Lurgy, Plus Incredibly Short Match Report Monday

Lurgy - British slang for feeling like shit.

Thanks Urban Dictionary! In more polite terms, a lurgy is a cold or other type of illness and it has struck Chez Mooselet with a vengeance. Her Majesty started in Wednesday of last week and so far it has spread to Clive and myself. It's not the worst cold I've ever had (at least not yet, I've only just come down with it), but it really affected Her Majesty. Fever, runny nose, watery eyes, cough... And let me tell you Her Majesty does not do well when she's sick. She becomes very whingey and temperamental - the littlest things set her off and it's been very difficult to get things done. Now that Clive has caught this lurgy, although it would seem not to the degree that Her Majesty had it, I'm flat out taking care of two sick children. Heaven help me when Miss Thing comes down with it - she's worse than all of them, even Clive who can't understand what's going on.

Since it's already Tuesday, I'm not going to bother catching up with Photo Friday or, sadly, the Skinfest. Sorry. I think that's only the second time I've ever skipped the Skinfest, and the Hermit can't be trusted to pinch hit after last time.

Mr. Mumfies obviously thought I was joking when I nagged him on Sunday to write the match report for Match Report Monday as it's not in my inbox. Mumfies, I expect you to deal out whatever punishment is appropriate for letting the side down. I missed huge chunks of the game as I was chasing Clive out of the visitors changing rooms - he was convinced Sparky was in there - or following him as he roamed all the way down to the other end to check out a dog so I can only do the vaguest of reports:

Round 7 U13s, Div 2
Date: 8 June 2008, 1:45 pm kickoff
Where: Kev McKell Oval, Keppera
Who: Wests Arana Hills Panthers v Wests Panthers
Score: 24-12, Arana Hills.

They won, we lost. Given we only had 12 boys for the game (and 10 minutes with only 11) thanks to the long weekend holiday and the aforementioned lurgy making the rounds, division leaders Arana Hills should've owned us. They didn't. I'm completely convinced had we had just a few more boys we would have won the game.

The ref was obviously auditioning for a live version of "The Whistle Song" as it never stopped throughout the first half. The vast majority of the penalties were against Arana - it was like having a fat kid on the see saw. Wests had the majority of possession but just couldn't get over the line - having experienced players like Chris, Eli and Jack the Taller missing hurt - but they kept at it til late in the first half when DJ dove over in the left corner for our first try and brought the score to 10-4. At some point after this Josh was sin binned for using an elbow in the tackle - I'm told that it was merely the way he landed but apparently the ref had had enough and sent him off for 10 minutes.

At halftime, the captains were cautioned by the ref that any more penalties would see the player sent off for the remainder of the game. This ref cannot be a parent, or just not an effective one, as that threat never came to pass. Never make a threat you're not prepared to see through. Two Arana players were sin binned in the second half, the second one quite promptly, but not sent off. Not as much whistle, but enough to make you think you were at a netball game.

Josh scored two tries in the second half, but neither conversion was successful. Arana managed 3 more tries with one conversion to make the final score 24-12. Once again all of the boys played a fantastic game - there was a lot of shuffling of positions, with both Josh and DJ having a go as five-eighth and Sean as fullback with Scott as halfback. Torrin had some good runs as did Zack, and Jackson was very good in the back row. Tackling has improved 100% from last year, and there was only a handful of times when they were standing about with no sense of organization. They did us, their coaches, and most importantly themselves, proud.

Now I'm off to wipe more snot and apply more Vicks. I'll try and do more posts this week, but I can't promise anything.