First Game of the Goldslager Premiership Season: Neriema Viola Buffalos (away)
The first game of the Hikarizaka Dangos was against the Neriema Viola Buffalos, Norafumi had heard they were owned and captained by the musical duo of Kaori and Kousei Arima and thus were going to put out a similar sort of quality team.
A team bus was organized and picked up everyone from New Roker Park, everyone who trained turned up as well as Yuna and Kyou who were there to cheer on Youhei and the Dangos as well as Sanae who was there to give the Dango's her support as well.
As the Buffalos/Dangos game was on last that weekend (As it was local derby and therefore played on a Saturday night), the radio on the bus was turned up so that the Dangos could hear the scores of the other teams results.
On the bus
Youhei and Kyou were sat on the bus next to each other, Yuna was behind them with Ushio Okazaki who was there to support her parents. Kyou was in a Black and Green jumper with black tracksuit joggers, whilst Youhei was in full rugby kit with a Hikarizaka Dango's Umbro rain coat on top.
"Are you excited for the game, Youhei" said Kyou
"Both excited and nervous at the same time" said Youhei
"I expect at least 10 tackles from you, good ones as well" said Kyou
"I will give it my best shot, hopefully I will score a try" said Youhei
"One, I want to see at least 3, I expect you to play like the Springboks out there" said Kyou smiling
"We have some scores coming from the Goldslager Premiership, Carlisle 0-24 Northern Alliance, Casval Red Comets get a good start to the season with a 12-6 win over the Yucipica Aliens" said the Radio
"I'm not sure about being as good as South Africa, but we will try, How are you feeling" said Youhei
"I'm feeling good Youhei, never felt better" said Kyou with a thumbs up
"Have you taken your medication" said Youhei
"Yes and I feel as good as I were before the diagnosis" said Kyou
"Sure" said Youhei
Kyou wrapped her hands around Youhei's and said "Yeah, I'm feeling okay, hopefully I have enough energy to watch the whole game and not fall asleep"
Kyou turned around and said "Yuna, during the game, if I fall asleep, can you wake me up please so I can watch your father play the whole match"
"Yeah sure, mom" said Yuna
"We have some breaking news, Colony 3 Qubeleys Player-Head Coach Haman Karn was sent off after punching the Orrell winger during a 44-12 loss for the Qubeleys away to Orrell" said the Radio
"Shame we are not playing them next week as I think I heard from a Premiership preview magazine that Haman is the Qubeleys best player" said Youhei
"Who have we got next week" said Kyou
"Home to Carlisle, we don't know much apart from they were a Rugby League team before switching codes" said Youhei
"Should be an intresting fixture, what position is Ryou playing" said Kyou
"Fly-Half, I will be playing Scrum-half" said Youhei
"I will be looking out for you on the field, Is your sister playing" said Kyou
"She is on the bench, she'll probably come on at some point" said Youhei
Suddenly Nagisa began singing Dango Daikazoku which saw everyone joining in.
Moments Later
The Hikarizaka Dangos arrived at Towa Stadium which had a covered seated stand with executive boxes and dugout on one side and the other 3 sides were virtually terracing, with two of the ends being open terracing and the end opposite the main stand being covered terracing.
After getting off the bus at the stadiums car park, Sanae was greeted by Ryouko Miyazono and Yasuko Takasu whom were the executive representives of the Neriema Viola Buffalos.
"Hello, I am Sanae Furukawa, Marketing Manager of the Hikarizaka Dangos" said Sanae
"Good to meet you, I am Ryouko Miyazono and I am the General Manager of the Buffalos and this is Yasuko Takasu who is our teams Marketing Manager" said Ryouko
"Nice to meet you both" said Sanae
"We would also like to invite Kyou and Yuna Sunohara to the boardroom on the request of our team captain" said Yasuko
"I'm happy to agree to that, also can my granddaughter Ushio join us in the boardroom" said Sanae
"Sure" said Ryouko
"Good luck Youhei, give it everything you have and more" said Kyou
"I will" said Youhei
"Good luck Dad" said Yuna
"I will give it everything I have got" said Youhei
The whole Dango's team went to the changing room's which were quite large, all of the Dangos were in kit anyway.
