10. Rugby

Leaving England for Shanghai had its downsides. There are a few events in the year which I knew I had to sacrifice if I was to make the trip to the Far East. One of them was Christmas, a day best spent with the family and Derwent Rugby Old Boy's re-union week-end.

A rugby team is like a family, a brotherhood which you go out with, look out for and protect on the pitch. This is why today was quite a momentous day.

Derwent  Rugby, fine represents of a college with a cracking spirit, are a cracking team. Fantastic lads, bloody talented and party animals. Today though I went along to the training session of the Shanghai Hairy Crabs RFC.

The club which was founded a few years ago, has three teams: a fresh water crabs, the hermits and the hairy crabs first team. It has about 70 odd members and serves the expat community. Most of the members are French, but the language of the club is English. It is certainly a growing club, there is a tour to Beijing next week which I have paid for and I am genuinely very excited about. There are also plans to go to Australia for the lions tour in 2013 and in the past the club have toured Malaysia, Korea and loads of places around China. The trips are also subsidized because of sponsorship.
The membership fee of 1000 yuan may be the best buy I make in China.


Training went well. I am one of the younger players but I was drafted in to play Fly Half for the second team. Most of the moves are familiar already to me so I had no problem with that, and the second team with a new coach and a pretty much new team put a really good show against the first team of which most of them are utter units.

On the way back, I had my initiation. It involved drinking loadsa beer and sculling it. I am not the best sculler in the world so with all the times I didn't do it fast enough more beer was had. There were also songs I had to sing to a newly wed man and a birthday girl. I was sat in the aisle. There was one bit where I was Spiderman hanging from the top of the bus. I was felt up by what seemed like the team bicycle, she then continued to walk over me as a 'massage'. It was my first initiation and it was fun, however my lesson plan I have to do now are clearly going to suffer.

Anyways, a rugby team is a family in my books. So joining a team is a perfect remedy to homesickness when abroad.

I'm now very much looking forward to tour, just hoping i can get the time off and my passport arrives back in time from the visa office!!!!