2013 Fez by Aphrodite Jakarta 15s Series Kicks Off in the Mud

2013 Fez by Aphrodite Jakarta 15s Series Kicks Off in the Mud

The first round of the “2013 Fez by Aphrodite Jakarta 15’s Series” was played at the ISCI Sports Club on a field that was more suited to mud-wrestling than Rugby, due to all the recent heavy rain. In a credit to all four teams, the ball handling skills in each game was reasonable given the circumstances and was typified by a classic juggling act by Chris Briggs and Tom Elliott when pressured by JJRG inside the Komodos’ 22 in the first half of that match.

In the first match the home team in the Jakarta Japan Rugby Group (JJRG) took on the Jakarta Komodos. This match was refereed by Mr. Paul Bawden, who was making his debut as a referee in Indonesia. The Komodos started the match with only 14 players given that the remainder of the team were stuck in traffic on their way out to ISCI and these players then joined the match as they arrived. After a tough and fairly even first quarter of the match it was the Komodos who led 17-5, before another try just before half time that extended their lead to 24-5 at the break. Two quick tries after the break saw the Komodos skip out to a 38-5 lead, before a period of good play by the JJRG side, but this was to no avail due to the solid Komodos’ defense. Three quick tries from the Komodos mid-way through the second half, including a single handed effort from their skipper Gareth Rae, saw the score blow out to 57-5, where it was to stay for the remainder of the match.

Komodos – 1 Nigel Hobler, 2 Steven Haurissa, 3 Darren Aitchison, 4 Tom Gielen, 5 Kevin Fitzpatrick, 6 Marc Thomson, 7 Tom Elliott, 8 Todd Peate, 9 Guy Markham, 10 Gareth Rae, 11 Ollie Bujic, 12 James Maiden, 13 Dom Wong, 14 Seb Sharp, 15 Christopher Briggs, 16 Emmanuel Bon, 17 Josh Chang, 18 Ben Franca

Point scorers – G. Rae (3T, 5C); N.Hobler, T.Gielen, J.Chang, O.Bujic, D.Wong, S.Sharp (1T each); C.Briggs (1C)

JJRG – Forwards – Kamogawa, Fukuhara, Nishiura, Shimamura, Anzai, Baru-san, Fujishima, Hayano, Souma, Ikeda, Yoshioka, Hara; Backs – Takano, Enohara, Hashimoto, Konno, Akmal Nasser, Kawamura, Nishii, Tasaka, Hareyama, Shimota

Point scorer – Fujishima (1T)

Best players – 1. G.Rae (3pts); 2. Hashimoto (2pts); 3. N.Hobler (1 pt)

Referee – Paul Bawden

In the second match of the day, the local boys from the Jakarta Banteng took on the lads from the Bandung Rams in what was to be a tough encounter on a pitch cut up by the previous match. Both teams had prepared well leading into this match both on and off the field as evidenced by their splendid kits with the Banteng unit sporting a dazzling pink number and the Rams in gold with a touch of batik. After a few early exchanges it was the Rams who scored following a handling mistake by the Banteng flyhalf Fikri who fumbled the ball on his try line leading to the opening score from the Rams. As the match wore on it was the Rams led by their Captain Florian Busi who began to dominate after leading 10-0 at halftime, although there was strong play from Banteng forwards namely Denny and Agustian plus also some good play from Yucil and Musi in the backs. The Bandung backs were electrifying and very hard to stop in open play and players like Wesley showed the city boys how to run and how to tackle, such that by full time it was the Rams leading 17-0 on the scoreboard.

Bandung Rams – Florian Busi, Wesley, Rudi, Michael, Adrian, Bryan, Rob, Spencer, Jefrey, Dipa, Monfort, John, Vincent, Ridwan, Nelson; Subs – Ardi, Atnan, Davi, Jerry, Ian, Bob

Points scorers – Jefrey (1T, 1C); Rudi and Spencer(1T each)

Banteng – 1. Yudha Ramon, 2. Marco, 3. Fadmo, 4. Lemos, 5. Matt, 6. Denny, 7. Oscar, 8. Matt, 9. Yucil, 10. Fikri, 11. Aulia, 12. Alton, 13. Philips, 14. Musi, 15. Fendy; Subs – 16. Adrian, 17. Fiqih, 18. Angga, 19. Azroi, 20. Agustian

Best players – 1. F.Busi (3 pts); 2. Spencer (2pts); 3. Yucil (1pt)

Referee – Steve Barber

To view the “2013 Fez by Aphrodite Jakarta 15’s Series” Points Table following Round 1, please click on:http://indonesiarugbyunion.pitchero.com/competitions-52/2013-fez-by-aphrodite-jakarta–division-1-6815/

PRUI Chairman, Yudha Ramon commented following both games, “On behalf of PRUI I would like to say thank you to the referees and other officials who helped out during both games”.

The next round of matches will be played on Saturday February 16, with the Komodos at home to the Bandung Rams at Jagorawi (11am kick off) and JJRG at home to the Banteng at ISCI (4.30pm kickoff).