"Listen this is your first competitive game so there is going to be the odd mistake here and there, but take everything that you've learned and apply it to this game and give it 100% no matter what, if we win we will have momentum in the early part of the season, Dango on 3 1.2." said Norafumi
"DANGO" shouted the team as they ran out on the field in front of an capacity crowd of 4,560
Team Rosters
Viola Buffalos
1. Tomo Aizawa (Prop)
2. Tsubaki Sawabe (Hooker)
3. Junichiro Kubota (Prop)
4. Yusaku Kitamura (Second Row)
5. Ami Kawashima (Second Row)
6. Takashi Aiza (Flanker)
7. Sumire Kano (Flanker)
8. Ryuuji Takasu (No.8)
9. Kaori Arima (Scrum-Half)
10. Nao Kashiwagi (Fly-Half)
11. Riyota Watari (Winger)
12. Minori Kushienda (Inside Center)
13. Taiga Takasu (Outside Center)
14. Jerid Messa (Winger)
15. Kousei Arima (Full-Back)
Finishers
Nagi Aiza (Backup Fly-Half)
Emma Sheen (Backup Outside Center)
Dangos:
1. Tomoyo Sakigami (Prop)
2. Jun Kitagawa (Hooker)
3. Mai Kawasumi (Prop)
4. Tomoya Okazaki (Second Row)
5. Kaori Kitagawa (Second Row)
6. Yuichi Aizawa (Flanker)
7. Yukine Miyazawa (Flanker)
8. Yoshino (No.8)
9. Youhei Sunohara (Scrum-Half)
10. Ryou (Fly-Half)
11. Nayuki Tskagawa (Winger)
12. Ayu Aizawa (Inside Center)
13. Kyosa Tskagawa (Outside Center)
14. Kappei (Winger)
15. Nagisa Okazaki (Full-Back)
Finishers:
Shiori Misaka (Backup Full-Back)
Kotomi Ichinose (Backup No.8)
Fuko Ibuki (Backup Winger)
Mei Sunohara (Backup Scrum-Half)
Haruto Tsushima (Backup Second Row)
Kickoff
The Viola Buffalos were kicking off, the Viola Buffalos jerseys were claret Umbro jerseys that were sponsored by Pop Cats.
The Viola Buffalos kicked off and what followed was 10 minutes of back and forth Rugby with either side gaining territory and possession of the ball, in terms of scrums, the Viola Buffalos had a very strong front row with Jun and Tomo making it difficult for the Dango's front row to make any progress.
In the 11th minute, Kaori Arima received the ball via the scrum and rather than passing it, she jukes and goes left and manages to stiff arm Ryou and makes a big run and after juking past Nagisa, scores the Viola Buffalos first try. Viola Buffalos 7-0 Dangos
The next 8 minutes were mostly end-to-end rugby with both sides scraping and clawing their way to try and get to the try line, The Dango's make a sub in the 17th Minute as Yoshino is subbed off for Kotomi Ichinose.
In the 19th Minute, Ayu Aizawa boots the ball deep into the Viola Bufflao's half. However before Kousei Arima could fully catch it, he is tackled quite hard by Tomoyo Sakigami which causes the ball to fumble in the air which Youhei catches and scores a try. Viola Buffalos 7-7 Dangos.
The Viola Buffalos make a sub as Nao Kashiwagi comes off for Nagi Aiza at Fly-Half. For the remaining time of the 1st Half saw the Viola Buffalos try to bully their way over the try line with the likes of Kaori Arima, Tomo Aizawa and Taiga Takasu turning the aggression up and charging their way through the Dango's defensive line. Despite the pressure, the Dango's held firm and a crucial drop from Jerid Messa prevented the Viola Buffalos from taking the lead in the half.
Half Time (Dangos 7-7 Viola Buffalos)
In the executive suite
Ryouko, Kyou, Sanae and Yasuko were all in the executive box in the Main Stand discussing the 1st half.
"What did you gals think of the half" said Yasuko
"I thought both sides look good, the Dangos are firing on all cylinders" said Sanae
"Both try's were good, Kaori's was better, but Youhei did seize a good opportunity with that try" said Ryouko
"Yeah, Kyou's reaction when he scored that try, she was so happy that all that celebrating tired her out" said Sanae as Kyou was next to them asleep on her chair.
