Bangkok Tens with the INSEAD Barbarians
So I became a member of the INSEAD Rugby club: “The INSEAD Barbarians”…. Wow, a lot of work though: training, inaugural drinking, training, inaugural drinking, getting hit and kicked by big men and after 5 trainings still no clue about the rules. Then we are invited to attend the Bangkok Rugby 10’s: A tournament where teams from all over Asia compete for a Bowl, Cup or Plate, depending on the level they play…. We play for the Plate….
Arriving at INSEAD to receive our tour kit (a bizarre Chinese outfit) and the tour book I finally know what my position is: I am a Forward. These are the guys in the second row of the scrum putting their heads through the first row….we hastily go to a rugby shop to buy a mouth guard and a scrumcap: believe me you need this as second row!
After we arrive in Bangkok we go to the registration and do some initial drinking and land in our beds at about 4. At seven the alarm clock signals that it’s to be beaten up: gogogo. I just can’t eat breakfast and I feel absolutely miserable and the thought of playing rugby in a few hours without any proper training doesn’t make me feel better.
Arriving at the pitch (=the field) the guy screaming random comments through the microphone tells with a sense of proud that one of teams has Robby Kingstead in their team. I ask my team mates who the hell this guy is…. Ow, a guy who played a decade in the South African national team… and they will be our first opponents… Holy shit: I feel even more miserable.Since my current state doesn’t allow me to play I pass the most of the time of the first match on the toilet deciding if I should shit or puke and finding ways to do it at the same time.
A few hours I feel better and the temperature is a mere 35 degrees and I am on for my first game of rugby in my life. Somebody wants to reassure me by saying: “only the first tackle really hurts, after then you’re so pissed that you won’t feel it ’
Two times 12 minutes later I know he is right: It fucking hurts but what a thrill: absolutely a fantastic sport!
In the evening we went out Bangkok style and we ended up in vague bars where all other rugby teams were hanging out. The guys who tried to run you down in the morning congratulated me on a great tackle and the fact that I played my first game.
Next day we played for the loser’s cup and we defended fiercely our last place in the tournament and we even scored one try (a touchdown). It was not hard to defend the last place since we could not get more than 7 people on the field. One of us broke his finger so we ended borrowing 4 players from other teams. The rest of the players was too lost to find the pitch and showed up for the third game or some even after we were finished…
The afternoon was followed by some random temple visits and souvenir buying to make sure we had a physical memory from the tour accept for the blue spots on our bodies. In the evening we tried some excessive drinking (we passed) and I ended up missing the plane the next day. Fortunately I had a changeable ticket and Thai Airways allowed me to be in class around noon. Sitting uncomfortable on my sour ass in class I realized I discovered a very cool thing… getting beaten up by some random guys and hanging around with your rugby buddies in a string of bars in Bangkok… or bar of strings, whatever
see the pics at pic department:
