Something clever should go here....

Gear up, this is a long one. As much as I would like to complain about how silly and useless fitness is, this weekend has shown just how useful it actually can be. When we last spoke, Robin had just beaten me to a pulp via sprints and tires. All that pain ended up paying off this weekend but I'll get to that later. Not a lot happened Wednesday, just relaxed and watched some TV, Thursday was a quality training session. Everyone seemed focused and ready to play for the coming weekend. I woke up Friday with a little extra get up because I would be watching my first pro rugby game later that night between the Western Province Rugby Club and the Natal Sharks. During the day we went to go watch the fourth team go play some golf at a nearby course. The mountains served as a striking background for the holes we were watching. While we were waiting for people to come in, Aaron and I had some lovely conversation with Garrick and one of the fourth team's coaches. Topics included Ferrari, Formula one and the lovely weather of downtown Houston. We could have stayed there but if we wanted to get a good parking spot before the match, we had to leave before everyone came in. We find a spot, get out, walk around and grab some borewors rolls to eat. It's just about game time and we meet up with Liza who has our tickets. We find our seats which are thankfully underneath a giant pavilion. While we were under the stands it had started raining and it continued to do so throughout the whole game. The rain slowed down the pace of the game so there was a lot of kicking, scrums and general time wasting. It wasn't an awesome game and Western Province (the team we were cheering for) ended up losing but it was still fun to watch. After the game, we went to a place called Springboks for a nightcap and to people watch. Garrick, Aaron and I decided it was for the best that we not leave the table for fear of getting drawn to the dance floor like a moth to a flame. If that were to happen, the chances of us getting home at a decent hour would be nil. The DJ must have known this as he just had to play the catchiest music making it harder and harder to stay at our table. Garrick's girlfriend, Jen, showed up with her friend Emily and both were in the mood to dance. They kept pushing and it got harder and harder to say no until Aaron finally caved and followed Em to the dance floor. Jen pulled me along and within minutes we were dancing. After a while, some guy tried to start a fight with me because I accidentally stepped on his shoe. I had to keep from laughing at how small this guy was compared to me but it turns out he was just joking. We leave Springbok's and are off to Em's boyfriend's apartment so that they can continue partying. Once there, Aaron and I decided it was a good time to duck out before we stayed any later and hurt our chances at playing well the next day. We get home, lights out and it's time to rest up for the big day. Morning came quickly as we suited up to play the University of Cape Town.