Tigers Roar against crestfallen Corsairs // Fri, 16 Jul 10
The Tegallalang Tigers edged out the St. Joseph’s Corsairs in their first competitive rugby fixture this weekend in an absolute try fest of a game.
Both the Tigers and Corsairs have taken up rugby recently and thought it best to use the Bali Charity Beach Games to launch themselves into the sporting world with a beach rugby match on the soft sands of Kuta beach.
The Corsairs were desperate to get off to a winning start and in a controversial decision decided to undertake one last training session the day before their match. Some armchair pundits claim this to be the source of their downfall.
The Tigers came prepared for battle a full two hours before kick-off with Captain Chandra Priday proudly leading a band of 11 equally eager big cats to the game. On the other hand the Corsairs looking every bit the world weary hunters turning up a man short and were left sweating on the imminent arrival of their Captain as the match got under way (having finally managed to find a 5th player).
The match, three 10 minute thirds got off to a frantic pace with the Tigers taking the early initiative scoring a brace of tries within the first couple of minutes, and with half a dozen potential match winners waiting on the sidelines the omens did not look good for the Corsairs. However, with some positively jinking runs from young Sam ‘pasty face’ Turner and Andre ‘the Giant’, the Corsairs started to claw their way back into the game.
The first third ended with the score at 4-2 to the Tigers, and immediately water was deemed its weight in gold. The scorching sun baring its full force, falling on Tiger and Corsair alike. Samuel Taylor Coleridge may well have spouted his ‘water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink,’ ditty, but he wasn’t a rugby player and therefore, a bit of a pansy, and fortunately elusive boxes of aqua were soon found and dispatched forthwith.
The second third got of to a great start for the Tigers, again scoring in quick succession before the Corsairs were able to look up the word ‘defence’, but with Captain Francis Petrik and Vice-Captain Samuel Ariel finally on the same beach as the game things started to swing the way of the Corsairs. One try led to another, then another and by the time Sam Ariel had scored an absolute peach in the corner the Corsairs were back to just two trys behind and looking good.
Alas, disaster. Despite a valiant start to the final third, the Tigers were always able to keep that two-goal cushion. And with the last minute approaching, and time’s winged chariot drawing near, and as Corsair legs began to tire, the Tigers put on the finishing touches to a fine afternoon with a try from Captain Priday himself.
Final score: 14-9.