The day started somber with the events at the Majhid Al Noor Mosque, just a few hundred metres away, the Friday before still raw in our minds, and the day equalled that mood. But, as Sam Gamgee said, "Look, Mr Frodod, there's a light", and true to form, the sun beat down upon us with no respect for age, talent or the need to respect my delicate skin.

We welcomed Burnside Blackadders, Christchurch Canardlys (with Christchurch Heroes), Linwood Bollocks, Sumner Sharks, HSOB Div 3 and Keith to join together in remembrance with a minute's silence for the dead.




And then we kicked off.

Burnside was up first with our Scots trio out the back doing good shit and the Div 3 boys doing the same up front. It was very very odd to see only 7 Keiths playing in our own tournament which gave me pause to reflect where the fuck we had gone wrong. But however, rugby was being played and rugby I therefore watched.
It wasn't a try fest or an absolute thumping, just a solid take the gap and win up front kind of game. Training seems to be paying off with that good win over the candy stripers starting our season the way we want to continue.

Linwood followed with a good smattering of familiar faces causing some concern in the safe tackling department, but as in game 1, solid backline moves backed up by reasonably unkeithlike solidity from the pack gave us our second win of the day. It was of course at this time, fitness started to come into play and some weren't quite up to the task. I blame the unexpected heat. The Keith players on the sideline who preferred not to play today gave advice on how to win a preseason tournament, but I'm not sure it went down well.

The Sharks coming off a two game hiding hoped for redemption against us, but it was not to be. Again, men with strange accents scored too many tries for Sumner to even lie about winning. This was the game where the valuable rule of rolling subs came to our aid with turnover high and semi-fresh legs coming on to bolster the field. Sumner did not give in or give up, but did not manage to pull enough from the hat to take the prize they wanted.

Like us, the Canardlys were going to be short, even with Fridge playing to our surprise, so the Heroes joined in to make the biggest team on the day. However, the inexperience of the Heroes did not help their cause, even with the ability to sub out players ad infinitum. The same pattern of backs scoring after hard work by the forwards continued and proved once again to be the correct formula for our 4th and final win of the day. Playing 4 on the trot made the early chance to grab a cold beer all the more enjoyable, and we did with gusto.

Chief and Jones sneaked off to the clubrooms to get the tucker sorted, but it wasn't a big enough of an attraction to get many back there. Linwood, I know, had their own fundraising night to get to hours later, so only a couple of Bollocks showed themselves, likewise with the Sharks, Canardlys and Blackadders; not too many interested in post match banter and beer.

No matter what happens in the next couple of weeks with Keith, and the tragedy of last week, I'm glad we continued with the event.

Photographs here: http://keith.org.nz/?itemid=2117