Expat Sport
Chris Kays MeMorial rugby TournaMenT 2017 16 teams joined this year’s Chris Kays Memorial Rugby 10’s Tournament with the Royal Thai Police regaining the trophy SATURDAY’s game began when all of 16 participating teams were divided into four groups. The games were played in a round robin format to determine the ranking for the knockout tournaments to be played on Sunday. A short period of rain helped cool things down, however, made the game more interesting. The game saw strong performances from all teams and many of the games were very close with two drawn games in the preliminary rounds being awarded to the team that scored first. The Royal Thai Police showed that they meant business and won all three of their pool games and was qualified from pool A. The biggest surprise was the Elephant Brutal who topped pool D beating former champions, Southerners Gold, on their way to Cup qualification. The two new teams Sam Yan Rangers and O.V’s performed well and both qualified for the cup quarter finals with the Royal Thai Police. They were joined by Southerners Black, Southerners Gold, Bangkok Bangers, and RPL Military Vikings. The hosts, Bangkok Japanese and two Hong Kong sides, Hong Kong Scottish and Valley Griffins dropped down to the plate. Whilst Arch Thai, Bangkok University, I Animals and La Vache Rouge dropped to the lower division, with the bonus of a late start on Sunday. Both Valley Griffins and La Vache Rouge had put up a plucky display but unfortunately the weather conditions and the standard of the opposition were just too much for them and they withdrew from the tournament, vowing to return next year with a stronger squad. Sunday kick off was promising. The now well-known Pattaya Trickle Down format was in effect, this puts the Big Boys on early and gives the others a slightly later start. The quest for Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield got under way and many first time losers were surprised to find that they had to play more games than if they had won.
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TheBigChilli
Both semifinals of the cup were hotly contested and the Royal Thai Police showed just what a potent force they are in Thai rugby as they coasted to a relatively easy victory against new boys Sam Yan Rangers 14:0. In the second semifinal, the Elephants finally ran out of steam and were eventually soundly beaten by the guile and experience, not to mention age and weight of a Bangkok Bangers team playing thinking rugby 21:0. So the stage was set for a classic final between the youth and fitness of the Royal Thai Police and the age, experience and weight of the Bangkok Bangers. The Cup Final was to be the former champions Royal Thai Police against the resurgent Bangkok Bangers. This was bound to be an epic clash of youth, fitness and finesse against age, brawn and experience. The match started at a frantic pace and the Policemen especially played some scintillating rugby, whilst the Bangers defended as if their lives depended on it. Eventually the dam broke and the youth and fitness gained the upper hand. The Police put on a magnificent display of hard running rugby and by the end were scoring almost at will. So the Royal Thai Police regained the trophy with a runaway victory 40:0! However the Bangers never gave up and fought valiantly until the final whistle and were magnanimous in defeat. After the final whistle everybody crashed into the pool and the presentations were made to all trophy winners. A highlight was the first time presentation of the Mike Cobb Bowl, which fittingly went to the students of Bangkok University. Jim Howard the Chairman of Pattaya Panthers RFC commended everybody for the great spirit in which the tournament had been played and the outstanding quality of rugby throughout. A vote of thanks is due to all the organizers supporters and sponsors without whom a tournament like this could not happen. pattayapanthers.com