Well, we had our first rugby match of the spring season yesterday. We played in Boston against our sister team, the Boston Ironsides, in perhaps some of the worst conditions ever imaginable.

Now, we’ve played in rainy, wet fields before. I’ve played in rainy, wet fields before. However, this field was water logged. We’re talking huge deep puddles in multiple parts of the field. For the opening kickoff, I was standing in a puddle that was well past my ankles and I was trying to keep focused on the game when I really wanted to laugh because it was too reminiscent of one of those beer commercials where the weekend warriors are playing in the mud and then enjoy a nice Guinness at the end of the game (or something like that). Pretty much the field was one big mud slick where you couldn’t really get much traction and it was like running in dry sand at the beach.

On more than one occasion I fell into the puddles and got soaking wet (not to mention the fact that we were already wet from the rain) and every time you fell you just coated yourself with mud once again. I also think I stepped on someone’s hand accidentally and I know at one point I paused long enough to check up on the status of one of my opponent’s props because it didn’t look like he was having an easy time of the game and got up very slowly out of a puddle. It might not have been the right thing to do strategically but I think that since we’re pretty much friendly with this team and it didn’t look like he was having an easy go of the match that it was best if I just checked in on him. I’m sportsmanlike that way I guess.

Overall, we won, I think, 20-0. If they had their goal posts up (basically PVC piping) then the score could have been higher with the post-try kicks (a “try”, the equivalent to a touchdown, is worth five points and the post-try kick is worth two points) but since they did not have pads to go on top of their goal posts to protect the player should he run into them they were not allowed to construct them. Personally, I think I did okay in my job in the game and I think my scrum work sucked. It was my first time starting a game and I wasn’t nervous at all but I think I could have done much better than what I was doing in the scrum and I know I can do better. Everyone kept telling me I did great under the conditions but personally I think I did okay. I’m always harder on myself than the coaches will be because I expect so much from myself. I know I have the skills to do the job but I just need to put them altogether.

After the match, we all adjourned to the locker room and the three lone shower stalls that over fifty of us had to share. As one person pointed out, it looked like a scene from a gay porn flick with all of the naked male bodies cavorting around (three of us under one nozzle, etc) trying to get clean (or as clean as possible) before heading back to the tent for some post match fun and revelry.

On the social side of the weekend, I stayed with a guy named Rick and his adorable cat Flour who proceeded to crawl all over me while I slept and napped. The first night, one of Rick’s teammate, Don (who had hooked up with one of our players in a previous match last November) stayed over with his dog Tanaki who decided that I was his play toy and jumped all over me non-stop. Don, okay, I’ll admit, I have a little place in my heart for Don because he’s such a sweet guy. I mean you just want to put him in your pocket and take him home with you because he’s such a nice guy. Like when he was here in November, I just took a seat at the restaurant table not even realizing who I was sitting beside and he just politely leaned in and asked if I wouldn’t mind swapping positions with his weekend paramour so they could sit together. I felt like total shit for taking that spot so I of course changed seats. On top of it, Don was the only member of the Boston team to recognize me after the new hair cut (yes pics are forthcoming) and the weight loss. (Rick, who came with us to dinner that night in November and of whom I have a shot of his butt, didn’t even recognize me.) Even better, Don and I have extremely similar tastes in music as he had Diana Krall’s live CD playing in his car as we headed off to the match. We actually exchanged addresses so we can burn a few things on our respective computers and send them to each other. I’m sending some movies (non porn thank you) and he’s sending me some jazz. This is what rugby is all about…the camaraderie between the teams after the match.

Overall, I think we had fun this weekend. Yeah I’m a little sore from the action but I was a nice little rugby player who didn’t try to score with an opposing team member and went out and had some fun. Sure we won and sure the conditions were miserable and sure I took a Tylenol with codeine on the way home so I could relax and rest and sure I have a nagging cough from playing in the rain.

But it was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for our next match.