Mikie Linch Trip Report #4

Week #7 was what I like to call now, "The first week of preparation." This is because the whole week I was worrying about how I was going to get all the stuff that I needed for this tramping trip I was to be going on at the end of the week. After 2 trips to various outdoors stores and a lot of begging and pleading with guys around the house I still felt that I was going out into the rigorous New Zealand bush unprepared. However I was still expected to focus on my rugby while I was getting everything settled for the tramp. Our coach was able to schedule a mid week game because there were about 8 of his players that would be tramping on Saturday.

The game was against Fairfield College. They like most other teams in our division had a much larger team then we did. Their forward pack consisted of what our coach likes to say "Some big ol' Polynesians." But our team really showed our true toughness again as we repeatedly hit them hard and drove their big boys back. In the 1st half we were able to execute our game plan to perfection. We used our kicking game to get us in good position and then once we got a lineout within 15 meters of the line our forwards gritted up and drove the ball in twice. The half time score was 12-0. The second half was much of the same until around 15 minutes left. We were able to put in another team try at the beginning of the 2nd half but after that our team seemed to relax a little too much. And as some of you may know when you relax against a Polynesian team they're going to make you pay for it, and boy did they ever. They kicked the ball to us, drove us off of it, and before we could regroup they were putting the ball down for their 1st score. Our team seemed to feel we had the game already won and made the final score a lot closer then it should have been despite the fact that we were able to put in another try. The final score 24-12. I played really well on defense. I had to really big hits early in the game that seemed to energize the boys. My mauling has improved beyond belief as it has become the staple move of our team. Overall it was a good rugby game and was a lot of fun to play in.

But moving on from rugby Friday morning was D-day for me. We left for Tihoi at 8 in the morning and by 12 I was starting my tramp trough the bush. I however was very lucky. My teacher earlier in the week had came up to talk to me about the tramp and asked if I wanted to go with his group which would have been a very difficult course our if I wanted to go with the "slow" group and just enjoy the sites. I made, looking back at it, the right decision and choose the easy tramp.

The first day however was a little disappointing. Not because of the scenery, that part of it was amazing, but because the tramp was a little too easy. We only walked about 5 Km, and I barely even broke a sweat. For those of you who know me that’s very impressive that I was barely sweating. The scenery though was remarkable.

I decided to walk up in the front, and it was really cool because it was like I was walking by myself. I couldn't see the rest of my group and I was just taking in the sites. That night's dinner was lackluster at best; half way cooked rice, and some tuna from the can mixed in with it.

I slept really well the first night which meant the other 2 guys in my tent didn’t. The next day I heard quite a bit of complaining and jokes about my snoring. Now I know what my dad felt like when we used to go camping with him.

The second day of our 3 day excursion was my favorite by far. We went on a 12 Km hike through the heart of the bush. This was one of those times again when I walking along and it really hits me that I'm in New Zealand and a whole ocean away from home.

It was funny though because for the 1st hour or 2 I was trying to avoid the big puddles as much as possible but then after I was trying to cross a 10 meter long half a meter deep puddle I slipped and my right leg went in about thigh deep. (It was WAY worse then when I got stuck in your pond Ray). So then for about 5 minutes or so I was stuck there trying to pull myself out of this mud pit. Then after pulling in about 4 branches, almost losing a shoe, being in mud on both legs to at least knee height, and a lot of laughs I freed myself form the deathly grip of the New Zealand mud.

So after that I really didn’t care about getting my boots wet. The second day was when I was really taken by what I was looking at. The bush reminded me of what you would think of the jungle being like. It was just green everywhere you looked and you'd only a few sparse rays of sunshine through the trees.

But what I seemed to be looking for the most was when I got a sight through the bush while I was at the top of a hill and could just see green for what seemed like forever.

The last 2 hours or so of our hike on the second day was a lot about the search for the Tomato Sauce bottle (Ketchup). Not because we had a bland tasting meal, but because when we saw the bottle it meant that we were only 10 minutes away from our camp site. So at various moments of the hike you could hear people yelling out, "Man I could go for some Tomato Sauce right now," or "Hey, you know what would go good with this tramp?...Some Sauce." But after awhile we found our sauce bottle and did about 10 minutes of bush bashing (walking through the bush where there's no trail) and finally reached our camp site.

This night was not like the night before however. There is no way I got more then 2 hours sleep the second night of the tramp. This also meant that the other 2 guys slept quite well that night. It was a cold night too. There was a nice layer of frost waiting for us as we got up the next morning.

