Scotty sent me a link to a Rugby Canada press release youtube interview of Jebb at the end of their Captain's Run on Thursday. It's a good interview and show's Jebb's moustache in all of its glory.
The game is set to kickoff right about now and I can only imagine what that stadium must be like once it is filled with 60,000 screaming, singing Welshmen.
Back when I used to spend every day on the rugby field in Victoria I always used to like our Friday Captain's Runs the best. It was a day to just go out and stretch your legs, run through the game plan and get your mind focussed on the task at hand. What's more that that, it's a great excuse for me to play this song for Flashback Friday:
A little over 3 years ago I had the honour of representing Canada in a test match versus Wales. In doing so I became the first New Brunswicker to earn a cap, representative of playing for the National Senior Men's team. For me it was one and done and my fifteen minutes of fame was almost exactly that; I came off the bench for about 17 minutes in a 60-3 drubbing at the hands of a very good Welsh squad. Nevertheless, I earned my cap and enjoyed being the most capped New Brunswicker. Until now.
Over the weekend Jebb Sinclair came off the bench in the 47th minute versus Ireland. This was the second straight week that he was inserted into a test match and some quick calculating will show that 2>1. And with that I give him the belt.
I interviewed Jebb* in a late night phone call from Limerick on Saturday night: Phone rings SP - Hello? JS - What's up homo? SP - Dad? JS - It's Jebb, you frybag. SP - Oh Jebb, hey man, Congrats. I heard you got some good playing time. JS - Yeah I went on right after half, they only scored 17 points after I went on. SP - Right on, you thought you played well? JS - Super sweet, made 12 tackles, had 5 steals, retained 3 balls in contact and after the game I stole the post pads and gave them to the poor. SP - Wow, you're going to be a real folk hero. JS - Going to be? SP - Sorry, are. You are a folk hero, particularly in Northern New Brunswick, where you are known as Le Big Dumb Dog and children are growing crappy moustaches in your honour. JS - Damn right, Number 2. SP - Pardon? JS - You're Number 2, so that's what I'm going to call you. You ok with that? SP - But I was first, you can't take that from me. JS - Can't I? SP - Well no, you have the most but I was first. Those are the facts. JS - We'll see about that. I have to go comb my moustache. Later Number 2. SP - Again, congrats Jebb, you big dumb dog. *May or may not have actually happened.
I watched the game last night and Jebb did indeed play well. They still lost 55-0 but he had a great work rate and was heavily involved. I can't, however, corroborate the post pad story.
I coached Jebb in juniors and captained him in his first senior rugby. I am amazed at how far he has come in such a short time. And truth be told he admitted that he can't take being the first away from me. Damn right.
Maritimers across the region were bracing for a hurricane over the weekend and ever since Hurricane Juan hit a few years ago, we tend to take these things seriously. Fortunately, this time, Hurricane Kyle was slowed by the cold waters of the Bay of Fundy and the only hurricane that made it this far inland was Hurricane Bardsley.
It was a good thing too because we had a game yesterday and although we were resigned to playing in some severe weather it made for a much more enjoyable day playing in a warm and wet, but not very windy, day. I hate cold and wet but warm and wet I don't mind so much. And for whatever reason, I found myself in a bit of a foul mood yesterday and I played like it. For some reason I felt the need to hit some people and as luck would have it I had the perfect forum to do so. Afterwards, some of the most important people in my life told me it was the best game they'd seen my play in a while which made me thankful, and then concerned that I may have let my desire slip a little. No matter, it was the day that mattered and I was happy to enjoy the beer that came with their praise. I sat in the locker room with my teammates and thought to myself that this is my shelter from the storm.
The book I am currently reading probably sums it up best: "At the amateur level, rugby sets the players at odds with society. Doing anything not for money is odd, but we're doing something seriously and not for money, with the risk of getting hurt, and not for money."
This motley crue of young gentlemen are the 2008 Provincial Champion Fredericton Loyalist U-20s. This was the first year in a while that a formal U-20 league actually took place and we managed to come out on top. I like to think the final came down to Blake and I winning the chess match between coaches but in reality we just had the better team. The most important part of our job as coaches was to make sure they made it to the games and had jerseys to wear. The rest of it took care of itself. If we can convince some of these guys to keep playing rugby for a while the club will be in good shape.
