The Heroes Cup

Team, coaches, parents, brothers and sisters, all made it happen.

 It was always going to take something special to rouse this blog from its seemingly permanent slumber. And so it has proved.
Last Sunday, the Hokkaido Barbarians won the Hokkaido regional final of the Heroes Cup (so named because you have to be a certified hero to be eligible to play). Cian was one of nine heroes that lined out on that historic day as the Barbarians won their semi-final match against Hakodate Rugby Club and then went on to defeat Bihoro in the final.
Now, mere words of mine cannot do justice to the sheer intensity of the two games, particularly the first match against Hakodate. This was the primary school equivalent of test match rugby, a titanic battle where every tackle was a crunching tackle, bodies were on the line, under the line, (and thankfully over the try line); ruck turnovers were minor victories in themselves; knock-ons a testament to stifling defensive pressure; and tries celebrated with wild abandon (particularly by the watching parents).
The victory over Hakodate was all the sweeter because the Barbarians had lost to them twice already this season. Plus, their coach has been spotted at a friendly game the Barbarians had played a couple of weeks before videoing the match.
Seriously. Under 12 rugby and he had driven 4 hours from Hakodate to surreptiously record their game. Sanae had to be restrained from attacking and making him eat his video camera.
Prior to the semi-final, the quiet (nay, smug) confidence among the Hakodate coaches and parents was plain to see - the less-than-concealed attitude was that they basically just had to turn up and they could make it three wins in a row.
They couldn’t.
God, but the Barbarians were immense, particularly in defense. Forget your open, running rugby, with quick passes, silky moves, and cheeky off loads. Rather, this was down and dirty Munster rugby, where the collective mattered so much more than the individual and all the players knew that.
And Cian, the boy was magnificent. No tries scored, but he kicked 3 out of 4 conversions (and 9 out of 10 for the day), and was tireless in his tackling, ruck clearing, and support play. Yes, I know I am his father and you’d expect me to say that, but watch the match and you’ll agree. (Mind you, it might be a bit hard to figure out who Cian is. He is number 15, but as there are two number 15s, that doesn’t really help. Plus the other number 15 is the same height as Cian, his father is Australian [God love him], and plays on the wing next to Cian. The only real discernible difference between them are their football boots - Cian’s are blue, the other boy’s are orange).
You can watch the Hakodate game on youtube.
The first half is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXpyMi4u4To
And the second half is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN1L1U2aC6w

The final was less epic if not more nerve-wracking for the watching parents. The Barbarians had pretty much given their all in the game against Hakodate. Bihoro, the opposition, weren’t the biggest players to ever grace the game, but they were fast and their passing skills were a thing of two-handed beauty. For the first ten minutes the Barbarians powered into a lead, ploughing through the smaller opposition to score three tries. But in the dying seconds of the first half Bihoro got a try. Then immediately after the restart they got a second. It was game on. Their heads were up and Cian and his teammates were clearly running on empty. Us parents began muttering nervously, invoking various deities Buddhist, Christian and whatever religion Joe Schmidt calls himself to help us out.
And they responded by whispering to the coach to cue the bench.
The Barbarians are far and away the largest club in Hokkaido and Cian’s team had a squad of 18 on the day (with nine starting). Bihoro, in contrast, could call on all of two players and both of them looked like they had been plucked from the local kindergarten they were so small.
So the ‘Finishers’ (to borrow Steve Hansen’s apt phrase) were brought on to close out the game. And they did it in style, scoring to more tries to ensure that Bihoro would spend the winter nursing their wounds while we all traveled down to Yokohama in February for the all Japan Heroes Cup Final.
Stay tuned.