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

Shanghai 7s 2008

“In 2006, 10 men had a dream. Sure, some scoffed at the idea, saying it would never work. Some said it was just the alcohol, causing them to want to relieve their glory days on the pitch. Others merely said, “Pitch?. . . We playing baseball?” Yet these 10 men persevered and from those half formed ideas, the Chengdu Rugby Football Club was born. From its performances on the pitch (and off), the CRFC has made a name for itself in China rugby circles and hopes to continue to help develop the sport here in Asia.”

~As written in the official tournament program.

Tour Write-Up

By LeeLee

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.

Our touring team for this trip has been the largest one to date seeing a wopping 21 members of the CRFC flying into Shanghai for the games. We also probably had the player traveling the furthest to make it to the games, our very own big Finn, the one and only Jussi, who came back to play for us in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The weekend was cold and wet and therefore perfect for rugby. The 20+ strong CRFC squad rolled up to the pitch with little problems (despite one missed flight (Thierry), one MIA team member (Barwick), one member being thrown off the subway 3 stops prior to the pitch (Jonny), and 2 Irish who couldn’t figure out how to get to the pitch (Jonny and Kieran – our manager and organizer nonetheless!)) and quickly stripped down (to their kits, people), warmed up and took the field against the Blarney Stone Lemurs. Since nobody tells it better than our Flinner, here’s an excerpt from his email describing the weekend:

“For those who didn't make - we got the living shit kicked out of us! But we played some seriously intense games - our group contained the Shanghai Lemurs (who won HK a few weeks ago and were runners-up in Shanghai last year) - but they didn't even make it out of our group, with the other two teams: Shanghai Sports University and the People's Liveration Army being semi-finalists and finalists (maybe winners... I haven't heard yet). These are big fit Chinese mothers and it's great to seeing them getting to that level. These guys' level has clearly exceded that of the best expat teams in China so that makes things seriously difficult for us. If you ever saw Space Jam it was a bit like the Looney Toons playing the Monstars without Jordan.

The scorelines (not to mention Norm's commentary) might make us sound like a joke - but we can play rugby. We have potentially 2 15's games now coming up - at home so we can get the likes of Casey, Scott, Fred.. back into the mix. No 7 minutes of these games will be as intense as any of the eight 7-minute halves we played on Saturday. Let's try and continue the momentum we have now into these games.”

That about sums up our performance on the pitch as well as what we know we are capable of doing. Our boys and girls did the CRFC proud (and managed to do so without getting naked this time) proving yet again that while we may be Pandas by name, we are not pandas by nature!

So . . . many thanks to Sam Chapman for showing the pandas around the city (we’ve heard rave reviews of the tacos at Zapata’s and the parma pizza at the other club =D), James for organizing the weekend yet again, and to all the Hairy Crabs, Hermit Crabs, Lemurs, Polius, other members of the SRFC, Devils, Rams, Dragons (Twin), PLA, and many university players making this an unforgettable weekend.

Allez Le Xiong Mao!!!

GAME STATS:

TRIES SCORED (that were counted): 2
~ Fitzy in the first game vs the Lemurs.
~ Simon in the last game vs the Hermit Crabs

TOTAL NUMBER OF ACTUAL TRIES SCORED: 4 (the two listed above and)
~ Fitzy in the third game against the PLA (was not awarded as the ref thought he had no control)
~ Paul in the first game vs the Lemurs (ref thought it was a knock on when what happened was Paul stole the ball from the opposition after the Lemur had ripped it from Jussi).

QUOTES OF THE TOUR:
“Is that the Maglev? It’s not doing much.”
*Pause*
“Oh wait. That’s the airplane.”
~ Cody while we were sitting waiting for our return flight.

“Are there any Scottish fannies on the bus?”
~ Jonny Dallas before breaking out into a very short rendition of “Flower of Scotland”

INJURIES SUSTAINED:
On the pitch: None
Off the pitch: 1 (Greery who fell while pole dancing at a club. Mike – fire up the MRI).

OTHER MEMORABLE MOMENTS:
~ Simon bulldozing his way through a PLA member and Sam Chapman.
~ Simon fore-arming a Hermit Crab in the try zone to score.
~ Aaron Littlewood’s, er, unique referring perspective.
~ The Junior Rugby demo.
~ Jussi’s Tunnel outside the Big Bamboo.
~ The Pandas performance of “My Favorite Things” during dinner and their subsequent encore with the CRFC Club Song.
~ Greery’s unique version of the Hokey Pokey on the bus to the post dinner after party.
~ “Leelee’s” duet with Cristian on the bus (eat your heart out Backstreet Boys).