“Lustrian V Final. Wow a great match to play in and, I'm told, to spec. Had everything. We received and made a solid push down one side, whilst Dhaktokh concentrated on kicking my bull. This resulted in a ko, which I accepted rather than have him kicked again. I didn't know at the time he would never return, despite having 5 or 6 rolls to do so. Our only bull being off meant the girls were able to pressure and force the score. This left 4 turns to survive. I was fairly happy with the defence until the ag2 catcher managed to dodge away to the end zone. Whether he would have caught it we'll never know, as the legend Rodman misclicked when about to long bomb and threw it down next to him. This was a major turning point as we managed to luck a td via some very kind dice.

So, 2-0 at half time and looking good. However, I had a feeling it wouldn't be as straight forward as this and so it proved. None of my kos came back leaving me down to 9 if memory serves and a couple more quickly followed. Poor ko rolls would leave us short handed the rest of the match, though after my 2nd td I wasn't about to start complaining. Anyway we did our best to hold him up, hoping when he eventually scored we'd get some players back to get a numbers advantage. We wizzed and briefly got the ball, but despite their wiz fizzing, the zons were able to knock down the carrier. A kind bounce into 2 td still looked promising but then Rodman managed to pick up and pass in two tz to get the score - this was to prove the last significant contribution of this legend before his later rip, but what a contribution and what a legend.

So four turns to hold out, but yet again my kos stay out leaving us with 7. A perfect defence then totally does for the blockers on the front line, but we manage to secure the ball at least. Then the blood began to flow. My legend dodges on a 4+ for a 2d blitz which ends in a shove, but this sets up another 2d for another clawpomb which niggles a blitzer. This slowed down the zons, but they applied pressure whilst we defended desperately, before finally knocking the str4 hobbo over in turn 16 to equalise.

Extra Time. The kos are again crap, but we get the all important toss and what a first turn. A rock takes one out and my blockers go mental, removing another three with a rip to boot. Suddenly it looks like game and despite valient attempts to pressure from Dhaktokh we are able to get the ball to safety fairly easily and in doing so rip Rodman.

A great game which swung back and forth and could have gone either way. Dice just went my way in the end when it counted. Thanks to Dhaktokh for a great match, a great performance and being a great sport.”