A cloudy September afternoon, the aspiring NTNUi rugby girls met up in front of Trondheim’s Hogwarts, ready for their first rugby adventure.
 
The drive down south was a long one, but beautiful, passing autumn coloured leaves, high mountains and snow, quite exotic for some of us. We arrived safely in Oslo after dark, and some spent the night getting a rugby lesson by their lovely host, Anja, others went straight to bed, tired after having studied (=slept) during the whole journey.
 
Saturday morning, we woke up to a lovely sun, a rare sight in Trondheim this fall, and felt that it was going to be a great day for rugby. The changing room was filled with an combination of excitement and nervousness as jerseys were handed out, and Guillaume’s tips were repeated a last time. Our first opponent was to be none other than the reigning Norwegian Champions, Bergen. What could have been a rough baptism, became a great first match! Great play, and great defense, resulted in 25 – 0 for Bergen. What this score hides is the fact that our sweeper, miss speedy babe Sigrid, managed to stop Bergen’s dreaded Kjersti on numerous occasions, and that the rest of our team played so that the spectators were shocked to hear that most of us had never played before.
 
The next match lined up ourselves against Oslo Rugbyklubb 2, giving us little time to dwell upon what we had just learned. ORK2 was a mixture of new and experienced player, much like ourselves. But from kick off until the referee blew his whistle a last time, there was no doubt of who was the strongest team, us! NTNUi won all the rucks, was efficient in attack, and scored a try early on by Sigrid. The match ended 15 – 0 for NTNUi, after another try by Sigrid and one by Marianne.
 
We could now grant ourselves a pause, watch ORK1 against Bergen and enjoy the sunny weather. The match between ORK1 and Bergen showed to be a great one. ORK1 played well, beating Bergen, who could not remember the last time they had lost against a Norwegian team. With ORK1’s great line up, all pumped up after having beaten Bergen, we were facing a great challenge for our next match. ORK1 played their experience, winning, and qualifying for the final.
 
We were now to play for our honor and a place on the podium. Our opponent was once again ORK2, making our goal to score more tries than during the last match. The goal was attained with the result 20 – 0. The bronze final, revealed our weakness when if comes to kicking. Marianne and Cathinka’s attempts were not efficient, though artistic, probably giving the spectators a good laugh. The “new” NTNUi team finished their first tournament in glory, third after ORK1 and Bergen. And all the girls headed for the BBQ, having the right to eat as many sausages as tries scored in the bronze final, hence 4.
 
The third half was held at Hogan’s, together with the Stavanger and ORK guys, who had played an entertaining match just after the girls tournament. The atmosphere was great, new rugby songs were learnt, bringing an end to a great rugby day.
 
Line up:
My
Ola
Giada
Aina Elisabeth
Wiebke
Marianne
Sigrid
Anne Therese
Cathinka
 
Siren (passive player)                                                               
 
Awards:
 
Virgins:
Marianne
My
Aina Elisabeth
Ola
Giada
Wiebke
Anne Therese
Sigrid
 
Best player:
Marianne
 
Tournaments best player (awarded by the organisors):
Marianne