Shoulda, woulda, coulda.....

When it comes to rugby, I've got all my bases covered. My Dad is from New Zealand and my Mum is from Fiji. I waited for this World Cup with bated breath. You see, I really love my rugby.

So much so, it has taken me this long to even contemplate posting about New Zealand's sudden and unexpected departure from their quest for the cup. Viva la France? You must be joking.

Yes, things got interesting. I lost my voice cheering for Fiji during their triumphant win over Wales. I had friends over to watch the English give it to the Aussies. We all woke up excitedly to watch the NZ-France match. I went back to bed with the heaviest of hearts. Gutted. That is all I can say.

So then, Fiji took on South Africa. What a game! Without a doubt, Fiji played tremendously and won the hearts of rugby lovers world wide. They definitely take my vote for team of the tournament.

Suddenly, they were all out. New Zealand - gone. Fiji - game over.

I took heart in the fact that England were in the final even though the whole time I was thinking, "How the f**k did England make it to the finals................again?" Luckily, just about every Englishman I know was thinking the exact same thing.

Now it's all over. Well done to South Africa. Lekker bro.

Maybe I should switch to watching soccer.




Nah. Still love my rugby. New Zealand - 2011. Go the Blacks!

An excuse to buy more shoes.....

A number of my posts of late have been about touch rugby. I play a lot of it, I love it, we have fashionable uniforms and of course, it is another excuse to buy SHOES!

Here is my touch rugby collection:

Tried and true - Nike Turf shoes, perfect for the dry fields we play on during summer in the Philippines. Plus, an added bonus is that they are in white leather which is reminiscent of a certain Waisale Serevi.....



Black leather Nike cleats - perfect for playing in when there has been a bit of rain......or a lot of rain during the monsoon season. Cleats give you a lot more grip, less slip action when diving for a touch or a try. Plus, they look good.



My latest purchase (Monday) after a hedonistic drinking weekend with friends, lakeside in Tagaytay. Just happened to find the Nike Park outlet store at Santa Rosa and found these babies:



What can I say? Silver is the shoe colour of the season (according to my May edition of Glamour) and a true shoe diva needs to keep up with fashion, even when sweating it out on the rugby pitch.

NZ Breeds them Beautiful.....

All I can say is.....why didn't we see anything like this in Pattaya?



He may be a Cantabrian but looking at those legs, I think we can forgive Dan Carter. Just this once.

What goes on tour.....

If you have ever been on a sports tour of any kind, there is the unwritten rule of "What goes on tour, stays on tour". As a committed member of the Nomads Bullettes, there is absolutely no way I am going to flout that rule in any way whatsoever.

I sit here today completely knackered. I have suffering from the worst bad hair day in history, there is still 40% proof tequila running through my veins, fish net stockings and filthy rugby kit litters the floor, yet I have the BIGGEST SMILE ON MY FACE!

We absolutely rocked Pattaya and the teams at the Pattaya 10's won't be forgetting us for a looooonnnngggg time. Walking Street will NEVER see the likes of it again (until, maybe, next year) and we took the pub crawl leaving few survivors.

All I can say is that the tour consisted of..........

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS:



A COUPLE OF THESE:




A HUGE AMOUNT OF THIS:



WAY TOO MUCH OF THIS:



AN EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT OF THIS:



A VERY TIRING BUT AWESOME AMOUNT OF THIS:



ONE OF THESE:



BUT NOT ENOUGH OF THIS:



Game on Bullettes!

For the love of rugby.....

I have not blogged in forever. Life just gets in the way at the moment.

Tomorrow is the ANZA Grand Charity Ball - as a member of the committee, it seems that this event has consumed every moment of my time over the last three months. I have organised over 30 corporate prizes, one social event for expatriate women, two written articles for a magazine and countless hours in the car to-ing and fro-ing from meetings in Makati.

Wednesday's are a write off for any type of computer time. I teach two non-English speaking nuns and about twenty children in the slums of Tondo, central Manila. From there, I jump in the car and head off to rugby training to clear my head.

Coming up, I have a touch tournament and then following, the Manila 10's International Tournament plus add in our first international tour in Pattaya, Thailand.

My point exactly?

I love fashion. I am enamoured with shoes. I adore my husband. I would lie in front of a moving vehicle for my dog. But rugby.....ah rugby, that is a whole lot of other love.

As a commitment of my love for this sport, Fungus and I decided to sign on as a major sponsor for the upcoming, first ever Nomads Touch tournament. Today was particularly exciting as our 'company', which is in its birth stages, was unveiled on the tournament advertising and banners:



Gee, I wonder which sponsor we are?

Rugby Chicks

I haven't found the time to blog in ages - it is almost like an obsession some weeks and gets pushed to the back-burner at other times. Suffice to say, I am back in action.

One of the things which occupies alot of my time here in Manila is womens touch rugby. I play for an awesome club called the Manila Nomads. Not only do we train twice a week and play on weekends but the club is also involved in raising the profile of touch rugby in the Philippines. A couple of weeks ago we helped with rugby clinics for MAAP and the Philippine Police Cadets - that was an experience. The women had buzz cuts like the men!

Two weeks ago saw our team, the Nomads Bullettes (the blokes are the Nomads Bulls) on our first tour to Cebu. For those unfamiliar with Cebu, it is an island in the Philippines. Cebu is more than 200 km long and just 40 km across at its widest point, at the centre of the Visayas. It is locked between Negros, Leyte and Bohol. It is the main island of Cebu province and the location of the capital, Cebu City. On a short 55 minute flight from Manila, it is a great getaway.

We were playing in a triangular tournament with the Cebu Pink Dragons and the University of the Philippines Green Hornets. It was the first tour for the Hornets and the first tournament for the Pink Dragons - great for womens touch rugby!

Like all good rugby tours, ours did involve a fair amount of drinking, tour costumes and fines. As the fine master, it was my privilege to fine the girls 20 or 50 pesos for a variety of on-tour offenses. For 50 pesos you were not allowed to:

1. Complain about a fine
2. Argue or try to reason with the fine master (yes, moi)
3. Bitch about the tour itinerary
4. Bitch fullstop!!
5. Gossip in public (but alot went on in the privacy of rooms)
6. Fail to wear assigned team costumes
7. Bring more than one gym sized bag on tour
8. Refuse to drink team shots
9. Be late on any occasion
10.Use your cellphone in front of team mates

For 20 pesos you were not allowed to:

1. Drink with your right hand
2. Finger point - lips or legs only
3. Utter the following words:
Your name or anyone else's on the team (we all had outrageous nick names for the tour)
Your husband or boyfriend's name
Your children's name
The word 'Cebu'
The word 'beer'
The word 'wine'
4. Swearing in restaurants in bars

By the end of the tour, I had fines collected to a total of about 5000 pesos! Once we were all drinking, tour mates were just handing me 100 pesos and saying "Put it on my tab". Great fun.

The following photos are in no way indicative of our rugby playing prowess nor our sense of fashion or style:











So, did we win the tournament in between all the drinking, eating and drunken debauchery? Too right we did!





It was a great first tour of the year for us all. And like all great rugby tours the drinks kept flowing. We all made new friends..........



..........even if it was with four bottles of beer!



Yeah, that's my room mate - on ya Aussie chick!

Even our pilot on the way home got into the spirit of things and wore our team medal home. Well basically, he had no choice. What else do you do when your last flight of the night is full of drunk rugby chicks?