Rugby tournament

Last weekend I was invited to shoot a friend playing rugby at a friendly tournament in town. I used this opportunity to take a loaned 100-400mm lens out and test how good the auto-focus is.

I have seen photos of rugby from South Africa where the players have their fingers in the opposing players mouths so I was really hoping to catch some good action. I was not disappointed. The faces they give as they run, or anticipate getting tackled are fantastic.

No one takes this tournament seriously and the team names showed that to be apparent. This young man was sporting a fresh "mullet" playing for the Communists. Up next was a girls game where the "Sperm Gurglers" were against the "Camel Toes".

The girls are known to dress up in crazy outfits for the tournaments too, and so we had neon green g-strings outside of silver leggings and all the hues of pink known to man. This huddle was too much of a photo opportunity to miss.

As for the camera and lens? Well, the camera did exactly what I thought it would do. Shoot fast, miss a few but hit most. I was able to capture peak action with a lens that opened up to only 5.6 under bright conditions.

As soon as I have five grand, I'll be buying a 300mm F 2.8 and then we will see how fast this camera can perform.