I was not a Cock last weekend. I played a match with the toujours sympa Paris Japanese Rugby Football Club. We played a team called Elan from the non-descript suburb of Chevilly, south of Paris. We lost (the PJRFC has never won a match), but we played very well against a very strong opponent and even managed to punch in a fine try at the end of the match. In fact, we did well to keep the score at 4 tries to 1 vs. a team that would have troubled even the Cocks at their stiffest. In the second half, in fact, the teams scored one try each. Credit to our friends from Chevilly — they played a clean match with no cheating and no cheap shots. The Japanese are good players. If they played together more often (one match every two or three months isn’t enough), they would start to score some victories… well, and if a few of the guys could gain about 50 pounds each, as we’re a little lacking in FatMans power.

Of course, the best part of the match was the “third half,” which involved a large party in Elan’s clubhouse with beer, white wine, and huge platters of sushi, much of which was prepared by hand by rather servile Japanese wives. (These are the same women who come RUNNING onto the pitch every time a whistle blows, offering us water and/or oranges. They’re also the ones who emit a high-pitched squealing sound — something they seem to consider cheering — every time we touch the ball. Our opponents are always entertained by that.) The party turned out to be a solid cross-cultural exchange, as more than a few French players from Elan ditched their saucissons and cheese in favor of sushi and rice balls. The Japanese truly know how to entertain. It was a fine way to start the weekend.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2005 at 12:22:24 and is filed under General. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.