Another Manila 10's has come and gone, and with it, another gallant effort from the Seoul Survivors. In addition to which, we got a few games of rugby in, but managed to get knocked out earlier than usual.which of course led us to hit the Pimms and beer much sooner on Sunday than is our custom. Such is life sometimes.
It was undoubtedly the most eclectic bunch of Survivors in recent memory. Included in our ranks were a lost French tourist, an Arab Sheik, someone who managed to get on the wrong plane from Australia, and a court jester straight out of medieval Europe. The first night started out in typical fashion.the boys getting in to Makati right at the bewitching hour. An early nickname had even already been earned.as the aforementioned court jester "Sea Bass" had managed to sleep through the flight down and then continued his slumber on into the first night out on the town. Serious encroachment of the rules. The rest of the boys carried the flag well, however, and as has become custom, were among the last stumblers to make it back to their hotel. A couple of slower-than-average ones even required an extra wake-up call from a rather annoyed captain the following morning & a friendly reminder of which planet they were on.
From there it was on to the pitch. Our numbers had oddly swelled a bit since the initial head count, but we managed to squeeze into the vans and get to the pitch in time to play like the hungover louts we were against an well-organized but beatable team from HKFC. Our next match put us against the eventual tournament runners-up, a team of guys that looked like they had played together before from Baharain (our secret weapon, the Sheik, although ready for action was unable to penetrate this group.but alas more than made up for it with other groups over the weekend). Despite getting blown out in the first half, we came back quite strongly in the second and played an even half against them. Our final game came against a group of angry Hong Kong Policemen.who made more than a few late knocks, scrapes, and tugs, including a notable slam against our Aussie tourist. Despite this and some very questionable officiating from a ref that was undoubtedly on parole from HK and being closely watched by the opposition, we hung on for our only victory of the weekend. The victory against "Old Bill" put us in the Plate bracket the next day, where we promptly lost to the eventual runners-up of that final, a combined team of players from Guam and Macau; thereby putting us into the spectator bracket for the remainder of the tournament where we fared much better indeed.
Afterwards, we had our traditional post-tournament team dinner at what used to be our traditional restaurant. Safe to say we'll be looking for a new place to go next year. For the first time in recent history, we managed to have a team dinner that didn't include any food...but was made up for with a very memorable court session. After a series of "table-banging" incidents, and a court jester crawling on the floor of the restaurant and running into a bathroom door, plant, and a few other objects, we quickly made for the more welcoming arms of a nearby bar to resume the evening's festivities.
Before I finish, a quick thank you must go out to all those who made the trip. Especially to our old Survivor buddy JC who made it all the way from France, and to Chris James, who managed to put together an impossible flight schedule and hook up with us in Manila. As well.to the much-hailed return of the Dear Captain to Manila.offering plenty of "on-the-spot guidance" to rugby players and entertainers alike. Finally, a thank you must go out to Joe Day, who not only made it there to join us but was also a constant source of help and encouragement on the sideline - from an organizer's viewpoint it really made a difference.
As for the rest of the story.well..the rules are well-known by all.
Maybe next weekend..
Ted
Please attach these photos to the Fonz's tour report (which it is hoped will go to the full overseas list to make them all the greener) for a virtual visual rugby experience for all to see and almost understand together with the words....but then what goes on tour stays on tour, as long as certain individuals buy the Dear Captain the requisite "maekchu"! That is until we watch England-France, definitely this weekend upstairs at the Hollywood.