The next day was an interesting one. All the people who had been complaining during the tramp just seemed to shut up and just focus on getting back. We did what normally would have been a 5-6 hour walk in about 2 1/2-3 hours. The last day was the most miserable for me. I was incredibly tired and it was raining on us pretty hard. But through that I still really enjoyed it. We got back to the campsite that everyone was meeting at and immediately went to the fire inside one of the buildings.

This tramp was definitely one of those experiences that I'm going to take with me for a long time. It was something that when we were planning this trip we probably never thought I would be doing, but one thing that I think made this trip what it is.

Week #8 was what I liked to call the recouping week. I was tired for the whole week and just looked forward to the weekend so I could get a little more sleep. School was the same as it's been this whole time. The only real exciting thing that happened to me this week was I got caught kicking a rugby ball to another guy in the house, which in the eyes of Mr. Constable, the Deputy Housemaster, is like the 8th deadly sin.

I was given a detention or a "D" as they like to call it here but when you're given a D you can change it into a workout or an imposition. They weren't doing workouts that night so I chose an imposition instead of a Friday D. and for those of you lucky enough not to know what an imposition is, it's when you sit down and have to copy something for 3/4 of an hour. I was given the song that our house will be singing in the house music competition, In the Jungle. Now after writing that some about 10 times I can proudly say I know the song In the Jungle by heart.

At the end of the week my team played Morrinsville HS, the toughest competition we've faced yet. And just to add some excitement to the game the winner of it would be moved up to the premier league. But besides all of that our team came out less then enthusiastic. To be honest we came out very flat.

We were once again faced with much larger forward pack then us but through very good technique we were able to drive them in mauls. But despite that we were playing very poorly. Our fly half (who to this point had been kicking exceptionally) had a lackluster game and our forwards lost a lot of ball in the lineouts. The 1st half we were bombarded by our own mistakes.

Repeatedly we had opportunities to score but threw the ball away or dropped it. Our defense was very uncharacteristic of how we've played all year. We missed a lot of 1st time tackles and let them run through our line letting them score an easy try early in the 1st half. We were able to reply on the last play of the 1st half when we scored another classic St. Paul's try after taking a lineout on the 5 meter line we drove the ball into the corner for the score.

The second half we played even worse then the 1st. We were still within reach of them at the start with a score of 7-5. But after a few mental breakdowns we let them score an easy try under the posts. Our team kept fighting through the whole game but it just wasn't our day. They were a very organized team. They all knew were they were supposed to go and what they were suppose to do and did it. The dealt us our 1st loss in a long time at the score of 24-5. But that was not the end of rugby for me that day.

Ever since I 1st saw the Haka performed on T.V. I wondered what it would be like to see it done in real life. I had accepted for a long time that I was not going to be able to experience that feeling until I was much older - if ever. But as the idea of this trip started to progress there was always the little chatter about there possibly being an All Blacks test in Hamilton while I would be out there. After finding out for sure that the All Blacks would be playing Canada in a test match I was beyond excited to see them play. And once I heard that Roy had bought the tickets my excitement level went through the roof.

I think it's the dream of every real rugby fan to watch the All Blacks play live, and as I walked up the stairs at the stadium I started to get goose bumps. It was kind of like opening a Christmas present but you knew what was inside and you knew it was something that you've been wanting for a long time. I haven't enjoyed watching a team warm up this much in a long time. It was like one of those movies when you see a wide eyed kid at a baseball game or something and he's pointing out all the star players and all the players that he likes, and telling why they're good or why they're not so good. I definitely think I was that little kid in the stands, just maybe not so little.

I was able to see all the players I've watched so many times; Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Rico Gear, Aaron Mauger, Jerry Collins, Karl Hayman, Kevin Mealamu, Leon McDonald. The highlight of the night was definitely when the team performed the Haka. But I was able to see 3 or so try’s scored pretty much right in front of me.

There is just something special about the atmosphere at the game. The pride that the people take out here in the All Blacks is remarkable. Nothing like anything I've seen back home. Also how many places do the wave, but instead of just standing up and putting their hands in the air the people throw their plastic beer bottles up so it seems like its raining beer. Although the game wasn't the closest of matches and won't really be remembered by many in the rugby world, it's a memory that will stay with me; I mean how many high school American boys have seen the Haka performed by the All Blacks?

Week #9 was much like week #8. Although I had recovered from the tramp I was still just looking forward to the weekend. And after hearing that school got out this week back home, it only made having to go to class that much worse.

By this time in the boarding house I've really started to be accepted and am not really thought of as the new guy. I am still thought of as the American though. A lot of these guys I'm hoping to be mates with for a long time. And hey, maybe they'll find their way down to Southern California and I can show them around.

