22 Nov 2009 – YCAC Gents vs Zenkai Beers
Match report by Joe Fisher
Photos by Kyoko Obayashi
Gents photos
YCAC Gents 38, Zenkai Beers 5 (HT 24-0)
On a cold and overcast autumn day out at Yamate the mighty Gents eased to victory over the Zenkai (“Last Time”) Beers to continue their unbeaten run this season.
With this match falling in the middle of a three day weekend there were a number of regular players missing and this resulted in 1st Team lock Aran “Big Dell” Delaney being “promoted” to loose head prop. Luckily for Aran the Beers tight head prop was only the largest opponent YCAC will play all season – he would definitely have been 150 kg plus. However, as it turned out the YCAC scrum completely dominated the Beers scrum, marching them backwards several meters on numerous occasions during the match. In fact, YCAC’s scrummaging was so strong that the introduction of powerhouse hooker Scott “Several Bellies” Sizemore in the second half changed the situation from “dominant” to “dangerous” and safety-conscious referee Steve “The Vicar” Lewis (resplendent with his new “Thunderball” whistle) felt obliged to instruct the YCAC pack to stop pushing. Sizemore was disgusted.
With the YCAC front row setting such a solid platform the rest of the team were able to enjoy the spoils. Livewire flanker Kenji “Red Gloves Watermelon” Yoshioka took full advantage of the gaps that were appearing by scoring a first half hat-trick. Kenji has been in fine form this season and bears all the marks of a YCAC top try-scorer – he has blinding speed, good evasive skills and he absolutely refuses to pass the ball!
But if Kenji was the star of the first half then the second half belonged to lock Brimman “Brutus” Frazer whose two tries were even more impressive when some background information is taken into account. You see, the place to be in Tokyo the night before the game was the Ebisu pad of the YCAC 1st Team Captains of Vice (Dean “Mama’s Boy” Stallard and Tristan “I Love Dean’s Mum” Fahy) where Stallard was celebrating 30 years of his existence. Young Frazer began his Saturday night by politely attending to wish Dean well and after drinking his fill at this soiree decided to sample the delights of Roppongi. One thing led to another and Frazer ended up only getting back to his Gaijin House (not alone, it should be added) at 7 am on the morning of the match. After this outstanding effort all agreed that he could almost be forgiven for losing his MVP sculling contest against his Beers opposite. Almost.
Joe