2009-09-26 - Brussels Tournament
Friday 25th September saw Superhands arrive in the blue skies of Brussels. A city known for its Beer, Chocolate & Waffles all of which were consumed quite nicely in between an amazing day of Touch Rugby with Superhands bringing home the Silver Plate!
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- Photos
- Summary
Friday 25th Superhands gathered in the historic centre of Grand Place in Brussels. Fliss gets assigned the Fine Mistress and has already received fines without her knowledge while Fran collects a fine for not par-taking in alcoholic beverages at the Airport.
After collecting some tourists for photos and the boys being the main attraction in their kilts there was a quick visit to the cities famous tourist attraction “Manneken Pis” - a bronze statue of a little boy taking a wee. The beer was more interesting so we park ourselves up outside in the courtyard for some sampling.
Awaiting the arrival of Pierre and Narinder, team vote is to find somewhere suitable to eat. Jenny leads us into a fine establishment and after arranging a table for 9 of us, Rob using the boys facilities and us all chatting a while there is then a conclusion the menu is too expensive so we decide to Up on out of there to the terrible stares of the waiters! This time Dave negotiates us a free aperitif & a meal for 10 euro per person where we sample local mussels, fish, and steak. There are a number of fines starting to get dished out & the fine list is growing… Jenny tries to pay in Pounds because she comes from “The Border”. Catriona doesn’t finish her beer & Pierre & Narinder haven’t turned up = FINE.
Once the tummies are full we head for a local pub, with 2004 beers to choose from 60 different countries, our fellow team mates finally show after a late flight arrival and after a few local beers, giggles & more Fines we walk back to the hotel with Doug leading the way for a early night.
Saturday 26th tournament day - Downstairs we go for breaky and meet some of the other teams who are also staying at the hotel, once gathered in the foyer and wondering about outside thinking we missed the coach we finally board the bus for our destination in the lovely surrounds of Brussels Park for the tournament.
After a warm up we are first up against cote d’opale from France. Superhands are off to a flying start scoring off a dump & split by Lesley-Anne & Doug within the first 2 minutes. Opale are struggling to keep up with our attacking with Superhands keeping most position of the ball. During the next play Rob (mid) passes to Dave (link) who throws a long ball over to jenny on the wing who catches it to dive over the try line. Half time saw us dominating & after a positive team talk from Captain Doug the second half SH kept good communication with tries scored by Pierre off a “5 move” & Fran who broke over the try line and threw a low ball to Catriona to finish the first game of the day winning 6 Nil to Superhands
2nd Game is against Brussels Celtic Untouchable where we have a challenge ahead… and within the first minute Brussels find a gap and score through our defense. We improve our communication and get some good position running some nice curves to then score a lovely try by Rob Lee who broke through a gap just over the half way mark. Half time saw a score of 1 – 5 to Brussels. We gather for some good team talking to work on our defense communication and driving.
Second half saw our team talk outcome with no try scoring so far from Brussels & also Superhands keeping good position gaining some good ground with good driving and subbing.
Brussels scored 2 more tries & SH scoring 1 with a good pass from Dave to Pierre for a quickie try.
Final Score 2-7 to Brussels
3rd game for the day is Amsterdam… a interesting team that had some strong male players with speed which seem to play a lot of their own game, they read the game well and score two tries within the first couple of minutes. SH attacking first try comes off a pass from Eleanor to Rob Lee who sees a gap as dummy near the try line, off loads to Fran who scores our first points on the board in the first half. Amsterdam are playing a quick game with their number 10 dominating the play and they score again with a half time score of 2-6 to Amsterdam. Captain Doug & Pierre give a positive constructive half time chat keeping our chins up its back to the game. Second half shows Narinder, Eleanor & Dave doing some great driving up the sideline gaining good ground and keeping the opposition on their toes. SH are also showing big commitments on defense and working hard to keep Holland from scoring. Overall a tough match but a good team effort.
Final Score 4-9 to Amsterdam.
Semi Final – See’s us up against Brussels in2 touch. The start of play shows some great touch rugby with a close game. First try comes off a slider between Lesley-Anne & Rob scoring. SH have some nice curves working and some great defense with a great dive and touch by Lesley-Anne to save the opposition from scoring. They then get a penalty for overstepping and we have the ball on our try line & making the most of it with a nice pass from Dave to Doug who scores a nice try on the wing bringing us a halftime score of 3-2 to Superhands.
The second half shows full commitment from Superhands on defense, Narinder making some great touches preventing the opposition gaining ground & our defense line keeping good communication. Unfortunately Dave takes a roll of the ankle and is off for the last minutes of the match. On position of the ball and some good driving, a super pass from Rob Lee to Pierre who scores.
Semi Final Score – 6-4 to Superhands…..
Final match of the day sees us once again - against our friendly French opponents Cote d ‘opal.
