the wheels fell off the chariot

The Six Nations match between England and Wales was surprising.  I had expected the match to be closely contested but instead the best performing team of the tourney fell apart.  I had to watch the match on mute because one can only take so many repetitions of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and I had hit my limit in under ten minutes.

Having the sound off meant that I missed hearing the joy and pain expressed by some of the announcing panel.  The next morning this screen shot was floating around Facebook:

Which one of these rugby commentators is the Welsh one?

This week marks the best rugby week in Hong Kong.  One Wednesday and Thursday at Hong Kong Football Club is the Hong Kong Tens, which I like as much as the Hong Kong Sevens.  The group stages on Wednesday are free to watch while the finals on Thursday cost $100 (for charity).  Along with former international sevens players, you can watch the likes of Tana Umaga, Marty Holah, Orene Ai’i, Hale T-Pole, John Carter, Seilala Mapusua and Todd Clever for much less than the cost of a Sevens ticket.

On Friday, Football Club hosts the Hong Kong Women's Sevens, a free event and the oldest women's sevens tournament.  Despite being overlooked as an option for the women's international series in favor of Guangzhou, the tournament managed to draw a diverse field including two teams on debut (South Africa and Ireland), four of the core IRB Womens' Sevens Series teams (Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and South Africa), two other teams who will play in Guangzhou (China and Japan join Ireland), and five other participating teams (Kazakhstan, France, Singapore, hosts Hong Kong and an International Select side)(source: Hong Kong Rugby Football Union).  I am disappointed that the USA women won't be attending because I naturally am a big fan and obviously don't get to see them in action a lot.  I will have to save my excitement for watching Carlin Isles play for the USA men.  I am interested to see what the 36th fastest runner in world looks like against traditional rugby players.

I was going to segue into a discussion of the upcoming British and Irish Lions vs. Barbarians match in Hong Kong this summer but I'll save that for another post.  Until then, ruck on!

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