Conquering one’s fear takes central stage this week as we follow our newest recruit up close. Issues from his past resurface and threaten to snatch away his dream. But with support from his teammates and a little push from our relentless head coach, everything gets straightened out.
Another one facing her fears is our shooting coach, who finds herself amidst a do-or-die situation.
Bunny S. watches The Winning Try on Netflix
The Winning Try Episodes 7 and 8 Highlights
“What if they find out you are risking your life for them?”
Sadly, Ga-ram’s condition is critical, and he needs surgery. Yi-ji urges him to get treated immediately. But he pleads with her to give him 3 months. The Presidents Cup is around the corner, and the nationals will follow soon. And the rugby team won’t be able to compete without a coach. Yi-ji argues the boys will be sad if they learn Ga-ram is risking his life for them. But nothing she says can change his mind. Still, Yi-ji understands him a bit after spotting how much the boys rely on Ga-ram.
Noticing his absence, the vice principal corners Ga-ram. An ambulance was spotted at school and only Ga-ram and Yi-ji were missing. So, one of them must be sick. Taking the fall, Yi-ji claims she has the yips and went to the hospital after slamming her fist, and Ga-ram tagged along as her guardian. Suspicious, the vice principal and Coach Jeon demand a doctor’s note, which Yi-ji tosses in their faces. Surprisingly, she indeed has the yips yet was keeping it a secret. In retaliation, Coach Jeon kicks Yi-ji out of the shooting range until she recovers.
Feeling guilty, Ga-ram promises to win the nationals and help Yi-ji overcome her yips. Funnily, his plan includes hiding away her gun to force her to take a break and having her run 300 laps because cardio reduces anxiety. Despite grabbing his hair at first, Yi-ji accepts the challenge.
“With every effort you make, we are bound to win.”
After a week of vigorous training, the Presidents Cup is finally here. Everyone boards the buses to get to the competition area. Seong-jun tries to sit next to U-jin but gets rejected, and then Ung sits beside her, getting Seong-jun jealous. (Are we getting another love triangle?) Likewise, Ga-ram tries to sit next to Yi-ji and gets glared at.
The rugby team from Daesang High arrives shortly after. Coach Kim sneers at our boys for wasting their efforts when no scout will watch them. But the joke is on him. Moved by Ga-ram’s sincerity, the former national team coach, Coach Song (Kang Shin-II), drops by to watch our boys.
Before the match, Coach Song and Ga-ram talk about the past. Back then, Ga-ram had a seizure the day before the final match and fell off the treadmill. He told Coach Song he couldn’t compete, but the latter pushed Ga-ram to play, driving him to take steroids. Coach Song apologizes for not listening to Ga-ram. And Ga-ram asserts it is all in the past now.
The match begins. Our boys feel bitter about playing against Tae-pung, but he chose to leave. Once again proving to be despicable, Coach Kim forces Tae-pung to play with an injured knee so the key players will save their energy for later. He is someone who views his players as objects and cares more about the results than their well-being.
During the first round, afraid of hurting others, Ung froze and couldn’t tackle. Hence, Ga-ram changed tactics so the rest of the team would back him up. It pretty much worked. Yet they were drained by the time for the last round. Capitalizing on this, Daesang players attacked our rugby team and won the match. Still, our boys did well and lost only by 2 points.
After the match, Ung apologizes to everyone for causing them to lose. But they assure him it is okay. They might have gotten eliminated, but they almost defeated Daesang, the winner of the last national championship. Furthermore, Coach Song’s scouting report on our rugby team led a scout to request to watch them train, which got the vice principal to change tone for now and allow our rugby team to use the gym. But of course, that sneaky man can’t be trusted.
“If you can’t do it today, your rugby ends here.”
Our rugby team’s next move is to look for a way to help Ung overcome his trauma. But nothing seems to work. Just then, a post goes viral, accusing Ung of school bullying. But he denies the allegations. In fact, some delinquent students harassed Ung to force him to join them, but he continued to refuse. When the bullies threatened to go after his father, Ung charged at the leader and accidentally injured him.
Leaving Ung behind at school, the rest go to see the leader and tell him to delete the post. But recognizing Seong-jun as the twin brother of the successful soccer player, he tells Seong-jun to kneel if he wants the post deleted. Taking one for the team, Seong-jun swallows his pride and gets on his knees. After taking photos of Seong-jun, the leader tries to cheat. But Seong-jun has him delete the post.
When Ga-ram hears what they did, he gets mad and scolds them for doing things behind his back. He has everyone line up in the field and tackle him one by one. It drags on for hours since none of them can take on Ga-ram. Ung remains scared until the end and dodges. So, Ga-ram offers him an ultimatum: either tackle him or quit the team.
Worried about Ung, his father drops by the school to check on him. Witnessing that scene, he tells Ung to stop and prepare to leave with him. But just then, Ung attacks Ga-ram with all his strength, causing him to flip over. Mission accomplished.
“Why is it for Seol-hyeon, not me?
Meanwhile, chaos abounds on the shooting team. Coming in first, U-jin won gold at the Presidents Cup, beating Seol-hyeon, who ranked second. Thus, making it quite hard for Coach Jeon to cater to Mr. Na and recommend Seol-hyeon for early admission over U-jin. Fooling Yi-ji, Coach Jeon has her draft a recommendation letter for U-jin while he discreetly writes one for Seol-hyeon.
Stumbling across Seol-hyeon’s recommendation letter, U-jin confronts Coach Jeon about his admission fraud. She has better records. So, why choose Seol-hyeon over her? Yet Coach Jeon spouts nonsense about how U-jin has a poor attitude and doesn’t listen to him. So, U-jin threatens to expose him to the association and the education office. Amidst their altercation, U-jin pumps her head and falls on the ground.
Arriving on scene, Yi-ji yells at Coach Jeon to stay away from U-jin. But he keeps pressuring U-jin when she can’t even get up. Pointing a gun at him, Yi-ji threatens to shoot, yet Coach Jeon sneers at her. Desperate to save U-jin, Yi-ji overcomes her yips and takes the shot.
The Winning Try Episodes 7 and 8 Musings
The ending scene has us concerned about U-jin. Her injury seems critical, so we hope the drama won’t drop another tragedy on us with U-jin being unable to shoot the way she did before.
Yi-ji and U-jin share an underrated yet strong bond. After Yi-ji was banned from her duties, U-jin got worried and went to check on her but backed out at the last minute. Her record continued to decline, but U-jin couldn’t figure out the reason. Checking U-jin’s records secretly, Yi-ji figured it was because U-jin had changed shoes. So, she got U-jin different pairs of shoes to try on and choose the one that fit her the best.
While Yi-ji softly approached U-jin, Ga-ram went tough on Ung and the rest. But it was mostly because he was worried about them. Perhaps sometimes you have to push someone beyond their limits so they can overcome their fear. Only when he was about to lose his dream did Ung break free from his trauma. He couldn’t tackle because he was scared of hurting others. But, like Ga-ram said, his teammates might get hurt while trying to back him up. So, he isn’t protecting anyone here.
With Coach Jeon hopefully taking a blow from what he did to U-jin, we wish the authority of the vice principal and his clique grows weaker. No matter how adept they are at brushing things under the rug, they won’t be able to cover up this matter easily. But then again, those sneaky people might find a way to save their necks while the victims suffer. How frustrating!
Photos and Videos: SBS Drama
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