Hello…
I’m full. just had the best damn Cha Siu rice today.  Well not the best damn one.  The best one is in Wan Chai.  But still pretty good.  With you.  it makes it even better.  though it was rushed and in the car… it still was pretty tasty.

Ahhh… it is the the end of another week, and another week of non-work has gone by and still not much done. Sigh.  I really really have to work hard next week or else I am going to fucking die.

Ok drama aside, I really want to get this done.  I am going to the Film Archives next week, and going to do some more interviews.  I want to get this damn project out of the way.

I need to make some calls… Sigh. I hate calling people and setting up appointments.

Jonathan Out!

For the last few days I have seen white clouds and blue skies.  And it has reminded me why I remain in this city.  It has been beautiful.  Eventhough it was a public holiday yesterday, I had a very off day, but the clear skies and the stars at night kept me going.  And Braemar Hill kept me smiling at night.  It always makes me happy.

Thank you God for always remembering the little things that matter most in our lives.  I will do my best to do the same.

Jonathan Out!

Wow, what a weekend.  From Start to Finsh, this has to be the best feeling Rugby Sevens I’ve had in a long time.  From the US losing to England, HK, and Canada in the Pool.  To the last second try that England scored in a Cup final that they probably shouldn’t have been in (thanks to a little luck from the shitty ref, agains Samoa), I am completely depleted of energy.

I am exhausted, after the longest and most Intense weekend of my life.  Hong Kong played admirably and made everyone one in the 40,000 strong crowd proud when they beat the United States, and put up a vailait effort against England and Canada?  Yes they were the surprising team of the year scoring a few tries against Canada and beating United States in Pool B.

Obviously New Zealand, Fiji, and Samoa, were kicking ass all the way through as were England.  The Rugby super powers as I call them.  France, and Australia, are good too but by principal, I don’t like them.  Though it was fine day, when Korea almost beat the French (but ended up drawing).  And When Japan, almost beat New Zealand in their pool match, if it weren’t for a last gasp try from New Zealand.  All pool Matches were surprisingly brilliant, eventhough the one sided matches got boring at times, the whole day was far from boring.

Some early surprises also, were from Madagascar?  and Sri Lanka?  Yeah that’s what I thought, but they were fantastic, and put up some great fights.  Eventhough they lost all their pool matches.  They played some heroic rugby and showed they they deserve to come back next year.

China enterted their name into Rugby Sevens history books wheyn they won the Bowl.  The ended up beating Itay, Hong Kong, and Chinese Taipei to win the Bowl Final.  The final was one sided against Taipei.  But it was predicted.  I have to say China has gotten really strong over the last few years.  In about 5-10 years you will see them emerge from the depths.  By then all the kids who were born and trained as rugby players when they were fetuses, would be ready.

The Plate final, was really intense, with Wales having to go through Portugal, Canada, and a very strong Kenyan team to win the Plate.  I have to mention, that the whole stadium erupted at the final whistle when Kenya beat France 24-14.  It was high times for the folks, and for us.  Noone likes the French apparently.

But nothing prepared the world for all the Cup games.  Here is my report on all the Cup games leading up to the final.

45 1/4 finals Cup 13:20 Fiji 26 – 12 Scotland 46 1/4 finals Cup 13:42 Australia 7 – 35 New Zealand 47 1/4 finals Cup 14:04 South Africa 17 – 7 Argentina 48 1/4 finals Cup 14:26 Samoa 10 – 14 England
Fiji destroyed all competition in every game that it played.  Scotland looks like it put up a good fight, but the one early try and a close to final whistle try were just consolations, to a highly dominant Fiji performance. New Zealand, owned Australia, in what was a hyped up and highly anticipated match up.  But ended up being highly onesided, though still quite thrilling to watch.  New Zealand played beautiful sweeping rugby, and Australia were mere spectators of some brilliant work. South Africa comfortably beat Argentina, which is to be expected.  Argentina, has gained some strength and skills over the years and is surprisng many pundits as they get better each year.  But South Africa was just too strong for them today. England Samoa, was a tight tight afair.  With one Samoan sent to Sin Bin for fouls, and some weird calls in the end, England need to thank their lucky stars for the out of touch violation, and that Samoa’s last try didn’t count.  But sometimes, you need a bit of luck to win games, and England had that.  England had the early tries in the game, but in typical England fashion, they gave up their lead and  Samoa fought back with two quick tries.  In the end, the referee won it for them.

53	SF Cup	16:16	Fiji	35 – 10	New Zealand
54	SF Cup	16:38	South Africa	0 – 24	England

Fiji, smoked New Zealand in the SF game.  This was a dream matchup
for all Rugby Fans, because Fiji and New Zealand, are considered by many
to be the strongest Rugby Nations.  But as we watched the match, it seems
only one side came to play.  A very young New Zealand team were simply
out classed by a Fiji side that was so strong you’d have to kill a few players
if you wanted to win.  The New Zealand players were left in the wake of a
very fast and powerful Fiji team, that showed the NZ offense and deffense
just how it is done.

England, eventually showed why they deserved to be in the Semis.  With this
24-0 display against South Africa.  There was no doubt who would win, in
this match as England showed the dominant play they are know for but often
do not produce.  South Africa had a try dis allowed after a yellow card was
shown during play.  Regardless, England deserved to be in the Cup final.

Fiji and England.  Probably one of the most exciting moments in any Rugby
fan’s life.  England lost a very close match to Fiji, at last years’ Sevens
World cup in Hong Kong during the Smei-Finals making this almost a grudge
match.  Both sides had tasted victory on this ground, with Fiji taking the Cup
nine times, and England taking the last three in a row (The Sevens World Cup
is considred a separate event.).  From the looks of the early beginning, England
looked to be in control with a quick and relative easy try from Tom Varndell
but Ben Gollings missed the subsequent Converseion.  Fiji quickly hit back with
a Try but two quick England tries put the ‘Home’ team at 19-7 (albeit with a player sinbinned for a foul).  With 5 mins left in the second half, a few mistakes from
England and three uncontested tries later all but sealed England’s fate.  And it
looked as they would go home as runner-ups.  But Ben Gollings had other plans. 
A very quick move by Dave Seymour opened up just enough space for Gollins to
slip by the Fijian defense and score a try, just to the left of the posts, to tie up the
scores at 24.  Then it was just a matter of Gollings, completeing the conversion to
seal the win for England.

Wrap Up.
30 years of Rugby Sevens in Hong Kong, came to a close at that final conversion and for me, it was one of the greatest Sevens tournaments in Hong Kong.  I had the pleasure of sharing this with so many of my friends making this even more special.  Notable absense were Bellinda and Kevin, but they were in England so that was understandable. But I am sure they were watching or heard about the amazing win and would have wished to be here.

I couldn’t ask for a more storybook ending for this night.  After England won, there were possibly 12 pitch invasions and one male streaker who went from the Southeast Stand all the way to the Northwest stand, though the field, and somehow evaded capture from about 6 security people (twice).  I think Hong Kong sevens next year needs to hire some guys who work out at California Fitness to be security cause the ones they have now are just too old.

I must have gained a few extra pounds with all the beer and food that I ate but I don’t care.  I have all week to to lose it.  sigh, two more months till beach season… gotta work hard at the gut.

BTW This makes me very proud….
Courtesy of http://www.irbsevens.com

My voice is still Hoarse, my body aches, my head hurts and I love it.  GO ENGLAND!!!

Jonathan for Xanga.com Out

If you know any French people who are nice, please introduce them to me, cause so far all of them have been assholes to me.  And apparently they begin at a very early age too…

sigh

A very knackerd,
Jonathan Out