Wednesday 16 June 2010

Is the end is sight?


I was asked this week if my season had actually finished - well, the answer is, no... not quite anyway.
My last 15-a-side game of the regular season was on May 8, and after that there fell a local charity 7s tournament.

And then last weekend I was in the middle of the last in the series of a two-Test pre-Women's World Cup warm-up between hosts Scotland and South Africa, at Lasswade RFC near Edinburgh.

The matches provided an excellent opportunity for both the teams and the match officials to up their preparations ahead of the Women's World Cup in London, which starts on August 20.

Scotland were on the back of an under-performing Six Nations campaign, while the ever-improving South Africans have recently completed a two-Test whitewash of Kazakhstan in Dubai.

But while the Kazaks would have provided some stiff opposition, the true test of just how far the South Africans had progressed would be measured by two battles against the Scots.

In the first game, there was a fair amount of ring-rust on display and, dare I say it, not just by the teams. I took my time to adjust and then set back - a mistake any referee can ill afford to do.


But one thing that was obvious was just how much the visitors had worked on their strength and conditioning, which helped them ease to a 27-8 win over the hosts.

As I was in Edinburgh for the week, with the second game a week after that first, it gave me plenty of time to reflect on what was, by my standards, a very average display in the middle.

Of course, there were the distractions of Edinburgh (the castle, men in kilts, haggis and whisky), but the time to reflect meant that I had no excuse to not put in a much-improved display.

I always knew the second Test would be that much different from the first. For one, the Scots are a proud rugby nation and they were hurting from the first defeat.

And the tension and atmosphere was evident from the moment we as match officials stepped inside the changing rooms at Lasswade RFC.

In the event, despite an improved performance from Scotland, who led 14-7 at the break, the South Africans came out a changed side in the second have and let loose, sealing a comprehensive victory and series win with a 41-17 scoreline.

For me, it was a much better day at the office and I can build on this as we count down to the last eight weeks before World Cup kick-off.


For Scotland, they will be bitterly disappointed to have lost and underperformed as they are capable of so much better - such as their defeat of France in the Six Nations proved.

South Africa on the other had have sent out a very clear message, having won their last five games on the trot (including a win in Canada during last year's Nations Cup).

And so... the answer to the original question -has my season ended yet?

The 15-man game now most definitely has, but there's the small matter of two 7s tournaments and then pre-World Cup build-up in August, not to mention fitness testing on July 28.

Maybe I'll hold off the duty free for a while yet...