"Can I ask you a question, Sanae" said Ryouko
"Sure" said Sanae
"What is Kyou's prognosis, I heard that she got cancer" said Ryouko
"With treatment 2-5 years, without treatment 5 months at best, the Sunohara family have had it tough since the diagnosis" said Sanae
"I read up in the Premiership preview magazine about the Dangos being formed as an fundraiser to raise money for Kyou's treatment" said Ryouko
"Yeah, I can't believe we've gotten this far as a team, but Kyou's family and friends have helped her so much" said Sanae
"You know my daughter, the Viola Buffalo's scrum-half Kaori Arima" said Ryouko
"Yeah" said Sanae
"She almost died 8 years ago, she grew up with this illness which eventually weakened her to the point where she almost died on the operating table and had to be secretly transported to America as they had an experimental cure for it and after 2 years away, she returned to Japan, it was a miracle and thankfully her condition is no longer frail" said Ryouko
"That must of been hard" said Sanae
"It was, but thankfully Kaori is alive and well and also healthy enough to play rugby, look with regards to match payments, I will give your team extra money to help your friend out" said Ryouko
"Thats really sweet of you, thank you, How did your team form" said Sanae
"It formed when Kaori and Kousei were encouraged by their friends Watari and Tsubaki to form the team which they did" said Ryouko
"And then Tsubaki called her friend Minori who recruited her friends to join which included my son along with his friends" said Yasuko
"We also gathered two major signings in the prop position after Kaori and Kousei begged Junichiro and Tomo to join as props which they duly agreed and I will say that they have been very effective this half" said Ryouko
"Agreed" said Sanae
Second Half
The game kicked off as the Dangos kicked off, the Dangos had made a sub as Nagisa was subbed for Shiori Misaka at Full-Back and for 30 minutes, the Viola Buffalos put on the pressure with some near-misses that were stopped either because of poor passes or because the Dango's defence
70th minute saw Kyosa smash the ball at Jerid Messa which caused the ball to ricochet into the hands of Nayuki who ran with full speed with nobody being able to catch her which saw the Dangos score a try: Viola Buffalos 7-14 Dangos.
The next 10 minutes saw a fatigued Dango side try and stop a strong Viola Buffalos side that seemingly had more energy than a Dangos side that were mostly in their 30's and some even in there 40's, whilst an majority of the Viola Buffalos side were in their early 20's or early 30's.
The 75th minute saw Kappei subbed off for Fuko at the Wing for the Dangos, whilst in the 77th minute, Taiga Takasu was subbed for Emma Sheen for the Viola Buffalos at Outside Center.
In the 80th and final minute, Kaori Arima had the ball and managed to trick the Dangos into going one direction before finding a gap and ran through it, leaving her with only the fullback to beat. However Shiori took a step back and then charged towards Kaori and made a big tackle, The Dangos had won.
After the game, everyone shook hands before entering the dressing room.
Moments Later
Every player and official were in the executive suite after the game as both teams were sat around a long table in which saw all the players and officials eat post-game food that the Viola Buffalos provided which was an meat pie for dinner and Caneles for dessert.
Kaori and Kousei stood up with their glasses of drink and both tapped it with a spoon so that everyone got their attention.
"I would like to congratulate you on your win and wish you guys luck on your season, Both sides today gave each other a strong fight and credit to the Dangos you never gave up" said Kaori
"We are also aware that you guys came together to help a friend and considering we were in a similar position with my wife many years ago and despite some hardships, we managed to pull through and reflecting on those experiences, we have decided to give your team extra match money to help your friend" said Kousei
Kyou stood up and said "Thank you all so much for everything, especially the Dangos who have all sacrificed their time to help me and my family through these tough times, I do have one request though"
"What is that" said Youhei
Kyou got a pint of beer, put a straw in it and placed it on the ground, "I need two volunteers, they have to be strong"
"I'll do it" said Tomoya
"I'll do it" said Tomoyo
"Good, Youhei you'll be doing an handstand pint" said Kyou smirking, Youhei gulped
Youhei got up and was put in a steady handstand position by Tomoyo and Tomoya and finished the pint which caused Youhei to gag a little quickly as evreyone cheered.
Kyou laughed and then smiled at Youhei and said "It seems our captain isn't useless after all"
Youhei laughed at that remark and said "At least I got one try"
"I suppose you did, well done Youhei" said Kyou.