Rugby in Orlando

Hello fellow rugby fans,
Orlando was great both the tournament and the weather. It was in the 70s and sunny all week and gave us perfect playing conditions. After arriving at our hotel at 2:30am on Wednesday night (or Thursday morning depending on how you want to look at it). But we had a rough start as we had some problem after the flight. First we had to wait about 45 minutes to rent a van. Then on the way to the hotel our driver got lost (in Disney World of all places) so a 20 minute drive became an hour. And to compound our late arrival, we had a 8 am meeting the next day. Our Friday game started around 1 o'clock against the Mid Atlantic. Our team played a tough game and lost 35 to 32. I did not see the field in the first game. Later that day, we had a developmental game against the West - the first of three games against the region. The developmental side played well and came out with a win. Although I dress as a reserve for the game, as I was not really on the team, I thought that I might get some time. No such luck. On Saturday, we had some free time in the morning and got some pool time in. I went down the water slide twice and it was fun. I believe that this is the first time I have been swimming in December. After our swim, we had a walk through and the development team had another game. They played well again and defeated the west for the second time in two days. Afterward we had dinner with the Midwest women's team. Sunday we were playing for third place and to stay in the upper tier for the tournament for next year. We got off to a fast start again but couldn't put them away. And after waiting for the first seven halves of rugby, I got to go on the field for the first time. I played fairly well making several tackles and having some nice runs. Unfortunately, the skill part of my position were a little behind the level of play. (Did I mention that this is probably the high level of competition in the US?) So anyway, we watched our lead slowly drift away and the game was forced into overtime. We jumped on them early and got up seven only to watch them answer about ten minutes later. Finally with about two minutes left in overtime, Dave Fee (US national team and Lake Forest grad) kick for posts and put our team up three for a lead that we would defend for the rest of the game. The final score: 35-32 (sound familiar?). Then they forced us to leave the nice weather and come back to Chicago, where we were greeted by snow on the ground and a chilly 20 degrees. Overall my trip was pretty good. I got to play 60 minutes at a very high level and spend the first couple days of what appears to be a frigid month in the Sunshine State.