Fairies Halted

Turning turn round two tries down, we redeemed ourselves in the second half when Nad broke through with a long run - Clint turning up to receive the scoring pass -  to make it two tries to one. But it wasn't enough. The game was actually lost for us on the penalty count - 9-0 against us and the Fairies ran out the happy winners.

Yes, but is he flatulent??

Next up were the misnamed Fat Cats from East Grinstead RFC, the eventual cup  winners, who had evidently entered the wrong tournament, being suspiciously young and, well, thin.

The Leopards raised their game, and turned out possibly our best performance, but in the end it wasn't enough, and we were beaten by four tries to nil in a fiercely contested game.

Ball goes missing

Argy-Bargy

Our last pool game was against the Drunken Wasps, and we started in determined fashion, eager for a win. We couldn't have started better as the Waspies fumbled the kick off and around 700kg of Leopard thundered over the line in a driving maul. Well, a walking maul anyway.

Somehow the referee judged it held-up, but from the 5m scrum Mal went over the line, only to be disallowed a second time. The Leopards were on fire now though, and when the ball was shipped wide to Kiwi Rob, no one was going to prevent him going way over. 5-0 up

Wasps get a tackle in

In the second half the Leopards were still dominant, with 80% of the possession, but couldn't breach  the Drunks' determined defence. Then a chip ahead was caught by Wasps and touched down for a 22m from which the Wasps launched a masterful long drop kick, and chased it the length of the field, and coming to rest just centimetres from the dead-ball line for the Wasps to fall on and score. 7-5. Defeat from the jaws of victory and all that.

Leopards on Wasps

We went through to the Spoon, where we were delighted to receive a bye to the semi-finals. Here we met none other than our old friends the Flatulent Fairies, and a chance to make amends!

Mauling

For the third time we conceded an early try, fumbling the kick-off but we came straight back to equalise with a blind-side dart from Scamble. Further pressure lead to burst-through from Tony, and a second try and we were ahead.

Lozzer breaks through

Then came the try of the tournament as Lozzer escaped the clutches of the Fairy defence, and find himself on his own with the line beckoning.... a full 20m away. He set off, to wild cheers from the sidelines, and once he'd gathered momentum, there was no stopping him. 15-5 at half time.

We had a Celebrity Ref!

In the second half Fairies came back to score a try, and a tense two minutes followed before Dave, taking the ball at speed and, acting as both Truck and Trailer,  burst through to make the game safe - four tries to two.

Into the final!

Where we faced the Arabian Knights from Saracens

Leopards Attack

Again we conceded that early try and a buoyed Sarries team  were on good form and before long we found ourselves three tries down. We got one back courtesy of Tony, but Sarries ran out deserved winners.

Dropped Ball

And we ran off for well-deserved pork rolls!

A fantastic day out - big thanks to Eek the Weeble, and the other organisers from Irish and from our hosts Abbey RFC.

I leave you with a picture of the squad - 2000kg of Leopard (and we brought the scales with us to prove it)

Jason's Leopards 2004