First Division match report: DeA Tigers RFC vs Kowloon RFC

Venue: So Kon Po Date:3rd October 2009 

The first league match of the season, new players, new rumours, new captain, were DeA Tigers up to the challenge was the question on peoples minds, were we “Better Than Before”?  

After an intense lead up to the season with some good solid training sessions under our belts and the first mass club overseas tour to Singapore just a few weeks before the Tigers 1^st XV were eager to get out there and impress the throngs of supporters who had come to So Kon Po to watch the season opener – The Rage in the Cage. A strong lineup had been selected by coach Kaneo who was obviously nervous on the sidelines, seen muttering to himself and biting his nails.  

It took 2 minutes for the first scuffle to break out, the normally highly composed and level headed Nigel Clarke started throwing haymakers at ex-DeA player Andrew Li after a collapsed scrum after a reset scrum and a stern talking to the game continued. 10 minutes in the first half the decision was made by Captain Varty to get the ball rolling and DeA were the first to put points on the board with a nicely slotted penalty from Keith Robertson, one of the only penalties in the game where someone took the ball off Nigel Clarke and wouldn’t let him take a quick tap. The next score to come came from after a frantic attacking phase from Kowloon which gave them an overlap allowing them to score in the corner, they converted the try which put Kowloon back in the lead 7-3. Some very dubious decisions from  Leo “Snoop Dog” Chuan the referee led to DeA having the opportunity to score another penalty however this time we weren’t so lucky, the infringement did result in a yellow card for one of the Kowloon players. DeA went into half time trailing 7-3.  

The second half was just as frantic as the first however Kowloon started to tire and the Tigers started to look a little more organized both in attack and defence. A nice step and half break allowed fly half Kwok Leung to pop the ball up from the floor to a trailing Jon Abel whose quick hands saw Rowan Varty go through a gap and dot down for DeA’s first try, this took the score to 8-7 after the kick was unsuccessful. DeA absorbed some good consistent pressure from Kowloon and counter attacked quite well in the 2^nd half with DeA’s fleet footed prop James Cooper putting a grubber through for what could have been a surprise try. 8 minutes from full time a well rehearsed lineout move in the Kowloon half enabled Coops to take a short front ball at the lineout and pop it to Abel whose pace and agility saw him finish off a 50 40 30 20 meter dash down the wing to score a try that Joe Rokocoko would have been proud of. Final score DeA 13- Kowloon 7.

Not the prettiest of games but good heart shown by all from DeA 3,2,1’s for the week went to Nigel Clarke – 3points, Dave Jackman – 2points and Rowan Varty – 1point.   

Team Sheet: Fraser Smith, Jon Abel, James Cooper, Ivan Zenovic, Brendan Ireland, Graham Manchester, David Jackman, Nigel Clarke, Fan Shun Kei, Liu Kwok Leung, Li Chi Yung, Rowan Varty (C), Kim Henderson, Wan Kwok Kwong, Keith Robertson,

Phil Leung, Marc Bardsley, Ben Ho, Li Chi On, Cole Pamuk, Joe Bisgrove, Peter Clough