It's not just the rugby guys that I've become friends with either. I mean I've been living with these guys for 10 weeks now so it's hard to say we haven't gotten to know each other. I really do enjoy being in the house a lot; it's like living with your buddies.

But that is also why it sucks so much when you get kicked out of the house. This is what happened to us this week. We got kicked out because there was a little wrestling match in the common room right before a house meeting while everyone was there and it got a little out of control and an older guy ended up slamming a younger kid into the ground.

We got kicked out because the whole house didn’t do anything to stop it. So to say the least, the 2 guys who were wrestling were not the most popular of people the next few days. When you get kicked out of the house you still live there, it just means that during school you aren't allowed to go back inside of it. This means you have to carry all your books and P.E. clothes around the whole day. It's just a big pain to have to do all that. But we were only kicked out for 2 days so it wasn't too bad.

That weekend we played Putaruru HS. When we 1st played this team they were disorganized and we were able to capitalize on their mistakes to win 25-7. But this week they came out as an inspired and better drilled team. Although I think we were the better side by far, we were only able to pull off a 7-7 draw. In the 1st half we used our kicking game and superiority I in the line outs, as we’ve done all season, to set up many scoring opportunities. But as a credit to Putaruru’s defense they were able to hold us up at the line many times. It was not just the stingy Putaruru defense that was keeping us out, we repeatedly lost ball and gave up stupid penalties time and again when we were in scoring range.

We held the ball for most of the half but when it was necessary our defense rose to the occasion. They were not able to get out of our half for most of the 1st half. I know that if it weren’t for stupid mistakes the score could have been 20-0 at the half but instead we went into half tied at 0-0.

The second half went just like the first. We had our opportunities to score and let it slip from our fingers time and again. We were able to capitalize after being awarded a line out on our 5 meter line. We won the line out and drove the ball with a picture perfect maul and scored, from what has become our teams’ trademark - a driving maul try. That was around the 50th minute of the game.

The game stayed deadlocked until 2 minutes left in the game when after one of our players tried to offload a pass and threw it away, the other team kicked it through and scored a very soft try.

Overall I think the boys played great at times and in others played horrible. If we had played like we could have, I have no doubt in my mind we could have won by 30 points.

As for me I think I played decent today, it wasn’t one of my better days but after every game I keep getting told by parents on the sideline that I am improving so much. So I guess people think I’m doing alright out here.

Week #10…the final week of the term, as I like to call it, "The second week of preparation." This time instead of preparing for a weekend tramp I was trying to organize 2 weeks of holidays and arrangements for the ball. The whole week it seemed like everything that could have gone wrong did. Places where I was planning on staying ended up not being able to have me. My arrangements for after the ball fell through on multiple occasions. My plans for the holidays seemed to differ every day of the week. But by the end of the week I was finally prepared for what was to come. Also through all of that the Second XV played the First XV in a friendly match on Wednesday.

We basically got crushed. We put up a good fight for a lot of the match but it just seemed like if we missed one tackle they were gone and there was no catching them really. It was a lot of fun playing against them though. I'm mates with a lot of the guys on the team and so we played pretty dirty against each other and then laughed about it after the game. I ended up getting punched in the face; head butted, scratched, and all different sorts of things. But I was able to get them all back so it was O.K. I had more fun in this game though then in any other game I've played.

But back to what else was going on. I had finally gotten everything sorted by Friday (The day of the ball). I left school on Friday at around 6 PM. I went to a pre-ball get together thing and just hung out with some of the guys there. Then we took a bus to the ball.

To be honest I didn't really enjoy the ball too much. Not because it wasn't well put together. It was very organized and looked really nice. Ball's just aren't my cup of tea. I don't really like to dance and so basically there was nothing much to do besides sit around and wait for it to be over.

Everyone looked good in their suits and dresses, but really I was just waiting on the after ball. Now the after ball here is a lot different then back home. The ones here are very organized and everyone goes to the one after ball pretty much.

The after ball was a lot of fun. Everyone was more relaxed than when they were in the ball. Everyone was changed into normal clothes and we just were all able to hang out and have a good time together. I ended up not getting back to the hotel I was staying at until around 5 in the morning, after the bus ride and waiting for a taxi and all that stuff.

Then the guy who was letting me stay in his room decided he wanted to see which one of us could stay up the longest. So to make a long story short, I ended up not sleeping until about 9:30AM after Roy picked me up from the Hotel to take me back to his place.

Overall it was a fun night. I enjoyed it more then I thought I was going to.

Well that is were I am in my adventure. For the next 2 weeks I will be staying in 3 different households and living the real New Zealand life. I'm really looking forward to what's to come in these next 2 weeks, and I plan on having a nice long write up about it next time.

Mikie Linch