Dateline: Sunday April 13th, 2008. Thirteen is often an auspicious number and on the weekend it proved to be once again for an overconfidence, dare I say, apathetic Gaijin team.

Sunday March 9 saw the TGRFC squad head to the National Japan Rugby team’s training quarters in Tatsumi for an anniversary game to celebrate 10 years of Deaf Rugby in Japan. Normally the Tatsumi ground is off limits to anyone for matches, but the Deaf Rugby crew had scored a win and gained access to the hard dry turf that made for a great running rugby spectacle.

Early in the morning I admit that I was expecting a much tougher match. Upon hearing from Jesse Cutler that the All Quiet Typhoon had beaten the Gaijin a few seasons earlier, I expected this national representative side to be a very tough opponent. Basically none of us knew what to expect but what came was a game that lived up to the opposition name as it was quite literally a typhoon of rugby that ran both teams hard, across, up and down the pitch for a highly enjoyable game. A fair-sized crowd had come to watch and they were not disappointed. Sky Perfect TV even had a camera crew there, as they were filming a documentary on our opposition, so the Gaijin mandate was to go out and have fun on a perfect sunny afternoon for Ruggers.

The Tokyo Gaijin won the toss and went with the wind hoping to put some points on early and stamp out the home side’s bravado. Actually the wind was picking up so this looked like a bit of a foolhardy decision prior to the kick off. However, the Typhoon fly half dropkicked the game into gear and immediately the Gaijin were on the front foot. Murray Clarke took the ball in, a ruck ensued and the ball was rapidly sent out to the backs courtesy of Hitoshi Chihara who was filling in at halfback. The ball flew accurately from Hitoshi to Matt Downer and on to Bati Apisai who exploded into a gap and turned the opposition around with a blasting run all the way down the left flank, weaving his magic in and out of defenders with support from Andy Ballard (wing) and Riki Pitter (center). They were surplus to requirements and our 2007 MVP and recently voted “Shuto League MVP” ran in under the posts for the first try within a minute. The Fijian Flyer had laid down the gauntlet and the Gaijin were up by 7. How good is this guy?

     Saturday March 8th, 2008, saw a small band of Gaijin head to Shibuya for the Shuto League closing ceremonies for the 
Close 2007 season (prolonged because of rained out games). There they were awarded the Shuto League Champions Cup and were privileged to have one their own named as Tournament MVP for 2007: APISAI  BATI.. This comes on top of winning the Tokyo Gaijin`s MVP award for the 2007 season.

    Apisai Bati, a Rishkul College product from Suva, Fiji, joined the Tokyo Gaijin club back in　1996 which makes him the second longest serving current player behind manager Joffa Harris. He is both the longest serving back and the oldest back. When the TGRFC beat the famous Japanese Club "Mandela" (1996) and when we became the first "non-Japanese" club to gain promotion to the Tokyo Cup First Division in 2000, Bati was of course one of the MVP players in those years. He was also a member of the successful 1998 & 1999 Tokyo Gaijin sides that won the Hong Kong 10`s Plate Division two years in a row and has also toured with the team to the inaugural Beijing 10`s. In those days he mostly played Flanker and was famous for his charging runs, tenacity and ball-winning skills. His impact is phenomenal, most recently recording 10 tries in the 2007 season, including a hat-trick against Fuji Club in the Tokyo Cup, and setting up countless more for his team mates with his trade mark bursts.