A quick Stingrays sequence - better than the Bokke

Aiden's team beat DEA Tigers (his nemesis) this morning - as promised above - here's a single sequence which I thought showed his developing abilities nicely:

The pass from his flyhalf beats the intercept rush defense; dummies with a look and a suggestion...

then steps nicely off his left...

and attacks the gap his little deceit has created...

and beats the opposing centre without a hand being laid on him.

Feints and swerves...

moves the ball across...

and gets out his fend on the DEA flyhalf.

Holds him and starts to look for his support runner for the offload...

.

and when those are not there, just go for it with the flyhalf in tow.  I'm starting to enjoy this a whole
lot more than the Bokke.  Your grandfather would have been all smiles.  Aiden dislikes DEA because
he thinks they are dirty, and always go high.  Evidence from the picture suggests he's not wrong.  He's
held a multi season grudge about the tall dude in the background - which is really not like him at all.

Playing fullback with passion

Before I get into this, I should say that I was in Delhi, got back Sunday morning, so missed Evan's football match in which I am told, he stepped up as keeper of note; his team went down 2-3, but from several accounts they were nowhere in the game.  Ev was hyper-busy, including saving a penalty - and despite the result even he seems really happy with the way that he kept.  Which is great, that he is getting that perspective, of outcome beyond the scoreboard.  I was gutted that I missed it.  And sadly not even a phone photo; Ange says she was heart in mouth throughout.

I was however back for Aiden's rugby match - playing fullback for Sai Kung Stingrays. I bought a 320mm lens last week - oooh reach baby, reach - should have done it years ago. Lovely child that he is, he's definitely got his mom's monster competitiveness - goes at it heart-stoppingly hard:

Cover defence, attacking their ball carrier.  Love the expression.  Going full-tilt.
Absolutely has his mom's hyper-competitive genes; just takes him over.

Fielding long kicked ball on his tryline - kick back? hell no, run it back hard (click on these pics and check out the face - makes me laugh, all the fury; and he is very quick and strong over the first 10...

Drop the shoulder, ride the hit ....

and put on the gas...

step through the next....

Freed and on the move...

Eventually scragged and brought down.

Where're you going Goldilocks?  Have this covered, a bit of Aidenator focus.

In the end they lost, but could have won, and the light faded, wet and red faced in the car on the way home, smiling with a beautiful calm.

The weekend

Its been a lovely weekend here - hope you've had likewise.  Hit Shek O beach on Saturday morning early, nice swell, temp fantastic, sunny day - was in the surf for a good two hours (could barely turn my head the next morning after a couple of less than graceful plantings - tick tock), had an egg and bacon roll at one of the little dai pai dongs and headed home - fantastic.  Managed to get to bed pretty early, so was up at 4.45 to hit the road on my bike - first time in a while - I'll spare you the expletives - but its not getting easier - delightful morning out though, caught the sunrise out near the golf club - and was home in time to head off to Aiden's rugby match in the equivalent of Pitsonderwater in HK (literally, as far as you can drive in one direction from our house in HK).  Was too lazy to take the camera, which I regretted, because Aiden was absolutely fierce at fullback.  He put in one tackle on their outside centre that earned one of those collective "oooh"s from watching parents on both sides. I celebrate this not because I want him to become a beast, but rather that I admire his courage enormously, because he's not (thankfully) a remotely aggressive or rough child.  His team played super-well, and ended up trouncing Valley-Fort 21-0 (though the scoreline did, in fairness to them, not reflect the game).  Ev hit practice at the same time in Sai Kung, and then spent the early afternoon working on his Halloween outfit, the head of which looks like this:

 

The three of us chilling in a lull in the waves - crop zoom pic from Ange's phone - 
so not doing the beauty of the place justice.  It's exquisite.

Aiden walking off after the game this morning - settling into full-back really nicely; 
also getting properly fit, which always helps.

All in all, the outcome of it was this, at 3.30pm in the afternoon.
I thought I was justified.  The cat is simply obscene; As fat as it is lazy.

Portraits of the boys - long weekend

Decided that it was time to take a couple of portrait shots of the boys.  Saw a really nice photo in a finance mag using natural light and a very short lens, so got out the kit and set up a spot.  Irritatingly then discovered that the lens was back focusing at very short F-stop, not something that I often use.  So onto the old youtube to find out how to calibrate it.  Love the fact that there were many helpful folk who had taken the time to explain it, one of them, nice youngster from Singapore had even included a link for printing a calibration sheet.  Followed the steps and sorted.  Here they are (Ev got a dressing gown from Tracy for his birthday, which he basically lives in full time when not in school or sports uniforms.  Makes me laugh - he is such a cool little guy, thuggish missing teeth and all):

Unwelcome overnight visitor

Had a little party at our house last night.  In the midst of all the enthusiasm I decided to show Kev Overton the monster bamboo pole tree cutter that I built a few weeks ago, so got the thing out from the bushes at the bottom of the garden, and whilst was doing this, felt something go into my eye.  Rub rub, flush with water etc etc - still bloody uncomfortable.  Couldn't seem to do anything about it, so just kept going.  This morning it still felt like there was something in there, more hacking around to try and see what it was, when suddenly in the mirror, this appeared across my eyeball.  Just about fell over myself in a rush to get it out - nastier than hell: wicked bamboo splinter.  Took a pic of it on Ange's phone to give it some scale.  Think the gungy bit on the end is part of my eyeball :-) .  Good riddance.

Rugby reversal - Sandy Bay

What a difference a week (and opposition) can make.  Aiden's Stingrays team did to Sandy Bay (always makes me smile that name - being a nudist beach in Cape Town) what HK Football Club did to them last week - soundly thrashed.  Aiden was absolutely on fire - possibly settling down into his new position at fullback - and certainly getting fitter and fitter as the term rolls on. Ev's team (or the parts of it that can afford it were playing in Singapore).

Cutting back, running crash ball through the middle.

About to run over their scrum-half on another cut back ball.

Joining the line as the ball goes wide, and just getting his fingertips to a pass a fraction too wide out in front of him...

But managing to reel it in going at full tilt, rapidly approaching the touch-line...

Cover defense is coming across, the arm lurking in the left of frame, cutting back, his mate Jules Larsson tracking him

Moving the ball across, stepping off his left, cover defense is going too high...

Rides the collision, and spins out of it ...

and puts on the gas back infield.

Ball in two hands, getting into position to go into contact

He had an absolute blast.

Kicking a conversion - using a field marker as a tee - need to get him a proper one

Chilling with Harry Maddren after the game.  Very different looks on faces to the week before.

Beautiful public holiday Saturday - and no sport