Club hold on against spirited DEA

From JP

Following a good second half demolition of Causeway Bay last week, Club came up a resurgent DEA whose tails were up following their victory over Aberdeen the previous week. Having already beaten DEA soundly in the pre-season Plate Knock-Out Final a few weeks previous, Club were quietly confident that they could repeat the feat up at King's Park on Saturday evening.

DEA started strongly and soon gained the upper hand, however. It was only due to a heroic tap tackle from Danny Parr on the right wing that saved us going down by a try five minutes into the game. The first half was one of the most frustrating 40 minutes of rugby the boys had probably ever played in, with a constant barrage of whistle-blowing from Hong Kong’s finest. Trying to be somewhat diplomatic, I must say I do not have the foggiest what on earth most of the penalties were for.

Naturally, "Left Hook" Rory Hussey was right in the mix and no doubt gave away a few penalties for being an Irish version of Michael Bolton. Tim Griffin stepped up in the heat of the battle and gave us an amusing display when taking on the four foot tall opposition scrum half. Other than that, we were penalized constantly in the scrums for no other reason other than pushing. This was hugely frustrating for the boys as it didn’t allow us to get into a pattern and get through some phases. The DEA line out was working well, helping them stay in the game and enable them to kick a few goals and keep things very tight going into half time. Thankfully we managed to get our noses in front with a superb try from Pat Foreman in open play with the ball changing hands many times and delighting the away crowd of the resident Scorps drunkards!

The second half was a better display albeit frustrating because of our decision making and pressing the panic button when in the final third. Despite that, there were a huge amount of positive factors in the second half as the Piggies stepped it up on the physicality front with the likes of Ridgeway, Watson, Bolland and Washington making some hard yards despite being about as mobile as parking meters. The back row also started to gel and get around the park negating the impact of the DEA back row led by Nigel Clarke who as always had a strong game. In Club's back row, there were solid performances from Marin, Michael Bolton & Tim Edgar.

There was some super stuff in the backs as well with the likes of Jimmy Kibble and Pat Foreman imposing themselves and getting across the gainline, bringing in the pace boys of Perkins, McKee and Raby. Unfortunately, when it came to making our mark from set pieces and finishing in their 22, we failed to deliver.

The good news is that the boys are coming close to gelling and being a much more complete unit, which is just as well with much harder tests to come. With the score at 13-6 with 10 minutes to go, we failed to take one or two kicks at goal that would have put us out of sight. The good news for the crowd and Q’s hernia was that this created a thrilling ending, with DEA camped in our 22 for the final 5 minutes trying to steal a draw from nowhere. Thankfully due to a gutsy defensive display, we held them out and breathed a huge sigh of relief when the whistle blew for full time rather than another penalty against Club! The final spectacle was watching Tim Griffin having a row with a dustbin.

Well done lads – plenty of positives to build on for the impending almighty smash against Valley next week at home.

Rugby Section – bring your vocal cords please and Man Up! Ta, JP

Sargant Speaks: Drags demolish Scorps

Murray's inimitable analysis of Drags' victory over our brethren in Scorps, plus a look ahead at Drags' trip to Guangzhou this Saturday. Playing the PLA away always seems to attract superlatives. Dinks once said they had the best lineout in Asia bar the Japanese national team. And Muzz is comparing playing at GZ to playing away at Twickenham or Eden Park. Frankly I think the similarities are limited. I haven't played at either of those stadia myself but I'd be willing to bet they have changing rooms and that you can have a shower without risk of catching typhoid at both. Harps

PS: What he would appear not to mention is the score - it was about 50-7.

Sargant Speaks:

These inter club games are always entertaining and this one was know exception with both teams prepared for a tough encounter. In years gone by we have ended up with both teams having extensive injuries but on this occasion it was a hard but fair contest with the only concern coming from some very mysterious referring decisions. More from him next weekend I suspect as we play PLA. In the first half it started off with both sets of forwards testing each other out. This is always the most difficult time in Drags Vs Scorps clashes as both teams are fresh and looking to make an impact.

Quickly though it became apparent that Drags strength lay in our backline attack with Stewart Magraw cross for the first of four tries. After that it was an entertaining affair with tries coming in from all over the park. The Drags backline was on fire and the passing and inte! rchange between them made the coach Marc Sexton confirm this the best backline display from a Drags team this season.

In all we scored four more tries with Tim Robinson, Richard Gallagher (the only forward to score in the first half) Magraw a second and finally Baz Perkins crossing for a great first half. Five tries to zero. In the second half we expected much of the same but Scorps had different idea's and they came out of the half time break with renewed energy. Some solid forward work from our brothers in Scorps resulted in better field position and inevitably a strong forwards surge ended with a try for Scorps which was well converted by Dave Beckett.

