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Southerners V Bangkok
Bangers Colts
The 33 Cup is a celebration of rugby contested between
two of Bangkok's leading expat teams whose Clubhouses
are both based in Soi 33 of Sukhumvit road; The Bangers
calling Wall St Bar home while the Southerners residing
in the "Bat Cave" at the Londoner Pub. 2007 marks the
inaugural contest and comes as the Southerners are at
the end of a good season and the Bangers are on a high
after some good results and a win over Southerners in
an earlier practice match.
Southerners were extremely pumped up for this contest
and prepared well. Having been beaten previously in
a dead rubber and the match marking the final game in
the Black, Green and Gold for at least two stalwarts
- Bob Ball and Graham Orr - there was no shortage of
motivation.
After an early knock-on on the goal line by usually
reliable Wagga, the boys found themselves under pressure.
Some fantastic defense saw them hold the Bangers out
as they played the ball in close and tried to barrack
and barge over. Some hard core tackles from Baron Perkins
and Reed Passmore made sure there was nowhere to go
on the edge of the ruck and the Bangers had no answers
in attack. Through strong scrummaging and good ball
retention the boys worked their way out of trouble and
started to put it together. Sustained pressure through
good field position and running rugby sparked by fly-half
Passmore saw the Southerners pressuring Bangers line.
Some rolling forward play orchestrated by Momo Calver
and supported by Orr, Ball, Pape and company finally
worked us into a beautiful position and Skinny Anderson
at half finally pushed it wide to Passmore who flung
a cut out pass to Kirk Kahu who fed it on to Wagga for
a simple two on one dummy and strolled over for the
first try. The conversion was successful and the Southerners
were up 7-nil.
Southerners knew what game plan they had to play and
played it well to soon again seeing us pressuring the
Bangers in the mid field. Constant counter attacking
by Kahu, Wagga, Callum and Jac and company at the back
was opening up gaps. Eventually some quick turn over
ball, no doubt after some hard work by Pretorius, Gadd
and Perkins at the breakdown as usual saw the ball go
wide from Passmore to Jac who found space with 40 out.
He made no mistake and duly smoked anyone who attempted
to cover defend. Another spot on conversion and Southerners
were looking strong at 14-nil after 20mins.
The Bangers who are a team of veterans mixed with youth
always play to their strengths which lie in the forwards.
After some serious mid field defence which rattled the
Southerners (rattled Wagga's ribs) and galvanized the
Bangers, they started to find their rhythm. They turned
over ball and retained it well. Rolling mauls and some
silly penalties by the boys in black meant Bangers pressured
the line for the rest of the half. Southerners blew
one chance as Mike Gadd, who had been everywhere doing
everything as open side dropped the ball over the try
line after a great lead up play by forwards. Amazing
desperation defence by all forwards and especially Skinny
Anderson around the ruck held the Bangers scoreless
till the bell.
The second half started as the first ended. Southerners
wasted chances when they had them, which wasn't often,
and put themselves under pressure giving away penalties
and two yellow cards to leave us short and under pressure.
Some excellent short side play, counter attack kicking
and ball retention from the Bangers had them all over
the Southerners. Again desperate defence held on until
about the 15th minute when the Bangers went over out
wide. The kick sailed wide and the scores were 14-5.
More pressure and with Southerners a man down, Bangers
again went over with a few minutes left, again out wide
but failed to convert and the score remained 14-10.
Southerners did enough to win and are deserved 33 Cup
holders. Bangers for their part played some great footy
at all times in good spirits. A sizeable and vocal crowd
thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle and both teams eagerly
look forward to next year's competition.
Post match festivities featured frommelling, sculling,
anthem singing, vomiting and more…
Chris 'Wagga' Doherty
Final Game
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