Tough Time In Tokyo

Apologies to followers of this site for an International Time boner! Canada had some great highs at Tokyo and some frustrating lows, not the least being injuries to Dala, Hearn and Hiriyama, a yellow card to Harry Jones and a disallowed try to John Moonlight. This writer unfortunately, only caught the U.S. game when we went off the boil after a half time lead, allowing a U.S. win – the first over Canada in some time.

Day One saw two major highlights after an early trouncing of Portugal. The boys came from behind to tie Wales, 17 – 17. THE GAME was Vs N.Z. (later beaten by England for third place.) The boys led at the half, came back from 12 – 17 to tie and when given a penalty, they could have found touch and accepted a second tie for a fantastic result, they went for the “W”. Full credit to this group. The ball was turned over and the Kiwis scored after the final buzzer, (for the uninitiated, play continues until the ball is “dead”.)

Day Two, the boys faced England first up and lost 10 – 14. I would like to have seen this one – Jones was yellow carded, Hiriyama injured and Moonlight denied a match-winning, replay-proven, tally! TOUGHIE, boys! As mentioned, England went on to beat the Kiwis for third place. Vs U.S.A., the boys led at the interval only to miss a number of “first up” tackles, enabling the Eagles their best finish this season. Final, 15 – 28.

This Sevens game is really the goods, amongst the top teams, one has to front up and be as error-free as possible as the outcome is always in doubt. Full credit to our boys for two BIG TIME performances. Off to H.K. next weekend and in a pool with England, Argentina and Portugal, sitting in solid ninth place overall. Success could well be contingent on the extent of injuries. That being said, it certainly read and looked like Scholtzy, Whitey and Webster stepped up. Go for it boys.

Meanwhile, back at The Park, the show went on with a second forty amongst some of the best CW has played in recent memory. In all, seven tries notched over quality opposition. It opened with a bang and finished with a flourish. More to come. Check out Ron Willems’ Photos of the two contests. 0 – 15 to Caps in The Ones and CW 51 – 12 in The Bigs.