(From Al with assistance from Mel and Notty)
After surviving Yosemite, we travelled back to San Francisco on Friday to prepare for our tournament on the weekend. There were seven teams from the Bay Area and LA out for a days fun in the sun (a nice change after the cool fog of our earlier time in SF).
First game saw us up against newly formed LA team "Brown Chicken, Brown Cow" featuring the familiar face of Minh Huynh (ex-Canberra). Mundis were starting to put their offence together, but a few turnovers capitalised on by Brown Chicken, Brown Cow's efficient play saw us go down 15-11.
The second game of the day saw us taking on the well established team Mischief, a team that regularly features in the business end of UPA nationals over the past four or five years. Efficient offence combined with some real intensity and cohesion from the D-line in ever increasing wind saw us take the half 8-5(?). We managed to maintain form in the second half and ran out with a very satisfactory victory 15-7.
The strength of wind was highlighted when on the same field a large children's jumping castle, complete with small children inside and diesel generator attached, blew over and started rolling down the field (don't fret, no small children, animals or players were hurt). It was in these conditions that our last game of the day against Brass Monkey, who were finalists at WUCC 2006 in Perth, was played. Brass Monkey came out a little flat against a fired up Mundi team who were looking to continue on from the success of the earlier game. The mundis took the half 8-2 before a spirited come back from Brass in the second half. Soft cap was called at 11-6, before the mundis took out the game 13-7.
Special mention should go to the efforts of our D-line who were down a couple of sets of legs due to dodgy ankles, tender calves and overly colourful knees (the timing of our physio Mike's arrival was impeccable). Yorston and Freise ran all day as key players marking in the Pommie and Max, along with impressing the ladies on the other team with his looks, ran like a machine all day. Brett (aka Sweet As) also deserves mention for a couple of awesome grabs that he took on both O and D during the day.
After the day's play, we headed into the city for dinner with the other teams. The Venga boys (Seb, Sweet As, Tex, Huy) impressed and made a little loose change with their dancing efforts outside the pub after closing time.
We are now in Portland for the last games of our warm up against an exciting young new team, Triceratops, and the old hands of Horseshack. Portland is beautiful and sunny and our hosts have been incredibly hospitable.
Bring on Vancouver (only 6 sleeps to go).
After surviving Yosemite, we travelled back to San Francisco on Friday to prepare for our tournament on the weekend. There were seven teams from the Bay Area and LA out for a days fun in the sun (a nice change after the cool fog of our earlier time in SF).
First game saw us up against newly formed LA team "Brown Chicken, Brown Cow" featuring the familiar face of Minh Huynh (ex-Canberra). Mundis were starting to put their offence together, but a few turnovers capitalised on by Brown Chicken, Brown Cow's efficient play saw us go down 15-11.
The second game of the day saw us taking on the well established team Mischief, a team that regularly features in the business end of UPA nationals over the past four or five years. Efficient offence combined with some real intensity and cohesion from the D-line in ever increasing wind saw us take the half 8-5(?). We managed to maintain form in the second half and ran out with a very satisfactory victory 15-7.
The strength of wind was highlighted when on the same field a large children's jumping castle, complete with small children inside and diesel generator attached, blew over and started rolling down the field (don't fret, no small children, animals or players were hurt). It was in these conditions that our last game of the day against Brass Monkey, who were finalists at WUCC 2006 in Perth, was played. Brass Monkey came out a little flat against a fired up Mundi team who were looking to continue on from the success of the earlier game. The mundis took the half 8-2 before a spirited come back from Brass in the second half. Soft cap was called at 11-6, before the mundis took out the game 13-7.
Special mention should go to the efforts of our D-line who were down a couple of sets of legs due to dodgy ankles, tender calves and overly colourful knees (the timing of our physio Mike's arrival was impeccable). Yorston and Freise ran all day as key players marking in the Pommie and Max, along with impressing the ladies on the other team with his looks, ran like a machine all day. Brett (aka Sweet As) also deserves mention for a couple of awesome grabs that he took on both O and D during the day.
After the day's play, we headed into the city for dinner with the other teams. The Venga boys (Seb, Sweet As, Tex, Huy) impressed and made a little loose change with their dancing efforts outside the pub after closing time.
We are now in Portland for the last games of our warm up against an exciting young new team, Triceratops, and the old hands of Horseshack. Portland is beautiful and sunny and our hosts have been incredibly hospitable.
Bring on Vancouver (only 6 sleeps to go).
1 comment:
Way to go, Mundis! Nice to get those nerves settled. When you hit the big ones, remember how you managed to settle in these lead-ups.
Here's hoping for great success!
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