Pierre gives us a team talk and makes it clear our mission is to win this game! Nothing worse than being beaten by the French! The Cote d ‘opal has improved throughout the day and playing a much better game. Although first try see’s a lovely dump & split between Doug & Pierre with Doug scoring. Continuing to keep good defense with lots of talking, one of the French girls scores over the wrong try line which lucky for us is not rewarded, but in turn they manage to score off a quick ball. SH keeping up determination and at the end of the next line of attacking play Eleanor (mid) throws a long ball over to Jenny on the wing who with brilliant hands catches it to score right in the corner try line. SH are playing with such great team effort and back on the pitch after half time SH go out firing. First try by SH sees a nice run through a gap by Doug and offloading to Lesley-Anne (Link) who scores a nice try & SH leading the way now. Cote d ‘opal are attacking with some quick driving but SH defense is proving with limited scores & on our turn around Pierre scores off a “5” move giving us more points on the board. The final try of the game was a nice dump & split from Fran & Pierre with a offload to Jenny who scores her 2nd try of the game & 3rd for the tournament.
Final Score 10-5 to Superhands!!!! Goooo Superhands
We all decide to celebrate and Doug buys us some nice cold beers, and relaxing in the sun to watch the final. The day concludes with the presentations and we take home the silver plate coming 5th overall!!
The bus ride back to the hotel was a different story to the bus ride to the match! Everyone was on a high and Superhands lead the way with a sing a long which starts off to “Caledonia” and ends in Queen & a bus full of head banging! We land back at the hotel to put on our “Number 1’s” for the evenings Par-tay!
A delicious meal of steak & ale pie with mash washed down with a few pints & Dave starts off the table with drinking games & Fliss introduces the team to the “Vege” Game (no teeth)!
Absolutely fantastic night was had and a rather funny memory was Superhands Celidh dancing to Bob Marley & Michael Jackson…. However it was the attraction of the night with the rest of the party joining in and Pierre flying Narinder around in a spin whilst doing the Gay Gordon’s. The Ceildh came to a ground halt when the foreigners didn’t know the steps, very funny and a tone of fun! We all finished up in the wee early hours with nice alcoholic glows.
Sunday 27th
Eleanor departs with a very early morning wake up & the remainder of us sleeps a bit longer and then all gather feeling a bit worse for wear but ready for a day excursion to Bruges! Lesley-Anne and Pierre are the last to arise with Lesley-Anne bringing a surprise present in her handbag……. we all know what that was Rob Lee!
Pierre leads the way buying the tickets & we board the train for our destination.
On arrival – How many Superhands does it take to store a bag? After us all trying to figure out how to store our luggage only to find out the Lockers were broken we store our bags with the local Flemish man and follow Doug who has the map along the scenic route alongside the canal to the town square. Loads of photo stops with quaint little streets, perfectly groomed homes, fresh flowers & canals, oh and the tourist trap of horses and carts. We decide it’s not a good idea to hire bikes with the boys in kilts & their traditional nonexistent underwear wouldn’t be a smart plan on cobbled streets. We find the beautiful Grand Square and with belly’s rumbling we sit down for lunch & beers with the back drop of beautiful Grand Square sitting in the sun drinking beer and eating a delicious meal.
With the team well relaxed we make our way back to the Train Station with a beer/coffee stop along the way only to board a very full train where we are all squashed in like sardines in the passage ways, makes an interesting journey back to Brussels. Arrival at Nord Station the four of us staying the extra night give our traditional Goooo Superhands goodbyes… on the train platform as the train is departing and Dave giving his special “Scottish Wave” to a train load of people!!
On behalf of the team, a big thanks to Doug for his organization in getting accommodation & pre planning the arrangements for us all. There were also some great words of wisdom during half time talks as Captain for the day.
Awesome stuff!
A Big thanks also to Peter who played for us in the Semi final, with a great impact and addition to the guys. Although a funny incident on the pitch of running over the try line thinking he was dummy half (when he wasn’t) looking to pass and didn’t score did result in a Fine - Cheers Peter!
It was a great well organized tournament by Brussels Touch from start to finish, you couldn’t ask for a better crew of people. I’m very grateful for being included as the injured team punter on the sideline
A motto we have at home in NZ which I believe Superhands live up to is “Play hard on the paddock & play hard off the paddock”
- Fines
Dave B – relations with the opposition , Rob – Swearing on the sideline & taking off his undies, Doug – no table manners, Pierre - Arriving late & last on the bus, Fran – no beer at the airport & not taking responsibility for own actions, Peter.. poor Peter the list is too long, Lesley-Anne – Dropping the winning plate, Jenny – trying to pay with pounds instead of Euros, Catriona – not finishing her beer, Eleanor - not wearing her kilt, Fliss – to prompt & no kilt, Narinder – Arriving late & not showing for dinner.
- Quotes
“I am not having a relationship with myself”
“I live on the Border”
“Sleep with Rob Lee & it hurts to pee, Oh that Rhymes
“I keep getting Richard O’brien confused with the guy from the Crystal Maze”
- LAST but certainly not least
I here by officially donate the Vege drinking game to Superhands Touch as a traditional
On tour drinking game which maybe played on tour only. Additional participants will be included by invitation only.
Good Luck Veges!
Fliss Shaw.