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For the 11th year running, the Seoul Survivors made the annual pilgrimage to Manila for the international 10s tournament there, and for the 11th year running, the team had a weekend they will never forget...highlighted by outstanding performances both on and off the pitch. The team had their most impressive showing on the pitch of any tournament in this captain's memory, but, as the subtitle would imply, it was certainly not the most hygienic of weekends. Alas, that is to be expected, all things considered.....
Getting there was, as always, half the fun. With 7 guys who had never been to the Manila 10s before, one making his first showing since '97, and three on their first ever Survivor tour, the anticipation and excitement heading down was overwhelming. The general consensus was, as always, that we would focus on having a great weekend, enjoy the games, and let the results take care of themselves. Any doubt of that was erased quickly by the amount taken in on the flight down, and in the subsequent 'socializing' that soon followed our arrival in Manila. As we all are well aware, the golden rule of rugby tours is that what goes on tour, stays on tour...which unfortunately means that there is nothing more that I can write about our first night there.
With a solid hour-and-a-half of rest under our belts, we made our way to the pitch in time to catch the entire first game of the tournament...good thing, as ours was the second. The usual non-rugby talking went on as we were 'warming up' in preparation for the first game....."So where'd you end up last night?"...."I hope you were only talking to that one"...."No way dude; two???"..."totally heinous"...."Panchos, man, think panchos" Anyway, realizing just in time that there was, in fact, a rugby game to be played, we stepped on the pitch against the Taipei Baboons, a team we were told we "didn't stand a chance against" by our old pal and ex-Survivor, now residing in Taipei, Agent Orange. Oddly enough, the secret Agent managed to get something wrong for a change & the Survivors ended up on the positive side of a 21-0 score against the eventual Plate runners-up. The result was even more surprising, in that in the past six years in Manila, the Survivors have gone 0-5-1 in the first game of the tournament.
Not knowing what to do from there, we hung out and watched some very good rugby, waiting for our next games. To make a long story short, we finished victorious in both, beating both the Pot Bellied Lites 25-0 & GROIN (a team made up of ex-Nomads) 33-0; finishing the day at 3-0 by a combined total score of 79-0. There was some talk at this point to changing the team's name to the un-Survivors if any more of that nonsense kept up. A short footnote to all this is the very notable fact that our good friends, the Pot Bellied Pigs, set a new Manila record by bringing a total of 54 people to the tournament....I guess they must like it there or something.
This left us knowing that we would be stuck in the Cup pool the next day, along with all of the top-ranked teams...not something that we relished or had planned on. As it turned out, we were seeded number 2 going into Cup competition on Sunday, up against a very strong and sober Saipan team in the first game.
Regarding Saturday night; we had our team dinner a night early, as two of our boys (Doogie and the Water Boy) would have to leave on Sunday afternoon. As has become team tradition in Manila, all those on their first tour were given the special opportunity to eat Balut, the traditional Filippino good-for-the-stick food. Doogie and the Water Boy, good southern folk that they are, managed to finish the treat reasonably unscathed...however our fine neighbor to the north, Sherlock, had a little trouble getting his down in a performance eerily reminiscent of Chicken's last year. In the end he succeeded....but we certainly hadn't heard the last from him yet. He ended up deciding that team hats and sarongs weren't cool enough to wear....certainly no boy-bands would be caught dead in an outfit like that, now would they? At one point he even decided that his own trousers weren't really hip either & had them taken off by a pair of willing entertainers whilst performing live for us on a pole-adorned stage. As our trusty observer Don Won commented the next day...."it was 90 degrees man, 90 degrees".
On the morning of the second day, the severely hungover "Cowboy" woke up naked on the floor, surrounded by a pool of vomit and blood. Apparently he had suffered from a nose bleed during the night, but as he wasn't aware of it at first, his only thought upon awakening was "I've been raped!". Not the best start to the day, agreed, but at least a good chuckle was had by all.
Our first, and only, opponent that day was the rather large and imposing team from Saipan. Having lost our key fly half, Alter Boy aka: Lay-Z-Boy, we were up against tough odds. Still, we played well throughout the first half and were up 7-5 at halftime. The second half started with the news that we were also losing the services of Bandsaw - one of our standouts of the weekend - which was a foreboding of things to come. Indeed they did, as we ended up on the short end of a 22-7 score. Full credit to the Saipan boys, as they played a tough, hard game, and in fact were very impressive throughout the tournament, losing in the Cup final to the Bangkok British Club.
The rest of the day was dedicated to watching rugby, drinking the occasional beer, laying by the pool...having a tough time of it in general. The night that followed was one that will not soon be forgotten, however, by those that are lucky enough to still remember it. A little foreshadowing of what was to come that night occurred when one still-unnicknamed Survivor was basking in the sun. While doing so, an acquaintance of his decided to pour some water on him....shock and awe tactics, I believe it is called. Anyway, this little flower (the name of the rose to be left out, of course) then went for another water bottle, but unfortunately did not examine it well enough prior to dumping it on him. Well, the aforementioned injured Alter Boy was having trouble getting around due to a leg injury, so decided it was best to stay seated throughout the day as much as possible, therefore forgoing trips to the loo despite the occasional one being necessary...well, the "water bottle" was then emptied & thus signaled the start of a very 'pissy' night. Unhygienic, indeed.
The other 'end' of the spectrum was covered back at the hotel, when good ol' Sherlock fell hook, line, and sinker into the good ol' "impossible sit-up" trap & ended up with a face full of prop's buttocks and a rather disgruntled look about him.
Hooking up with our good friends the Panaga boys from Brunei, we decided to make a night of it together for our final night there. Again, no specifics can be disclosed, however the pissiness of the day continued brilliantly. First, Bandsaw's toes fell victim thanks to a poor choice of stalls, then ol' Sherlock was at it again (albeit unbeknownst to him) by imbibing fully where others had merely (been) splashed (on) the surface. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but he made it through the night like a true champion, all things considered, so full credit certainly goes to him.
From there, the rest of the night will remain under lock and key. Rumor has it that a couple of poor bars on Burgos fell victim to having a bunch of louts sing and dance, throw beer this way and that, and carry on clothed in nothing except there undergarments and some lovely cravates...which, however, happened to be one and the same. Only rumors, though, mind you.
So....another calendar year for the Survivors has come and gone. A great time was had by all; many old friends were met & many new friends were made. All good things must come to an end, but the best news is that there are only 358 days left until Manila 2004.....and 1/7th of them is a rugby day.
See you next tour,
M.C.
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