For those that saw the RagingBull Ronin 7s team win the plate at the manchester 7s series may be wondering what is meant by the title??
but for those that are close to myself , the ronin club and the series in general will know what i mean. We won silverware yes , but we won back some pride and confidence in a series which has been providing lessons courtesy of the school of hard knocks since saturday 12th june at rugby rocks in london.
The first 2 weeks were not white washes by any means and included a one try defecit to a much fancied marauders and a promising start against the army. although something had not clicked in london , and after alot of soul searching and sweat at the ronin training ground in the midlands we came with a new found confidence to westcountry.
However , this was to be short lived and an immensly strong samurai team taught us a lesson in humility in one of only games where we can truly say we were outclassed. when people say in the series they had highs and lows , this was surely one of the lows.
in days gone by this would have been put down to a bad day at the office but with the series comes new added pressures of now having to please series organiser ur7s , corporate sponsors and also fans so again there was something that had not clicked. it seemed to not be a physical thing , it was more mental and so far we had not competed. however against cavaliers in the plate semi there were glimpses of something id been asking for week in and out , passion , fight and will to throw the kitchen sink in order to win. were we building to our first win.........
again , at ronin HQ the team trained as hard as ever , and if at the end of the season there is an award for best endevour i would be surprised if we werent in contention as ive been so proud at how the boys had stuck at it regardless of the bad press and lack of results.
so there we found ourselves heading into manchester , apprehensive...another samurai draw and only 2 weeks after 56-0 thrashing. its true that we had nothing to lose , but the way the boys prepared themselves is a true credit to what a special bunch of lads we have in the club.
without going deep into the details of the games , we pushed samuarai possibly close than most teams had all season , and an in form smurfs side also found themselves on the lucky side of a game that could have gone our way. so now 3 weeks and 8 games with no win. most teams at this point would give up or turn to drink , but the dedication and belief that it would one day come good paid off. our first win against game face islanders was a key turning point for us. it gave us a new belief that we were doing the right things and sadly GB students found themselves on the end of a team hurting for success.
so there we were.....manchester 7s plate winners. points in the bag , some money , and silverware....but more importantly we have won something money cant buy - some respect and pride back.
We now move onto newquay 7s and the final leg of the series and all the teams im sure will be bringing all their big guns into play. However , if i was a betting man , i would put money on us causing an upset at newquay!!
vinaka vaka levu to the RagingBull Ronin warriors who showcased their skills on the saturday at manchester and wish you luck tommorrow at stump 7s.
Article taken from http://ur7s.com/teams/ronin/blog/show/575