Crunch Time in Crisp January

Good morning all



Welcome back, happy new year and all of that. I'm sure you will agree this is the very best time of year to be in HK: fresh, clear weather (by our dismal standards) and an invigorating chill in the air. I am beginning to think I might have already been in this fair city too long, though. Temperatures a fraction over 10 degrees celsius hardly put you in danger of frostbite, yet I have started wearing a scarf to work and jogging trousers at training. God only knows what would I would have to wear if I'd been back in England over the last few weeks, where rugby conditions have been like those in the picture below. Better not to think about it.







The rugger's off to an interesting start as well. Club had hoped to hone their gameplan against DEA last weekend and get into their groove before facing up to Valley on Saturday. Unfortunately, DEA hadn't read the script and forced our 1st XV to complete an escape of the kind that would have made Harry Houdini or Steve McQueen proud. Despite having no scrummage to speak of, Nigel Clarke's men were bolstered by the return of several of their leading players and had Club on the rack at 27-15 with three minutes to go.


The fact that Club found themselves in such a perilous situation is worrying: I wasn't able to see the game but I am told that DEA were able to turn over our ruck ball with alarming regularity. But the fact that the team was able to raise its game when staring defeat in the face and find two scores in the dying seconds confirms the strength of character that unquestionably exists within the side. Tries from Dan Watson and Ollie Jones leveled the final scoreline at 27-27, although a last-minute conversion attempt could even have seized an unlikely victory for Club. Amazingly, this was bottom-placed DEA's second draw of the season - they also finished level with HKCC before the break.


Club face a Herculean task against Valley this weekend. Our friendly neighbours are 18 points clear of us at the top of Division one. They have not missed a trick all season, racking up seven wins out of seven and a massive five bonus points. Club will have to find something extra to change the course of this season by beating them on their own ground on Saturday - there is no question of that. Last time the two sides met, Valley played the smarter game - retaining and recycling the ball much better and capitalising on Club's tendency that afternoon to squander good posession and lose discipline. But if Club can find both the driving desire to topple Valley and the clear heads to play to a sensible plan, this game can be theirs. There is so much energy and quality in the Club squad this season. If it can be harnessed, channeled and united, I am certain this team can see off Valley and go all the way in 2009.


Did you know that Dragons are the third-highest scoring team in all of Hong Kong men's rugby so far this season, having accumulated a whopping 300 points? Only Sequins in Division Four with 306 and BMW TPD (?) in Division Six with an incredible 353 have scored more.


But Drags found Scorpions determined to stem the flow last Saturday. After conceding 71 unanswered points in the last encounter between these two sides, Scorps were certainly battling the odds, but a first half display of enormous commitment and some luck (not to mention the siege-gun boot of Mike Glancy at fly-half, who also scored the first try of the match) carried Scorps to a 13-10 advantage at the break. Drags did not make their task any easier by seizing any opportunity to argue with each other throughout the afternoon - I will name no names here! - but their class ultimately shone through. They dominated possession and scored one lovely try in particular through Stevie Matthew that showcased the handling and continuity skills in the team. Although the fire-breathing Dragons threatened to stretch out a lead in the middle of the second half, Scorps had a sting in their tail (get it?), delivering a sharp final quarter to bring the game to a 28-20 close in Drags' favour.


Graham Fleming, Antony Philips, and Alasdair Frost also crossed for Drags, while your correspondent made a tremendous solo run from under his own goal posts, dummied left and right, stepped, jinked, chipped, chased and gathered to score Scorps' second. Actually it was more like I fell over the line from a metre out, but they all count for the same eh?

This game reminded me of the very competitive, combative and hard-fought Scorps v Drags fixtures of my early days in HK - the 2004-2005 season, since you ask. It was fantastic that a genuine Scorps team - albeit with some outstanding newcomers in the ranks - were able to bring this fixture back to a more level playing field.

The afternoon was only marred by injuries to Rob Jones (ankle) and Ian Ridgeway (calf). Scrummages were bizarre all day with four loosehead props in the front row. For the uninitiated, this meant both sides found it hard to secure their own feed cleanly since the two looseheads actually playing at loosehead would always get a drive on, and the two looseheads playing at tighthead weren't able to stop it and hold the scrum steady. Following an hour or more of being bent into all kinds of unpleasant shapes by said Mr Ridgeway, I am resolved to avoid tighthead at all costs in the future and to treat lame excuses from Gary Hamp as to why he can't play there this afternoon (it's my shoulder you see, Harps) with the scepticism they deserve.


That's all for now chaps, see you on Thursday.
Harps

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

Club recapture pride against DEA

Above: If you can't see me, you can't tackle me. You probably can't tackle me anyway. Horse, pictured here against HKCC IIs last weekend, made his Club debut on Saturday. Photo: Jacky Yeung

CBRE Club 26 - 3 DEA Tigers

Club returned to victory on Saturday, overcoming a spirited but rather one-dimensional DEA side in the final act of a knockout competition that the Club players would probably rather forget. Having dispatched Valley in the first round, Club were turned disappointingly turned over by Aberdeen in the semi-final. The form book makes no sense at this stage of the season, though. Club beat Valley and lost to Abedeen. Aberdeen beat Club and were then routed by Valley in the final on Saturday. Frankly this roundabout explains why the knockout cup should be held at the end of the league season - when the teams are more finely honed and consistently closer to the peak of their game - than at the beginning, when the difference between one performance and the next can be somewhat Jekyll and Hyde-like.

Like almost all victories in rugby - with the possible exception of Wales's 2005 Grand Slam - Club's was built on the foundation of a very solid pack. Ian Ridgeway made an impressive debut at loosehead and Stephen 'Horse' Nolan added his not-incosiderable presence at the tighthead side to replace the injured Nigel Hobler. The result was immense pressure on DEA at the set-piece, often forcing their scrum-half to try desperate soccer passes to their unimpressed number 10 and giving Club the most commanding of platforms.

After working hard in training to bring some aggression and nous to their work in the tackle area, Club were able to exercise better control at the ruck than they had against Aberdeen, although the penalty count for ruck infringements was still frustratingly high. Despite the absence of Dan Watson, the forwards were also able to dominate the DEA lineout. Put simply, the Club pack simply had more 'mongrel' than before, with Nathan Johnston and Tim Griffin outstanding in this respect.

Add to this the return of Pete McKee and his long range missile of a pass and it should come as no surprise that Club's backs, pivoting on James Kibble at outside half, enjoyed more space and freedom than they did the previous week. An early score from Kibble was followed up with tries by Johnstone, the tireless Tim Edgar from close in and Andrew Chambers, who ran through to touch down following a neat kick through. Mike McKee added three conversions.

Club's defence was robust throughout, although DEA had no great cutting edge and squandered a number of their better opportunities.

A nasty shoulder injury for Jamie Hood in the second half along with some tactical changes by Coach Quinton Wrigley resulted in the imposing centres pairing of Richard Rouse and Dave Tibbot in the second half. Some enjoyably direct running from this duo will surely give Coach 'Q' another permutation to consider as the season continues.

Indeed, Q and the greybeards of that mysterious cabal known as the selection committee will have quite a balancing act to perform as time goes on, while also being aware that consistency in selection is a proven virtue. The influx of top quality new players this season presents them with this weekly dilemma: they can only name three 'N' players (players not resident in Hong Kong for more than six months) in the squad and there are many more than three Ns who are likely to merit consideration.

Most importantly, though, Club clearly have the depth of talent to sustain a long and hard campaign to retain the league title. Saturday's performance, although by no means the finished article, indicates that Club also have the collective will to bounce back from a bad performance.

Harps