Rugby days - Aurelie's post on Sam's first day of Rugby matches

So Samuel now plays rugby. It's his choice, not mine (maybe a little influence from Stephen, but that's it). Of course when I chose his name (I did) I had in mind a little of Samuel Beckett, I mean it's the first name of an intellectual, or an artist, certainly not of a rugby player. On top of that he's way too handsome and rugby men are not (at least after playing for a while).

Anyway he likes it. Actually he loves it. He is playing at under 6 level, which mostly to get an idea of rules, teamwork and training. No scrums, no upper body tackles: I can still watch.
And yesterday after 4 weeks the day finally arrived: playing matches, not just training! There is local tournament where they play against several teams every month, each time in different places on the island.

Samuel was very excited about it, I mean he could finally prove he was the fastest, strongest, of all the other players. Personally I thought rugby was about putting the ball behind the opposing team, while passing it backward, but hey what do I know.

Our first tournament happened to be in St Benoit which is quite the opposite side of the island. This meant meeting at 8.00 at the club in town. This meant leaving the house at 7.30. This meant waking up at 6.20. On Sunday. Because obviously for the first match we were all going.
Thankfully we had no need for the alarm as Samuel woke up even before it went off asking “are we going now?”

We arrived at the meeting point early, trying to get some info as where we were going (there are 2 stadiums in St Benoit). After some confusion we got an answer and even a map, so we left Samuel going on the bus as we headed with little miss car sick on the long journey to St Benoit. The trip was fine, beside the fact that the map given was totally outdated and the stadium mentioned was wrong.  It was ok though, we still arrived before the bus. Who needs organisation anyway?

Getting ready

After so much expectation leading up to the big day drama had to happen and it came about the playing strip of the club as the Under 6s did not get them 'cos there were not enough of them to go around (they got the blue training strips. Huge disappointment, avery sad face and a few tears. It's tough but to be honest, blue is a lot better than black and yellow.

Obviously he ended up playing on the furthest side of the pitch away fromour “camp” so I went first on the pitch to watch him play and take pictures. They play 5 against 5 (or 4) and good thing it's simplified rules 'cos as I saw Samuel running with the ball I was afraid he was going the wrong direction when he was actually scoring his first point. Glad he did not hear me saying “no, the other way!”. I should probably refrain from shouting instruction.

Sam with the ball

Running to support his team mate

Anyway he had a great day. He played 4 matches (I think) though it gets confusing as they take kids from other teams when a team does not have enough players. He was just a bit disappointed that he did not play “real” matches, so we explained that he has to start like this to learn, and that trying to not pass the ball forward would be a good next step.  He was so tired from the matches (and getting up so early) that he slept in the car on the way back home.

Guess it was the first on many other rugby Sundays... as long as I can watch.