carded (well, he would if he was playing). The Sequins will be in their corner, sadly reflecting on how the game has changed and ordering another beer. PT McGee will shout mild comments of gentle encouragement from the stands.

And what a day it could (should) be. Club can make their Division One title safe by despatching DEA. Drags face a battle royale with Scorps, but will be crowned Division Two champions if they triumph. Should Select win heavily against Kowloon Pussies, they stay in with a shout in Division Three. Indeed, Club increasingly resembles Ancient Rome in its pomp - every continent (for that read division) fears the force of our arms. And then it's Andy Malbon's Stag, and Miss Kowloon...and Saturday night.

The stakes are high, though. Will it be veni, vidi, vici and Cluba Victa or will those damned Barbarians come and sack the Colisseum in Sports Road? Club (and I mean the 1s now) are tantalisingly close to victory, but DEA will sense the opportunity to really spoil the party. There will be no room for hubris and complacency will be fatal. The same applies to Drags. Form goes out of the window in Club Derbies. If Club and Drags want to win the Laurel Wreath and ascend into elysium as champions, then they will have to play like champions, by Jupiter. And that, I promise you, is as far as I will stretch the Roman analogy. We who are about to play salute you!

See you at the Club.
Harps

Teams below...

CBRE Club v DEA Tigers
HKFC, Saturday 16 February, 5.30pm

1. Pete Spizzirri
2. Tom Cameron
3. Nigel Hobler
4. Angus Washington
5. Steve Matthew
6. Tim Edgar
7. Jared Smith (AQ)
8. Nathan Johnson (N)

9. Peter McKee (N)
10. Pat Foreman (N)
11. Dan Parr
12. Nigel D'Acre
13. Richard Rouse
14. Andrew Chambers
15. Mike McKee (AQ)

Bench

Adam Harper
Chris Howard
Dean Finnegan
Phil Reid
James Kibble
Junior Naylor
Callum Nieto
Tim Robinson
Adam Raby (AQ)
Ed Johnson
Colin Begg (AQ)

CBRE Club Dragons v CBRE Club Scorpions
HKFC, Saturday 16 February, 4pm

1. Adam Harper
2. Duncan Robertson
3. Gary
4. Chris Howard
5. Ramsay Carter (C)
6. TBA/Andrew Corkery
7. Marcus
8. Dean Finnegan

9. Phil Reid
10. Junior Naylor / James Kibble
11. Callum Nieto
12. Robin Bredbury
13. Tibbett
14. Raby
15. Ed Johnson

Bench

Junior Naylor / James Kibble
Richard Gallagher

This is what it's all about

Afternoon chaps

Thought you would enjoy the piece below; I thought it was the best rugby story I have seen in ages. This just speaks volumes about Jerry Collins and shows you that the spirit of rugby is far from dead, despite what you may have thought after reading about Catt and Dallaglio's disgraceful comments about Brian Ashton. I used to play sometimes for Bideford, Barnstaple's big local rivals. It's great rugby country down there in the South West of England, and the game is played by people of all backgrounds and walks of life (with a strong smattering of hardnut farmers and fishermen, just to make it interesting). It's not nearly as elitist as rugby can often be in the UK and all the better for that. It tends to be slow, physical, rugby-as-attrition stuff, but you certainly know you've been in a game. And we all know how useful that slow, physical, rugby-as-attrition stuff can be in World Cups...

Anyway, I wasn't at the club last weekend, so there't not a whole lot I can tell you about the games. Club trounced Causeway Bay 81-3 but will surely have a sterner test against Valley on Saturday, Drags didn't play, Scorps went down 15-3 to Valley 2s (boooo) and Select won, by how much I know not. I reiterate once again my appeal for more news from Select, Sequins and Bulls. The Blog needs you boys!

Harps



All Black gives Barnstaple second XV the edge
By Michael Roper
Last Updated: 9:09am GMT 01/11/2007

The amateurs of Newton Abbot's second XV had the shock of their lives when they turned up for a game and discovered that the All Blacks' Jerry Collins was playing for the opposition.

The 6ft 3in, 17-stone flanker - nicknamed 'The Terminator' for his ferocious tackling - turned out for rival Devon side Barnstaple against a stunned group of butchers, builders and bricklayers from Newton Abbot.

Collins, the hard man of the New Zealand back row and the proud owner of the biggest biceps in their squad, ran in a storming try and made three try-saving tackles during his 55 minutes on the pitch, helping Barnstaple to a 21-7 away victory in the Devon Merit Table fixture.

The Samoan-born Collins, 26, took part in the match after bumping into Barnstaple's head coach, Kevin Squire, while on holiday in Devon. Squire was enjoying a meal in a restaurant when he spotted the All Black. "I did a double-take when I saw who it was and knew I had to introduce myself," he said.

"He was very polite and unassuming. We talked for several minutes and I mentioned the club and invited him to come down and watch a game, but of course never expected him to turn up. He did though and even coached a session with the under-14 side, who were completely awe-struck.

"I told him we had a match coming up and he was welcome to join us, but again I was gobsmacked when he showed up to catch the bus with the rest of the players.
"It was very surreal for the lads as they are all amateurs - most of them are builders, bricklayers, plumbers and so on. He had even been to a sports store to buy a pair of boots."

Squire said his new recruit dropped down a gear to fit in with the standard of the game. "Jerry didn't play up his superstar status but was really one of the lads," he said. "He didn't crunch into them like he could have done – they would have gone flying. He adapted his level of play to suit the game like a proper gentleman. "It was a wonderful experience for all the players to play alongside such a big name in international rugby, even for the guys in the other team."

Newton Abbot coach Phil Burford said his side were "quite taken aback" when Barnstaple showed up with Collins in tow. "I think the second-team lads were pinching themselves after playing with such an icon," he said. "After the match he was inundated with fans asking for pictures and autographs and he was happy to do it. He was a true professional."