 I don’t think Touraid and the coaching staff could have anticipated the severity of the conditions. Some of the pitches had large puddles of water on them and I was surprised that they did not cancel the tournament. Before our first match against St Olaves, School Sports Action TV interviewed Peter Ferguson and some of the boys. This can be viewed on their website along with some highlights from the two games. After much confusion, caused by the change in pitches due to the bad weather and the late arrival of some of the team, the boys kicked off against St Olaves (recent winners of the tournament). Addax lost the game by three tries to one. They conceded three tries in the first half but managed to fight back in the second half, scoring a try themselves. The game could have been a draw as Prince bashed his way through a few tackles and unfortunately dropped the ball over the line. Victor made a fantastic break, running half the length of the field chased by two St Olave boys, his legs just slowed at the end and he was tackled and fell agonisingly close to the line. Overall the boys deserved better from the game and they took the loss badly. We had to regroup quickly and everyone did their best to lift the boys’ morale.
 Keeping the boys dry and warm was becoming an impossible task as the bitter wind picked up and the rain came lashing down again. Unfortunately our second game never happened as the Catholic University team decided to pull out of the tournament due to deteriorating conditions. This meant that the boys were needlessly waiting out in the cold for an hour. The support from Ugo Monye, Mark Lambert and De Wet Barry helped keep the boys going. Mark did particularly well in keeping Nosa going by throwing a ball around with him, Mark was very impressed by Nosa’s Ronaldinho impersonation. The other boys were not doing so well in the cold, so taking our inspiration from “The March of The Penguins” all the adults huddled around the team to protect them from the elements. Thank goodness we had two strapping chaps, Dayo Adebayo and Manu (Emmanuel Amapakabo) to help shield the boys from the cold.
After the boys had rested in the refreshment tent and drunk a warm cup of tea, the guys were ready for the second and last match against Birchgrove. Just as the team ran out to the pitch the weather began to worsen once more. The referee for our match was delayed, leaving the boys exposed again. This time we kept the boys busy with warm up drills led by Andy Franco and Caleb Taylor. When the referee finally arrived, the team was warm and prepared for the match. Just as the boys kicked off an almighty thunder bolt landed close by, followed by a crack of thunder. This certainly motivated the players into a gutsy team performance. The boys heaped lots of pressure on the opposition forcing them to make errors. The Addax boys tackled their hearts out with Prince and Lawal simultaneously dump tackling one helpless Birchgrove player with enormous intensity. We managed to score the first try to take the lead before Birchgrove came back with a try. At half time the referee commended the boys’ ferocious tackling, little did he know that Kelechi had some of his own intensity to unleash in the second half!
 The boys were starting to enjoy themselves and played some decent rugby, Lawal broke through the last line of defense, only to lose control of the ball - what a shame!! Then came Kelechi time, he received a ball deep in his half and kicked it over the opposition into space. Out of nowhere came Victor who managed to kick the ball beyond the last defender. Victor was left to chase the ball and kick it over the line and score, you could hear the shouts of “kick it” and “pick it up” from the sidelines. Just at the crucial point the cursed egg shaped ball bobbled and Victor sliced the ball sideways away from the line. We all thought the moment had gone as the Birchgrove boys got back and put the tackles in, however Addax showed great support play and Prince managed to bundle himself over the line for a try. Kunle then calmly slotted over the conversion to take a seven point lead. Bichgrove had one chance to tie the game when their winger received the ball out wide with an overlap. It was left to Kelechi to stop him - and stop him he did. Kelechi put in a crunching tackle on the larger boy and the ball was knocked forward. This tackle won him an award for man of the tournament and this incident was filmed by School Sports Action TV. The poor Birchgrove boy had to be carried off the field suffering from a painful dead leg, I’m sure that this is the last time he will want to be Kelechied!!! Soon afterwards the final whistle went and the boys had experienced victory for the first time; remember this was only their second competitive game of rugby!! We are so proud of the boys, they had overcome the disappointment of the first defeat, their rugby skills and teamwork had improved and they survived the worst weather our country could have thrown at them. These guys are truly my heroes. The second day of the tournament had been called off, but we don’t think the boys minded, after all they had tasted success.
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