It was a fine sunny day in Albany as the men of the Haas rugby club lined up against Stanford. Yes, they were on average twice as big as us. Yes, they seemed to have played together a lot and know what they were doing. Yes, although they claim to be a business school team they actually recruit from the whole Stanford graduate program (10,000+ students).
No, these are not excuses. Rugby is a technical and complex game, and although they outscored us rather heavily (to nothing) I think we can claim victory. It was definitely a better display than at the tens tournament, and as we played close to Uni Village we even had supporters! My moment of glory came when I caught the kick-off, and therefore took the first tackle. As I bounced off the hard Astroturf and took a boot to the face I thought "This is what I moved to California for..."
Me taking on Stanford.
Scrum.
High-speed defense from Haas.
A helping hand (we didn't have a magic sponge).
I'm at the bottom of this pile.
My bum in action in the middle there.
Post-match knees. They hurt a lot in the shower...
The all-important keg of beer in the car park.
Sagy, one of our loyal supporters. Next match he'll be on the pitch.
Thanks to Hannah and Fiona for taking the pics!
