Oompa Loompas

My office is sponsering a co-ed tag rugby team. I have never played rugby before but have been watching loads of it since moving here. We have only been training the last few weeks and I will miss the first 4 games due to a mate visiting from the States and our upcoming Holiday (more to come on that in future posts). The guys have all played since they were little and have not made it to training, but the girls have come out in full force. John O'Mahony, the OM in OMP, came out to just watch, but he could not just stand by and watch us, so he started to ref. Next thing we knew, he pulled on the tag shorts over his suit and started playing with us. Claire tried her hardest to catch up with him, but he is so fast! THe gang in the photo is Me, Ruth, Edell, Catherine, then Leslie, Tullia, Claire and Katrin.

My side had 3 while the other side had 4 while we were scrimmaging against each other. I am the biggest girl and maybe the most aggressive and competetive. May not be good, but I will try my darndest. I scored a few tries and had great craic trying to catch Claire as she blazed past me, she is a triathon athlete and can run! We crushed the opposition with 7 tries for their 1. I do my little ballarina turns to avoid my tag getting pulled and have tried to master the dodge and weave. It is a total workout and great fun. I have also been 'hired' as Tullia's personal trainer to get her in shape. The weather has been nice almost the whole month of May, so it has been quite a pleasure to meet in the park after work and throw the ball around and run drills. I cannot wait until the first game I can make it to! Who knows where those pesky bruises come from.