With great thanks to Ali Smeaton


Anyway Hugh, team was as Ally described with a couple of chubby Aussies -
>> think Chris Brokenfridge before pre-season - we found at the campsite to
>> complete the side, one of which claimed Queensland representative honours and
>> knowledge of Sean Fell. The other reminded me of Dame Edna.
>>
>> Tournament was played 2 saturdays ago in the blazing Spanish sunshine the day
>> before the opening ceremony of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona and
>> boasted teams from Spain, Scotland, England, Argentina, France and the
>> Pacific Islands - captained by All Black, Doug Howlett. Once
>> recovered from the initial shock of watching Dougie 500 boot up and his
>> polite declination of our invite to bench for us we set about the pool stages
>> taking an early 2 try lead against a Spanish national select. Disapointingly,
>> after wasting 3 clear try scoring opportunities we wilted slightly in the
>> heat and conceded 3 second half scores to open up with a loss. Picking
>> ourselves up we advanced into the Plate Final following a 5 try win over the
>> French side in our pool and then a really hard faught win over some
>> Argentinians who it turns out are very keen to organise a rugby tour to
>> Scotland next year. The Kukuri Badgers of London Scottish were waiting for
>> us in the final - game which was played in a fair but fiercly competitive
>> vein left Cammy with a torn hammy (rhymes), the eldest Smeaton with a
>> concussion and Stevie G with a broken nose which against the 15 strong squad
>> of the Badgers was to ultimately tell and despite a may-sive effort from
>> everyone left us 3 scores to 2 down at the final whistle.
>>
>> Absolutely brilliant day though where not only did nails play shoulder to
>> shoulder with hawks but we all made new friends and represented well on and
>> off the field. Beers earnt we then got involved in the party - which I'd
>> recommend to everyone - and all successfully ran with the bulls on monday
>> morning at 6am after a long day and night on the drink suffering nothing worse than a stubbed toe. Easy.
>>
>> Thanks to Hawks for the loan of the shirts - hope you are all well and look
>> 4ward to catching up at some stage this season. Have attached a couple of a
>> pictures of the day too.
>>
>> Cheers for now, Smeats

This article was posted on 16-Jul-2008, 21:53 by Hugh Barrow.