Griffins 15 - 5 Scum

Saturday saw about 28 of us pitch side which included those who were injured but wanted to come along and lend their support to the players and point out the various refereeing and touch judging errors. The Saturday before we had 13 at training with Higgie working on defence and overlaps. And then we only go and bloody well win the match Rodney. Go figure…With more last minute withdrawals than the local Catholic Girl’s school we were backed up in the front row by Martin “I’ve been working out all summer” Ma Jais, Vinnie “the more tired I get the less I can speak” (there is a god) and the temporary return of an old favorite – Eric “Je t’aime” Lorin. These boys really took it to the Scum front row who were on the back foot for most of the match and as such gave us a great platform in the set piece. Guido having spent the summer drinking slim line tonic was back in the second row with his partner in crime Arthur “IPO anyone?” Van D. These two should have their own TV series or DVD empire based loosely on the exploits of two crazy Dutchies making films and friends wherever they go under the label “Two’s up” The back row of Weasel Baby, Sean “no chocolate for me” A and Colin “Notch Johnson” Kelly were busy getting to the breakdown first (yep you read that right 1st!) and snaffling their ball – Weasel taking only 27 seconds to get caught offside – fortunately the referee blew up quickly before Scum’s pack could undo all of Weasel’s surgeon’s good work.

After JP followed his heart back to the UK the number 9 shirt that he’d avoided making his own was up for grabs and Hugh “Loves ya baby” G stepped up all pre season and has brought a tenacity and snappiness to the position sadly lacking last season (yes JP will be reading this ) Admittedly playing behind a pack that was often storming forwards made life a little easier for him but Kojak contested every ball every inch of the way. ‘Ol Snakehips slotted in at fly half and had probably his finest kicking game of the last few seasons – all that 5 aside bumming at lunch times in Quarry Bay is paying dividends as a quicker, slimmer and altogether more complete Dom pushed us forward all day and – brace yourselves – he kicked a conversion – and a penalty. To think we were going to splash out on Dan Carter – phew Arthur can put his wallet away again now. Jon “Make way for the man” Elcombe showed what the crash ball is all about – never one to take a few steps round the side when 1 straight forwards will do reminded me of Scott Gibbs in the 97 Lions tour running straight at Oz DuRant – this is one guy who let’s his rugby do the talking – until he gets a few beers down him and then he offers some interesting insights to alternative training methods. And then my friends at outside centre the flying frenchie – with pop star good looks (ok a sleazy ex pop star who spent some time in a Thai prison recently) Fabiano has the pace and punch to always be on the attack even when in defense. Like Eric Fab came back to help us out and like Eric is welcome any time Salut boys! Salsa Matt was still hip hopping his way around Scum players out on one wing – not through skill but through a desire not to hurt his good knee. On the other wing The Kaiser Jarvis was keen to put a recent concussion behind him, preferring to nail people from behind – some things never change. Jacky “sorry we’re closed” Ma Jais is our starting full back and to be honest we’ve never looked so safe – even when JP could play rugby and we deliberately let opposition through to run at him doesn’t come close to describing what a fearless and skillful player Jacky is.

OK so to the game – we got off to a good start by turning up, warming up and putting up. We had good numbers, a positive attitude and a belief in our own ability. Last season the backs couldn’t get their act together but from the first whistle they ran lines, held passes (oh yes) and backed each other up every time. Some great side stepping from Dom, sublime outside running from Fab and quick recycling from the pack left John with 4 players to beat – I think one of them is still being scraped off the pitch and the others are being peeled apart and pieced back together – a great finish to a multi phase well worked try. Dom slotted the penalty with aplomb.

Scum fought back hard but we kept them at bay for 20 minutes before they battered us with drive after drive and eventually touched down out wide. They missed the conversion – the extra work in defence forcing them out for a touchline score was well worth the effort. Half time saw some astute tactical changes to the team as we subbed players off when we were on the front foot and lost nothing in that momentum with the players we brought on. Step forward Waffle never having played prop before he destroyed his opponent – quite literally folding him in half and posting him home to Sport Road. Ryan “Beanstalk” Troupe came on for his first proper 15 aside game and you could see the dismay on Scum’s faces as he through himself into the fray. He added more distraction for the Scum pack enabling Notch to crown a fantastically competitive personal contribution with a try that gave us some breathing space at 12-5. It’s not often you get a devastating forward in a back’s body but when you do it makes it all the more pleasing to watch. Ross “Gastro Poo Flu Boy” Bolton added some biff up front slotting into the team seamlessly – good to have another Ulsterman on board! Tom “The Poxy Student” showed some fantastic judgment in distributing the ball as well as a great ability to read the game in organizing the defence out wide. Dazzla was seen by more than just me to be running down the wing quicker than when he found a baboon in his room stealing his juicy fruit chewy on tour in Saffer. Having bulked up during the off season he is deceptively quick – once I’d told him there was a box of crispy creams in it for him he just manned up and shut them down.

Seb with the internal organs of a 36 yr old and the external body of an 18 yr old came onto the wing and used his pace well to unsettle Scum’s defence and Woody “Stringbean” Ma Jais showed some fantastic running – putting them under pressure racing up after Dom’s kicks. Forrest has clearly found a secret stash of Whoop A$$ during the break as he repeatedly ran the ball in like a man twice his weight – bouncing their forwards all over the place. Edwin and Mask have obviously been training with Beefcake – is Weasel getting smaller or are these Ma Jais boys getting bigger and stronger year by year. The Skoda was revving its engine as if it had just glimpsed Herbie’s exhaust pipe and ploughed on to the pitch dishing out Truth and Justice. A word on the Ma Jais - having been well coached they are now getting a lot more street wise and none showed this more than Kevin “I think you’ll find that’s my ball” Ma Jais who made life hell for their scrum half. Dom stepped up and kicked the previously unheard of Griff’s penalty to make it 15-5 and sealed the win after some sterling team defence denied the comeback Scum were always fighting hard for.

We could have done better in our line outs – sure. And we could have gotten to the break down and driven them back more – that too. In some cases we could have hit the ball flatter in the backs or passed earlier – nobody would deny that. But the thing that we couldn’t have done any better was play for one another – we wanted this so badly – even those who’d never played in this fixture got swept away by the desire to put one over on the to$$ers from across the way. We won fair and square – the score line probably flattered them to be honest so let’s build on this start and do it again – that beer tasted so sweet afterwards especially because it was from 7-11 and didn’t put more money than necessary into their coffers. Griffins – Ma Jais – Maffins - still one Valley.

This year sees the introduction of the inaugural Griffs Man of Wan Chai award – voted for by a select committee of players where points will be awarded throughout the season. Leading the way is Notch as our Man of the Match with 3 points, Snakehips Whiting for his flawless kicking with 2 points and Fabiano for his full blooded running with 1 point. Well done everyone - thanks to those of you who turned up and couldn't get on or just added your voice to cheer the boys on – it’s good to see Baby happy again.