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IASAS IASAS Rugby – SAS Brings Home the Gold By Peter Cuthbert, MS Teacher and Team Coach
After a disjointed season full of interruptions due to holidays, in-term trips, injuries and inconsistent play, the boys’ Varsity Rugby team left for Taipei on a high note, winning their last game soundly at home. Having only played Jakarta International School in a preseason exchange, there was a great deal of anticipation as we played the other 4 IASAS teams for the first time during the round robin. The coaches and Final Score: SAS 39, ISKL 10 returning players knew from last year’s tough lesson, that Scorers: Adam Anderson (3 tries, 1 conversion), Tarik each round robin game is very important when the goal Stafford (2 tries, 1 conversion), Dave McNicol (1 try) and is gold. Paul Charbonnet (1 try) Pushing nervous energy aside, SAS started well against ISKL from the kick-off. Paul Charbonnet, Adam Schwarz, Peter Vaz and Mike Loscalzo led the way upfront with some spirited forward play. SAS played their style of game by opening it up and spreading the ball wide. Good ball handling and loads of selfless team play led to great tries out on the wing and the exciting brand of running rugby SAS is best known for. Final Score: SAS 31, TAS 5 Scorers: Adam Anderson (2 tries, 3 conversions), Tarik Stafford (1 try), Adam Schwarz (1 try) and Mike Loscalzo (1 try) The great team focus with strong individual efforts continued in the afternoon game against the home-side TAS. Going against the crowd and the wind in the first half, SAS players fought hard in the scrums and rucks to produce clean, fast ball to our scrumhalf, Katsuki Kikui, who had another superb game spinning passes out wide as well as pressuring his opposite number at each breakdown. Runaway tries again from Tarik Stafford and Adam Anderson silenced the crowd and pushed SAS towards top spot in the round robin. The forwards were well awarded with a couple of their own tries after playing smart and physical rugby against the pack from TAS with Mike Loscalzo and heavy hitter Adam Swartz both bursting over the try line for the first scores of the weekend. Final Score: SAS 10, ISM 10 Scorers: Tarik Stafford (2 tries) In their 4th match SAS, now in sole possession of first play in the pool, met IS Manila. After a slow start, simple mistakes stripped away scoring chances and played into Manila’s hands. A forwards game ensued with tough physical play from both sides as SAS played Manila’s style of game for most of the match. Thankfully, winger Tarik Stafford ran in two more tries and SAS got away with a tie, and a lesson about the importance of match preparation.
Final Score: SAS 12, JIS 0 Scorers: Braden Betts (1 try), Scott West (1 try) and Adam Anderson (1 conversion) Friday morning brought some sun to chilly Taipei, and with it an important game against JIS who had beaten SAS in the preseason exchange in November. The game started well for SAS as they got inside their opponent’s 22 meter line and pressured throughout the first half. JIS showed excellent defense and some strong forward play matching SAS’s front 5. Captain Scott West was able to calm the coach’s nerves before halftime with a brilliant run past their winger and fullback who could not match his pace. The second half was no different from the first with both teams pressuring and then countering with great tackles and cover defense. Then, with 4 minutes to go, Braden Betts made a colossal tackle on his man deep inside their 22 meter line causing him to spill the ball. Ever-present first-five, Dave McNicol, collected the spilled ball, drew his man and offloaded a nice pass back to Betts who deservedly scored the try. SAS’s stellar defense held strong and solidified the shutout. Final Score: SAS 19, ISB 26 Scorers: Adam Anderson (1 try, 2 conversions), Tarik Stafford (1 try), Rob Whitehead (1 try) Already knowing they had a birth in the Championship game; SAS rested players and made multiple substitutions as they took on ISB. Fuelled by the need for a win to play in the finals, ISB played a tight game keeping the ball among their forwards and strong running backs. Defense again played a big part in this match as bodies were becoming battered and tired after 5 games of rugby. As the game wore on ISB pounded in tries from forward pressure while SAS tried to find its open style game. Rob Whitehead had a strong game from lock making some tough tackles and scoring a try while the duo of Stafford and Anderson ran in the rest of the points from the backs.