"Two Days of Love, Peace, and Rugby"
"Two Days of Love, Peace, and Rugby"
For the second consecutive year the Seoul Survovors made the long trek to Phuket to play in the annual rugger fest there & for the second consecutive year the guys put on a good show throughout the weekend. One noticeable change, however, was the significantly better job done on the pitch this time around...still, despite all the good efforts, we fell short; if only by a minute.
As for the on-the-pitch results, we entered day one in a very tough pool; including the eventual cup runners-up and semifinalists. Our first game, against a formidable squad from Dubai, the cup runners-up, featured a very typical first-game-out preformance by the Survivors...a bit rusty & laden with mental errors, yet a close match none-the-less; we ended up on the short end of a 10 - 0 score. After that, we played a much lower-level team from Hong Kong FC & beat them handily 17 - 0, a game highlighted by Mr. Powers' unceremonious freight-train like barreling-over of a rather unfortunate back from the SAR. Plenty of oohs and aaahs from the crowd over that one! Our third game put us against last year's cup runners-up & this year's semi-finalists, the Pattaya Panthers, another very good team; with the winner advancing to the cup round & the loser going into the plate. Another close match saw us on the short end; 14 - 12, despite another good rambling run & freight-train stiff-arm by the famed "Subic Survivor". We were up 12 - 5 until the final minute, when the Pattaya boys managed to put one by & make the conversion, carrying them into the cup round.
On the second day, we were first matched against the Bangkok Japanese - a very fast, fit club who also won 1 of 3 on Saturday. The score went back and forth through most of the game, but in the end the size and strength of the Survivors prevailed....the final score was 24 - 12. This put us into the Plate final against a solid squad from Taipei (the Baboons). Here again was another very close game, and here again the Survivors came up a bit short: although we led 14 - 5 with just minutes left, we ended up losing 19 - 14. Maybe it was just that the boys had nothing left to give, and certainly we weren't blessed with stellar officiating in the game, but full credit must be given to the Baboons, who played a very tough match. One highlight from our side was the unbelievable tackle made by the still nicknameless Jaime on the 1/2 meter line, saving a try. The poor chap had to be taken off on a stretcher, and according to the local papers the impact was felt by a small fishing vessel 500 meters off the nearby shore.
So for this year, we'll have to settle for Plate Runners-up...but as the famous old saying goes....."maybe next Phuket tournament". The success we had in the tournament was clearly due to a full team effort, as this had to be one of the most balanced Survivor touring squads I've ever played with. Great playing by all the guys throughout the weekend; including a terrific rookie performance (a recent Survivor "deliverance") and hard-nosed hustle throughout from a smart-ass Mick/Yank. Congrads to all the boys.
Off the pitch, it was the usual fantastic showing by the boys; whether it be at the beach body-sufing, or in the Bangkok domestic airport serenading the passengers with the musical talents of our 'chanteur'; A-Dub & his orchestra....oddly enough "American Woman" wasn't on the playlist at that point of the weekend...like all good musicians, he saved the best for last.
On similar lines; we had a few expert shoppers with us, who managed to make time for rugby despite all the great bargains to be had in Phuket...good job fellas! But the king of them all had to be "Gouda", our token Canuck on the tour, who found the best deal on blocks of cheese; sang the Canadian national anthem for us, got a foot massage at the Bangkok airport, and undoubtedly has very few (if any) memories of the trip down. We decided in as democratic a fashion as can be expected of the Survivors to honor him with the title of "Tour Fool" thereby placing his name on the hallowed medallion & forever in the anals of Survivor lore.
I also want to mention that we were joined by a great group of fellows from Osan who played well all weekend long (beating their air force counterparts from Oz, and making it to the Plate semi-finals) - great to have them with us, and we hope they can come along again next time.
That's all for this trip....see you next time in the shadows of the ancient Khmer Empire.
Cheers,
Fonz