10 days ago Paddy Murphy took to the field in Mansfield at Tour Two hoping to improve on the 7th place of Tour Two and aiming to avoid any more injuries with only 2 weeks left until Euros.
Day One saw us take on a few of the heavyweights of Tour with Fusion (2nd seeds), Fire (4) and LeedsLeedsLeeds (5) making up our Group. Saturday started slowly for Paddy, and despite some lovely sunshine we didn't do ourselves justice agaisnt a strong Fire side. We didn't play badly in the first half, we just didnt turn them over. And when we played offence we made a few small mistakes. Fire didnt make any such mistakes, with their offence not turning over once in 9 points. It was a highly frustrating first half and we lost it badly 8-0. The second half was an improved affair, with us getting closer on D and converting the turns. We were awake now and fought hard but there was too much to do. 15-5 to Fire, who looked damn good.
Game 2 was against Fusion, Derryk's old club team and again we started slowly. The difference was personal errors as unusually we dropped discs at chest height, threw a few lose throws and misread a few discs we'd tend to come down with. Fusion got out in front early and held the advantage for the whole game. There were a lot of big aerial battles but the Scots weren't as dangerous as at Tour Onme and the feeling was that we let this one get away. Another irritating match against well-drilled opposition in which we simply didn't perform. Fusion 15 Paddy Murphy 8. Might it be one of those weekends?
Game 3, straight after the Fusion game, was pivotal to us. We needed to play well for a start. We'd had a poor morning by our standards and
we wanted to turn that around. We were playing Leeds who had beaten us at Tour One in a back-to-back battle that we'd lost in a tough 2nd half. This time around we were determined to fight right til the end. We came out strongly and went a few up, getting hard Ds and playing strong, fast Offence using our long game to good effect and tearing through a zone that suited us well. The O Line converted ever time they were asked to and the D Line kept creating turns. We took half and spoke about how hard we had worked to get this far. This was the top 5 scalp we wanted and we kept pushing throughout a tougher second half. The game was never in the balance though and despite conceding a late score or two we won well, 15-10 to everyone's dlight. We beat Leeds!
Saturday night was a wild affair. Seldom have I seen a team so out of control. We all piled into the local pub and played Darts, Giant Connect Four and Pool. A few of us tried the local cuisine and were amazed by the variety - how many dishes can you get beans with?? The tales of frozen veg, imaginary lasagna ('I've been waiting an hout - is my Lasagna ready?' - 'Oh, we dan't actually have any'!!) and spaghetti-free spaghetti bolognese can only further add to our love of Mansfield.
9am for the 2nd day in a row. This time versus BAF who'd been unlucky to lose a close game on Sat and find themselves as 12th seeds. They came out fired up and played clinical, clever and varied offence. We traded with them until 5s, unable to break them down. Then they got a turn and converted it. And then another. We were in a right battle. It was pissing rain, the pitch was sh*t and we were having morning slowness issues. They took half 8-6 i think. We got ourselves together and began to fight but they kept scoring. Suddenly it was 11-7 and we took a Timeout to steady to the ship. We came back determined and playing hard D for the first time in the match. They couldnt keep up, and we got stronger by the point. We rattled home 8 D points in a row to win 15-11.
Next up were Discuits, who we play ever Tour no matter what! This was our most complete perfeormance of the weekend. We never stopped playing hard, working for each other and ran the game away from them quickly. Our offence and Defence both played excellently despite missing key players (Dman, Britboy, Blonde,Tadhg, Hag). Despite the lashing rain and a joke of a pitch we won well. We were 14-4 up and finished the game 15-7 after they staged a mini-fightback.
Final game - versus LeedsLeedsLeeds for 5th. By beating Discuits we'd put ourselves in a position to finish 5th and with it given ourselves a chance to beet LLLeeds again, proving it wasnt a flash in the pan. This game defined 'a game of two halves' and unfortunately for us, our half was the first one. We came out all guns blazing and used our good result in our last game to our advantage. The D line played hard and the offence converted. LLLeeds gave us the disc and we scored repeatedly. At one stage we were 9-2 up! 6 pointd form a big victory...However, the injuries began to come (we were doen to FIVE O line players! and lost 2 D Line players too...) and tiredness was telling all over the pitch. The mud wasnt helping and the rain had stopped leaving just a brown mush for a pitch. LLLeeds sensed a comeback and upped their game, using their experience to control the rest fo the match and win out 15-11. It was a real disappointment, a match that hurt us and one that will live long in the memory.
Still, 6th at Tour was huge. MVP went to the ever-impressive Cian and MSP to the upbeat and reliable Dominick. Super Dave played incredibly over the course of the weekend, featuring as a receiver on O and D! He won the A-Game award.
More photos can be found here:
http://ultimatephotos.org/uk-2007-t2/http://picasaweb.google.com/earley.mark/TourTwohttp://www.photoboxgallery.com/grahambailey/6101629
After a fair ol' bit of humming and hawing it's been decided that we will take part in the final Tour, Tour Three. It'd be a shame after all the hard work of the first two to leave it all in the balance. And besides, Cardiff is the best venue, Cardiff has a party for the Saturday night and we will finally get a bash at Clapham. (Whether or not 10 hungover Paddys will quite do themselves justice against one of the best teams in the country is a separate story).