For our part we had a number of outstanding backline drives and continued to score even if it did mean we had to run the entire length of the ground to do it. The "Gas Man" Raby opened up the second half and also lead the kicking game with six conversions in all a solid display. Next to cross was Guy Payne our Captain for the day (congratulations Guy) playing a loose flanking role coming in from out wide, then ! Callum Nieto and finally another two tries for Stewart Magraw.

Man of the match was Baz Perkins for his sublime running skills which broke the Scorps backline on many occasions setting up a number of the tries and also crossing for two others although only one will count as the referee adjudged that Baz dropped the ball over the line. Clearly David Guthrie feels the record should reflect a try saving tackle from him but that shouldn't surprise anyone. No matter what the circumstances Baz had a great game so congratulations. Another Man of the match on debut.

All in all a great win and we continue on as leaders of the division with nex! t weekend being our game of the season against our arch rivals PL A. Last season this fixture was are only loss so it holds a huge challenge for the entire team. This season we want to go undefeated so the game next weekend in Guangzhou is vital. Last year we lost 12-17 in a hard fought contest and I know PLA are fired up to repeat the result this time around. Fact is they have home ground advantage and to say the crowd is hostile is an understatement.

We play in the army grounds and every other soldier comes out to watch and cheer the mighty PLA to a glorious Chinese victory. It's like playing the All Blacks at Eden Park, Wales at Cardiff Arms or England at Twickenham, you get the idea. This is more than a game for them, it's a battle and that's exactly what we have to understand in order to win. We need to take this week at training and the game seriously and as it's an international trip so I do need some help with lo! gistics.

CBRE Club 41 - 7 Causeway Bay

Above: Pete McKee did some lunges while waiting for the forwards to get on with the lineout
















Above: A bearded and quite possibly mulleted CWB player looks to get rid of the ball as Guy Payn heads in his direction looking focused
















Above: Ollie Jones marked his return to first grade rugby after a serious back injury with some fine ball carrying
















Above: Whose try-line is that Gus? Whoever's it is, the big man looks cool, calm and collected.
Photos: stolen from Ollie Jones's album posted on FaceBook.


Gents

Brevity is indeed the soul of wit, so I will be brief. Not because I necessarily prefer to, but because I have little choice. The fact is, I wasn't there to see this game because I'd rushed off to go and get ready for the Yacht Club ball (which was fantastic, by the way, thanks for asking).

Our sources here at the Blog can be somewhat unreliable too. Some were playing and, as we all know, the way you remember a game you played in is not the way it appears to those looking on. Others were drunk, or just not paying attention, or both. Fortunately Luke Jones, surely one of the finest number sevens to grace our club, watched the game carefully and sent me some rather more lucid comments than either the team manager or assistant coach.

It was, I am told, a disappointing first half in which too many individual errors reduced continuity, compounded by an inability to win our own line out ball. The half-time score flattered CWB somewhat. Club had looked certain to score but an interception from CWB Player-Coach and HK international Semi on his own try line resulted in a penalty try for the Bay. Semi had nudged the ball away and there was a desperate chase for the line between Angus Washington and their tight-head prop (Mr Jones is still trying to work out where all the backs were at this time). The referee adjudged that Washington had blocked the CWB player and a penalty try was awarded to CWB.

Club struck back, however, with Baz Perkins finishing a stunning team try. Ollie Jones, making a welcome return to first grade rugby, also made the scoresheet from Number Eight with that rarest of things in the modern game - a pushover try. Adam Raby's score, Mr Jones assures us, was pure individual class. Confronting an opponent one on one with very little space to work in, he feinted inside, took the outside and left his hapless would-be tackler grasping at thin air.

Hooker Tom Bolland also completed a good team move to score and Perkins crossed again for a second. After scrum half Pete McKee went off with a rib injury in the second half, fly-half James Kibble moved to 9 and Pat Foreman came in to 10. Foreman made a solid contribution, according to our man on the ground, kicking long and accurately for position. Dave Tibbot, who came into the game more in the seecond half, and Mike McKee were outstanding

Club's next game is against DEA Tigers this Saturday at King's Park. Sadly I won't see that either as I will be on my way back from Red China after the Dragons v PLA game in Guangzhou. If anyone is interested in this pilgrimage to one of rugby's frontiers, I would refer you to an old Blog post: http://hkfcrugbysection.blogspot.com/2008/01/fine-day-for-bike-ride-in-downtown.html

Ta ta for now

Harps