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 2009

You can download a beautiful, graphically enhanced version of the match report complete with photographs here (4.2Mb PDF file)

“The scourge of the South China Seas since 2006, the Chengdu Rugby Football Club has made itself known on pitches across China. This club embraces and represents all that is rugby, whether that be tearing it up on the pitch or kicking back with some grog at the local tavern. Beyond that the club has been active in developing and supporting the community and encouraging rugby here in Asia. We advise you all to keep an eye on the horizon for these pandas! You never know when they’ll be sailing into your port! “

~ What would have been in the program this year had they actually gotten responses from everyone.

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.

This year marked the 4th appearance of the Chengdu Rugby Football Club in the 5th annual Shanghai 7s tournament (for those of you keeping track of all this =D). The tournament this year was extra special as it was in conjunction with the first game of the IRB Asian 7s which pit teams from Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong against each other as well as junior’s rugby, women’s rugby, and veterans rugby. Basically, there was a whole lot of rugby packed into one tiny weekend.

Day 1 saw the Black and Whites facing off against the Blarney Stone Lemurs (again), the Chinese Agricultural University, and Nanjing University. The lads played well and while no tries were scored in the first two games, the guys put up one heck of a fight and made the opposition work for every meter and try. The last game of the first day saw the Black and Whites playing Nanjing. A shift in strategy devised by coaches Jonny Dallas and Huw Roberts lead to success on the pitch. Tries scored by Jon Wetzold in the first half and then Kieran Fitzgerald in the second put the pandas in the lead 10-5. However, a rugby ball is a fickle thing and if I may paraphrase an old adage, you never know where the rugby ball will bounce. This was true in the last 30 seconds of the game - in a strange twist of fate, a ball, put into a scrum, bounced itself right back out allowing the university students to score their second try and thus end the match on a draw.

Day 2 saw sunny blue skies and those fearless pandas facing off against the Harlequins, a barbarian team made up of members from Chongqing and Hangzhou. Hungry for victory after the previous day’s defeats, the lads tore up the pitch. Eoin Flinn scored a quick and easy try early in the game followed by another one by Jiro Fujino. Unfortunately, a . . . er . . . unique call by the referee deemed the try invalid but this just spurned the pandas on to greater heights and a second try by Kieran Fitzgerald guaranteed them the win and a spot in the cup semi finals against Dong Bei.

The lads were ready for this game and played hard and well. Beautiful plays were made by Casey Morgan and Peter Snow and John Fowler scored his first test try. Alas, the Dong Bei boys were just a tiny bit faster and took advantage of the few minor mistakes the pandas made, thus winning the match. Still, the pandas were not disheartened. It was great game of rugby and much respect was had on both sides for the opposition.

Equally fierce competition was to be seen off the pitch as well for the pandas had to defend their title of Best Social Club awarded them last year. Rising up to the challenge and seeking to re-win the coveted tankard, Megan Root (with the help of her sister) devised a brilliant tour theme – pirate pandas. Complete with eye patches, vests, and pirate flags, the pandas made their presence known to all who attended the BBQ. A rousing rendition of “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Panda’s Life for Me” seemed to guarantee them a repeat win as they blew the other competition out of the water. But a late entry by the Xiamen Typhoons stole the victory away from the pandas (“Xiamen, We’re Xiamen. And we hope you like Xiamen too”… ARG! Still stuck in my head!). But there was no ill will as the pandas found kindred spirits in the Typhoons and are looking forward to meeting them on the pitch in the near future.

All in all it was a fantastic way to start of the new season. The Black and Whites once again made an impression at the Shanghai 7s, both for their playing and sportsmanlike behavior on the pitch and their enthusiasm off it. Everywhere one looked there were pandas and panda supporters. We are now entering our 4th season as a club. We get better every year and this will undoubtedly be our best season yet.

Long Live the CRFC!!!

Thanks go out to ~
James Holder and the SRFC for putting it all together
Xiamen Typhoons for partying it up and being an all around good team
Peter Snow’s entourage (wife Mischa and friends) for cheering on the squad with much enthusiasm
The Mini Morgans – Boston and Hudson – for taking the theme pirate to new heights (getting “tattooed” by Eoin and Megan to complete the pirate look)
And to our very own Tony Yang for devising the new battle cry for the season (and what us pandas do to our enemies)…

PUT THEM IN THE HOT POT!