CRFC - Chengdu Rugby Football Club

NEWS

Shanghai 7s 2009: Black and Whites Storm Shanghai. September 12th saw a cool grey dawn in Shanghai. For many this would be considered bleak, dreary weather. However, for a small group of intrepid sports enthusiasts, the day was perfect. Click here for the match report.

CRFC vs Chongqing 2: Chengdu made the short trip down to Chongqing on February 28 for the first of what we hope is many matches hosted by the Conquerers. Click here for the match report.

2nd Annual St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Those crazy pandas in Chengdu are at it again! It’s time for the 2nd Annual St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and this year it’ll be on St. Valentine’s Day!!! Click here for more info.

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NEWS

CRFC vs BEIJING AARDVARKS - November 29 2008

By Patches O'houlihan

This weekend saw the third appearance of the Chengdu Black and Whites in what was the 4th Annual Guinness International Shanghai 7s tournament, hosted by the SRFC.

Chengdu RFC had arguably its finest hour on Saturday with a thrilling come from behind victory against the visiting Beijing Aardvarks. In a pulsating game during which the lead changed several times, the Black and Whites scored two tries in the final 10 minutes of the game to seal a famous 27-24 victory.

Right from the kick-off Chengdu showed signs of what was to come. A clean take from Mike West was followed by 5 dominant phases and a roar of approval from loyal Panda supporters. The Aardvarks however are a proud club and they came to Chengdu looking for victory. In the 10th minute an errant Chengdu pass resulted in an intercept try to the visitors and they were ahead by 7-0. Chengdu needed to hit back and hit back they did. A period of sustained pressure followed in which the Chengdu bigmen Hardgrove, Fred, Rambeau, and Regas continually launched themselves at the Aardvarks line. Eventually the Aardvark defence could not respond and typically it was inside-centre Morgan, in one of his trademark, tackle shedding charges, that crossed the line to open the account for the home side. 10 minutes later it was Perrin who smashed through and Chengdu were in the lead by 10-7.

Chengdu then suffered a major blow when inspirational forward leader Peter Dobbs went down with a suspected neck injury. The game stopped while Peter was attended to by club doctor, Sam Weiss. Fortunately Dobbs was cleared of serious injury but he was in no shape to continue. The Aardvarks took advantage of this setback for the Panda’s by posting their second try and taking a narrow 12-10 lead into half time.

The second half continued on as had the first with enterprising attack and bruising defence from both sides. The Aardvarks, chiefly through their powerful No. 8 Cyril, started to dominate the game and it took dogged defence from the Chengdu backline, especially flyhalf Pyfer, to hold the visitors at bay. Eventually though, the Aardvarks got over the Chengdu line to retake the lead 17-10 Again Chengdu hit back. After a period of sustained pressure, it was breakaway Jonny Dallas who pounced on a loose ball to register his first ever 5 point try. This try was surprisingly converted by Perrin and at the ¾ time break, the scores were locked up at 17 -17.

Due to a mounting injury toll for the Aardvarks (including Chengdu’s own Richard Lehman (broken nose)), the final 20 minutes would be played with 14 on each side. This caused some initial confusion in the Chengdu defensive line and the Aardvarks were able to exploit a big overlap to set loose their speedy winger. Chengdu fullback Flinn had been rock solid in defence all afternoon and it took a brilliant swerve from the Aardvark flyer to get past him. The try was converted and suddenly the Aardvarks were ahead by 24 to 17 with just 15 minutes to go. At this point, halfback and Captain Kieran Fitzgerald called his players together and delivered an evidently inspirational, albeit high-pitched, speech.

The Black & Whites looked composed as the final act began. As they had done all afternoon, the Chengdu tight forwards ran low and straight while the loosies recycled the possession. Eventually the ball was swung wide to outside centre Kemp with space to move. The big man had a point to prove after his dubious behaviour on the recent Hong Kong tour and he smashed through 3 Aardvark defenders to score in the corner and narrow the gap to 24-22.

With 3 minutes to go, and the Aardvarks defence in disarray, the ball went through the hands from Fitzgerald on to Flinn who was able to draw the defence and pop a one-handed pass to find that man Kemp again 25 metres out. Despite some desperate cover defence, Kemp was unstoppable and dived over in the corner to put the home side in front 27-24.

3 minutes later referee Argyle blew the whistle and the Black and Whites could celebrate their most satisfying victory and only their second victory in a 15s match.

With the club now committed to participation in the 2009 Yellow Sea Cup it was imperative that Chengdu showed that they were up to the task in 15’srugby. They did that and then some.

The performance was all the more creditworthy given that 2 of the Aardvark’s very best (Guy BT and Paul Greer) were Black and Whites on loan. In addition the Aardvarks benefited from the services of Richard Lehman (until injured) and 15 year old Chris Holdsworth who looked very impressive with every opportunity. With the likes of super-tanker Thierry Gestlich and enforcer Barry Jones on the sidelines with injury, the health of Chengdu RFC is looking a lot better than it has for quite a while.

The key to the Black & Whites victory was a return to the basics of rugby. The Chengdu tight forwards ran low and straight and worked as a unit which allowed the backrow to win ball at the breakdown. The halves also directed traffic up the middle of the pitch and only swung the ball wide once the defence was fractured.

Every player could feel proud of their performance but special mentions should be made for the following players:

• John played his first ever game of rugby on Saturday. With 20 minutes on the wing and 40 minutes in the front row he didn’t put a foot wrong and should be well and truly hooked on the great game after this experience.
• Ed Graham who played a great 80 minutes at hooker after playing a full game of American Football earlier in the day.
• Rock Hardgrove, visiting from Dalian stiffened up the tight 5 as only he can.
• Huw Roberts, in his first game for 12 years compensated for a lack of pace with some Welsh savvy and had a great game on the wing.
• Patrick Rawle, also in on the wing, shook off the rust and despite limited attacking opportunities, had a solid game.
• Con Regas, who was only with us fortuitously due to the troubles in Thailand, never stopped talking/working though the game and was a major factor behind the success of the backrow.
• Captain Kieran who scored a try so sneaky that it has gone unacknowledged in this write-up.
• Fred played an absolute blinder in attack and defence. His early charges straight up the middle set the standard for all other Chengdu forwards to follow.
• The enigmatic Scott Kemp, with his size and pace, has been threatening to do something special on the rugby pitch for the last two years. On Saturday he delivered and it was well worth the wait. Scott was judged best back. The next task for the club is to find a way to convince him to stay on for the 2009 Yellow Sea Cup.

The choice of player of the match was exceedingly difficult but nobody could argue with the selection of Simon Perrin. As well as winning plenty of lineout ball and scoring a great try, he surely topped the tackle count. Well done Simon.

Also many thanks to David Argyle for a very fair refereeing performance and to Dr Sam for tending to the many injuries. Also thanks to Peter Snow and Antoine Rabany for their great work running the line.

And well done to all members, supporters and sponsors of Chengdu RFC for making this such a great day for the club.