The Bondi Tens were played at Woollahra Colleagues on the 9th 10th of February, see www.bonditens.com for more info.
The Bali Legends first played in November 2003 at the North Sydney Oval, as a memorial to those who died and were injured by the tragedy on Kuta the previous year. Started by Melissa Lysaght, who lost here husband Scott, the Legends concept is to celebrate the indubitable spirit Rugby promotes, the friendship bonds that are created, the camaraderie that is enjoyed and the stories to be told in the bar afterwards. These are unequalled in any other sport. Players have travelled from across the globe to represent the Bali Legends, many representing clubs that were in Bali at the time, as were directly affected.
Having an international make up with players flying in from all over the world we only came together on the Friday of the competition, after a quick warm up we got together to try and put some cohesion into the team. Things were looking good, some of us could catch and others could run, I just hoped it would all come together at the right time.
Before the first game Melissa Lysaght presented us with our Jerseys, and then we were off to face our first opposition, the Misfits. All our hope that we were looking a useful team quickly evaporated when the Misfits thoroughly destroyed us, going on to win by the biggest margin of the day, 42-0. In all fairness we had not played badly, the Misfits were a very good side and ended up unlucky not to win the Cup the next day, coming runners up in the final.
On to our next game against the NSW fire brigade, this time our team was starting to gel, our Fly half/five eight/second five (depending on where you are from) Scotty Phillips showed his class, getting our first points on the board, with a lovely chip chase. Although we were again very disjointed and never sure of the numbers of players we had on the pitch at any one time (it was rolling subs) we won 12-7. The comedy moment of the day was when they scored. Nik Webber our scum half popping the ball, from the base of a scum on our own 5 meter line, to Nick Morgan who was leaving the field and the ball bounced off his chest into the arms of the Fire Brigades winger who ran under the posts.
On to the final game of the pool, the NSW Country Barbarians. We had watched them beat the Misfits earlier in the day and take the fire brigade apart so we were slightly concerned what they were going to do to us. However we needn't have worried as the potential we had been showing all day finally emerged. In a very tight game where everything came together we were seven all going into half time thanks to a very nifty charge down, again by our wunderkind Scott Phillips who then scored under the posts. The team played brilliantly with the defence closing down their nifty runners and putting pressure on them the whole time. We ended up loosing the game 12-7 but were very happy with the game we played an were positive about the next day.
We all wondered down to the Rose Bay hotel in good spirits for a quick bite to eat, watch England beat Australia in the first of the one day finals and have a couple of quiet drinks!!!
We eventually all assembled at the ground the next day, some more bleary eyed than others, for our first game of the knock out stages. We had been drawn in the Bowl against the Convicts. After the last game we played on Friday we were very positive about this game. We knew we were only three wins away from lifting some silverware. Having camped on the Convicts line for most of the first half we eventually scored a scrappy try going into half time 7-0 up. We were all over the place, reverting to the form we had in our first game against the Misfits. The second half only got worse. The convicts scored in the corner, as we went down to 9 players, with one in the bin for a professional foul. Luckily they missed the conversion and we were still up 7-5, but hanging on by the skin of our teeth with some desperate tackling. With 20 seconds to go the Convicts are awarded a penalty for a high tackle, which the kicked over 7-8, and we ran out of time. The boys were distraught after having so much confidence that morning. It was a cruel blow.
However we had fun in the trying, the first time the Bali Legends had played in this comp, but not the last, and next year we have vowed to be better.
Thanks to all the lads who made the weekend very special. Janice Roberts who's husband Alan organised the comp, said that the Bali Legends gave the tournament sole.
We achieved what we set out to do, make friends, play rugby and enjoy ourselves.
I'm looking forward to next year.
For pictures of the after tournament party have a look at my other group, Bondi Vice.
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