On a brisk day in November we gathered knowing that destiny was in our own hands, win today and we would guarantee our spot in the Shuto League Final. IT WAS AS SIMPLE AS THAT. Despite what was perceived as an understrength side the mentality was next man up and that any one lucky enough to be wearing a Crusaders shirt deserved and was good enough to be in it.
The mighty Crusaders started brightly and were rewarded after Jacob riley scored under the posts after Captain Fantastic Tom Cocks majestically found the key to the defense and galloped through a gap and offloaded to the ever-willing Jacob.
Koyro had a purple patch and after being camped in the crusaders 22 for what seemed like an eternity finally broke through and scored. Then arguably the moment of the game, getting the ball in our own half our flying Frenchman Hugo Tiptoed through the defense and raced like a Ferrari and ran the length off the pitch to score. Not happy with 1 try Hugo was on the scoresheet soon after great work from the other winger Benji (who was actually on time for the game sped down the flank. The Ball was quickly recycled with Suguru passing to Chris who took on his man and just before being cut in half by the opposition managed to offload the ball to Jacob who picked the ball from his shoelaces and passed to Hugo who calmly finished in the corner. Some of the standouts from the first half where in the pack Mr.Brendan Gallagher who could only be described as a bull in a china shop with Koyro not knowing how to stop the Rampaging Mr. Gallagher. In the backline Lawrence “Juice” Bakora was using found strength “Cough Cough” to destroy any unfortunate Koyro player that was unlucky enough to be in possession
near him. With Half time near approaching Rob busted through the hapless defense before being decapitated by the fullback which the tackler rightfully sinbined. What happened next is quite unbelievable with halftime upon us and the ball just having to be kicked off the park.
Our Hooker yuuki thinking that he was the reincarnation of Dan Carter grabbed the ball and proceed to slice the ball into the Koyro most dangerous player which almost resulted in a try. For those worrying Yuuki actions will not go unpunished and his dues will be payed in full at the Christmas party.
The message at half time was clear foot on the throat no let up finish the game in the next 10 minutes. The pack must have been listening as within 5 minutes of the restart the crusaders won a scrum against the head (thanks for that Reece and Shota not Yuuki though) saw kazu kick through which allowed Chris to scamper through and show that he could in Fact be playing Premiership Football with a nice couple of dribbles he slid under the posts. Not to be Outdone his center partner Lawrence was on the score sheet shortly after great backline move saw him slide into the corner. Suguru “Sugar” expertly converted from the corner to keep his perfect record for the day intact. Crusaders emptied the bench but there was no let up with the likes of Sparrow, Breffni, Tomo and Yamaghashi making sure that the result would not be in doubt and despite a late surge by Koyro which saw Brendan yellow carded for persistent infringing “this crime was later forgiven as he was MOM”.
But it was to be a Crusaders day with a date in the Shuto cup fixed for early next year we have the opportunity to finish off strongly and hopefully get the fairytale finish that we know we deserve.