Week 8 vs "The Pink Team"

This weekend's game may have ended with the same result as the last few, but the style of play and sense of urgency was much better for us. Only down at the half by 2 points, we were playing a more expansive and exciting type of rugby. I probably touched the ball more than I had in any other game, coming up just short of scoring my second try and having a few nice runs. In the second half we had a swirling wind behind our backs and felt the need to kick for territory a bit more, which didn't go our way. We also lost our 3rd center in 4 weeks, and therefore had to play with a number 7 in the backline the entire second half. This hampered our attack a bit and we weren't able to keep the same flow we had in the first 40 minutes of the game. The final score was 12-27.

Brendan, a good friend of mine from the good ole days at Saint Mary's Collge visited us this weekend. He enjoyed the french lifestyle and had a good time at the match as well. It's always great having guests, especially when they leave happy that they came. He brought us some amazing homemade Irish jam from his family in Ireland. (And by the way, there was this creepy guy at the train station trying to talk to us when we took this picture, hence my wandering eyes. I couldn't focus on the picture after he said to Lauren, "you are so beautiful, I want to French kiss you!" He could see that it was time for him to go after that.  

Other Top 14 scores:

Bayonne        25 - Perpignan   26
Clermont        24 - Castres       6

Racing Metro 17 - Biarritz       12

Brive             16 - Toulouse     16

Montpellier    26 - La Rochelle  6

Bourgoin         3 - Toulon         26

Next week we take on the reigning Top 14 champions, Clermont, at Clermont. It'll be an interesting week with several injuries and some guys needing a rest.

Miscellaneous

Some random pictures from our last week.

Nice shot of Kevin in the last game that was posted on the Agen website.

                     Flowers from Kevin

Hand-made rug from a local market.

Our neighbors gave us an old armoir for free. We decided to paint it because it was a faded, uneven lime green before.... but now it is really blue which wasn't our goal either. We were going for a slate grey with hint of blue.. oops. It was a fun project for us though.

Potanque (or Bocci ball) is a popular and competitive pasttime here in Southern France. We could sit and watch the locals play for hours.

Montepellier

 We didn't do a post on last weekends game verse Toulon because Kevin was being rested and didn't play, it was an away game so I didn't see it, and they played horribly. With that loss, their game this past weekend verse Montepellier was very important. Unfortunately, it was horrible as well.

It was a televised game so it didn't start till 8:45pm, which created a much different environment. The stadium wasn't full and the crowd was very quiet as many families had to stayed home with their young kids. Montepellier was simply more aggressive - our boys looked timid and uninterested. It was one of the worst rugby matches I've seen and you could tell the fans were very disappointed in the lack of passion. Kevin had a couple good runs, one which he almost broke free to score, but he also had a few uncharacteristic mistakes. Not a good game to be televised. 

The boys had a team meeting after the game so hopefully they have a good week of training and a great game next weekend verse Stade Francais.

                                                

Perpignan

Well, it was a game of two halves, that's for sure. It wasn't overdominance one way or the other, but it was just one team taking advantage of their opportunities, and the other team not. In the first half it was Perpignan, scoring 20 points to our 0. We slowly started to march back, scoring a try in the first few minutes of the second half. We eventually took the lead 23-20, but they tied the game quickly after. The final whistle blew and it was still tied. Everyone hates a tie, but it's good that we didn't lose having been down so much at half time as well. I felt the most comfortable to date in this game, finding myself around the ball more, communicating with teammates better (in a half-english-half-french sort of way), and doing well in defense.

It's always fun walking off the field and seeing Lauren there with a smile. I get my confirmation of how I played when I see her. If she's proud of me then I know I played well...thankfully she was proud.

3 Matches...in 8 days!

This week marks one of the toughest weeks yet, as we have 3 matches in just 8 days. Last weekend was where it started, as we took on Biarritz and won. Unfortunately, that satisfactory feeling of victory was dismounted last night when we lost in Bourgoin.

We flew there in the morning, had a walk through at the field and then hung out at a hotel until the match. From the Biarrits match you could tell some players were feeling a little sore still, but for others they were getting a rest day. The coaches decided to give some regular starters a rest and in turn give the players that have either been on the bench or haven't played at all a shot. We were playing the worst team in the competition thus far, so it was understandable why. The coaches were thinking we could pull off a victory with a side that wasn't our best, and they were right; but knowing those same players would actually do it is something else entirely. We just didn't play very good rugby, missing out on basic things like ball handling, kick chase, cover defense, and just overall aggression. Anyway, the final score was 22-15.

We take on Perpignan this weekend, at home. This is a must win for us, as it's so difficult to win on the road, therefore every home game is a must win.

In case you haven't seen it, or would like to know...the team try that I just happened to finish off last weekend was #1 of the Top 10 tries.