Rugby matches / Tramping

Well I forgot to write something up about last match, which was last week.

Last week we played Poneke, which is in Wellington. I started the match not at first five, but at fullback. It was a good change. Being the only real first game at fullback I obviously felt a little out of place, but not too much. We came out and scored real early, then things fell apart to a certain degree. They returned and the scored was 5 to 5 tied up. We went into half time like this.

I don't think they were all that good. If we could have gotten the ball out to the wings we would have put the game away long before the end. The problem I had was knowing where to be and when. So on a lot of plays I was playing it safe and I stayed back to a certain degree. I saw the gaps and if I would have been in the line there would have been a break. Anyway, I played about 75% of the match then went off. They scored, then with 5 minutes left we scored to tie it up 12-12. That was the end result. It was pretty good b/c we traveled and it was their 125 year jubilee. That is, their 125 anniversary of being a club. So coming out with a tie wasn't too bad, but we should have won. They didn't play well and had some pretty old guys which our wingers could have smoked, and did so once for a try.

This week was quite different. We played ParePlem, or something like that. They were a Police College, so they were defintely fit. Things were pretty jumbled from the start. Other teams ended up snatching some of our players away, and players showed up late for the meeting spot and didn't have a ride to the match. So, they didn't come. So we were pretty short in the backs. Good for me! I got to play the whole match. I felt a lot more comfortable at fullback this week. I felt me and the wings had great communication. I knew where to be much better and I think I did my job well.

As a whole, we sucked. We lost huge, 54-0. They put all of 38 points in the first half. I feel our forwards, which were down players as well from others being snatched away, need to play up to their potential. I feel like that's where our main breakdown is. On top of that, we had some mishandles and mis-passes with the backs, beginning at the first-five second-five positions. So we never really got it out to our wings.

Our tackling was poor, like the last three matches. All high, too many high.

I was awarded man of the match, which all seems pretty hollow after a beating like that. Doesn't mean much is we can't produce as a unit.

As for this weekend. I went to a local tramping meeting on wednesday and I'll be accompaning them on a day hike tomorrow. Some place where I wanted to go last week but transportation and gear issues forced me not to. I heard they were making a day of it so I was psyched. I got off of work tomorrow so I'm sweet. We're doing a two day tramp in about 9-10 hours. This is a website which tells about it: http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/trackandwalk.aspx?id=35963 . It's the Holdsworth Jumbo track. I can't wait.

So I won't be getting on the piss tonight with the rest of the boys and I'll be taking it easy. Nobody wants to go tramping with a hangover. That would be brutal. Anyway, look forward to some pics on my Monday. I have the day off and I'll post some up. Hopefully they'll be good. The place is notorious for bad weather, so we'll see. The peak is about 1500 meters, so it's a good elevation. Anyway, gotsta go. Cheers