“The game started badly for the Getbackers, with star lineman Haruki Emishi almost instantly getting badly hurt by Llop Sanguinari. But it was a strangely even tempered game, with no fouls even with the ref out for the first half and most of the second (some exuberant crowd surfing can be excused).

Kudos to coach Cruixer for his restraint in not totally destroying the Getbackers. We really rode our luck in the second half, after an abysmal first half left us down 2-1. The elves were just not able to dodge the attentions of their nefarious opponents! First goal was really a test of that, with no rerolls left, requiring a true Getbackers effort, Ban clearing away a zombie bothering Himiko so she could bomb a long bomb to Ginji.

But it was the second half when the luck turned. A trip by Guardia gave space for a two turner with the ball travelling from Himiko deep in our own half to Hevn near the half way line and to Natsumi for the finish. The restart saw Servent setting up his werewolf teammates for long passes on left and right sides of the pitch, and Ice Tiger and Himiko running deep to try to close him down. They'd actually failed, with Servent penetrating past the halfway line, but a mistake by Sanguinari left him holding the ball next to Hevn and unwilling to move. Ban couldn't knock him down with a RR blitz, but Kyouji managed it, allowing Hevn to pass right over the heads of the Bloodies to Himiko who was still stranded deep in enemy territory. A quick walk over to Ice Tiger to sprint home, advantage Getbackers!

But the Bloodies still had a good chance to equalise. As Servent fumbled the ball deep in his own half, Jubei ran forward to try to rush him, and then it was Werewolf Llobato's turn to drop Servent's pass in Getbackers territory. With Ban clearing the way, Himiko secured the ball and quickly passed the ball to Shido, who walked the ball over to Jubei ( again stranded in the enemy half after an unsuccessful charge forward) who basically ran the ball almost to the end point. With only Servent now able to put a TZ on Jubei, Ginji calmly walked through TZs to mark Servent. Servent managed to make it, but couldn't stop Jubei from scoring. Effectively the game was over at that point.

Bad luck for Cruixer, but definitely good sport!”