This large smiling gentleman is my good friend Pemalika Fiaui and he is now a Canadian citizen. In one of my favourite holiday touches, Citizenship and Immigration Canada hold citizenship ceremonies on Canada Day. Lika was one of 70 new Canadians sworn in at The Playhouse yesterday. You can check out the whole happy story here.
Lika arrived at practice one night five years ago and asked if he join us. We looked him over and told him he could do whatever he wanted. He played with us that season and then left to go back to Samoa. We had a going away party for him and he showed up in a hunting jacket and was drinking Alpine. We had him right then and there. He came back the next summer and started working for the city and is now a proud member of the Fredericton City Fire Department. He has been working and playing in Fredericton since. He and his wife Chandra have two great (and great big) kids and we are very proud and lucky to have them as part of our family at the rugby club.
Much like my post from yesterday, Lika's children's children will be able to look back on this day as the day that their grandfather became a Canadian citizen. Great stuff.
We played a game in Nova Scotia yesteday (and won!) and after the game I ran into an former Fredericton Exile named Ernie O'Hara. He congratulated me on a good game and relayed the fact that he played for the Exiles and NB in the late 70's. I told him he probably knew my father, Peter Pacey, at which point he threatened to punch me before smiling, shaking his head, and saying "You're father was a mother-fucker to play against!"
I've heard this from countless people over the years and as we get older and the days of him rumbling downhill on the pitch get farther away I sometimes forget that, as much as we share in our love of and success in the game, we are fairly different players. With the Calithumpians he became the Bull of the Woods but in a rugby jersey he was the bull in a china shop. They all said that trying to tackle him was like trying to tackle a tree. And so as not to pile the praise too high it should be noted that, while my strength may be in my passing, he was said not to know what that word meant. This led the introduction of a new position known as 'Outside Pacey' where players learned the finer points of playing the game without the ball.
Interestingly for all the people that have extended him this praise their number is dwarfed by the number of former students of his that have approached me to let me know that he was the best teacher/prof they ever had. I know that its the second group that will mean more to him but I also know that there is nothing quite like the feeling having someone bounce off you on your way to the try line, hence his reluctance to pass the ball.
These days he still makes his presence felt at the club but now its with his imposing voice and not his legs. I tend to think I play better when he is there so in that way he is still affecting the game.
Kieran Crowley, the new National Senior Men's rugby coach was in town on Monday to introduce and ingratiate himself to the NB rugby community. He was the first sitting National team coach to visit New Brunswick in an official capacity. He also did it solo and apparently of his own free will. He's a kiwi and seems to be a typically straightforward chap. That may be because he grew up a farmer before playing 30+ games for the All Blacks. I know all this because I spent a lunch, two training sessions, dinner, and drinks with him.
He didn't teach us too much in the training sessions; they were back to basics, but the fact that he was here and approachable was the main thing. I think it's great that he would take the time to travel across this massive country to meet the folks that are doing the work to develop athletes into rugby players for his team. My only complaint is that he didn't feel it fit to abuse his expense account for my meals at this juncture, despite my repeated argument that my dues are paying for his salary. Stupid stand up Kiwis.
After some 20 years of playing rugby my no broken bone streak came to an end last year when I broke my nose. I though I made it two in two years when I looked down and saw my pinky finger pointing the wrong way on after a tackle. It turns out it was only dislocated and just needed to be popped back into place. All better!
Draw the curtains, kill the music, and avant tu take off, please close the lights; another season is in the books. It's always a little bittersweet to come to the realization that rugby season is over for another year. I will relish the extra time I will find in my week, particularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays. My weekends will free up for other pursuits like not doing anything for 60 straight hours. And then slowly, I will start to soften up (more), my nerves will be a little frayed, and I'll get increasingly cranky over the course of the season I call Not-Rugby. I will think it's the weather or the lack of light, but then in April, when we get back on the field, I'll remember that it's the boys and their boob jokes and the chance to hit someone when you've had a bad day that I really missed.
We had anohter good year; undefeated season, Provincial, Maritime, and Atlantic Champions. Most importantly we had a great time doing it all.Thanks for everything fellas.
