U16 Boys - a handsome Win on Home Turf

After their previous league match had been washed out due to the aftereffects of, and over-abundance of caution given to, the weekend’s typhoon, the Sandy Bay U16s boys were keen to get back into competitive action.

The dual comforts of playing at home and at a time (3:50 pm KO) when the sun was not blazing down onto the pitch from its zenith meant that conditions were rugby-perfect. The hoisting of the strong monsoon signal indicated there was a strong breeze to boot.

The boys were greeted—in more ways than one—with a packed house. Parents had arrived in abundance (much easier, after all, to get to Stanley Ho Sports Center than to Tin Shui Wai) to offer their support and encouragement, the team itself had their full complement of players (and then some), and coaches Dean Rossouw and Tertius Kruger were both present. Ordinarily, pro coaches’ appearance would be nothing short of expected, but coach Dean had been blue-carded in his game, 24 hours prior, for a bad collision to his head, that led to five stitches and a concussion, and coach Tertius is still recovering from a severe shoulder dislocation suffered a few weeks ago.

The game started off with the Sandy Bay boys wound up and focused: their bottled-up energy palpable. Soon after the kick off, the U16s put in some big tackles to exert their presence and after a few phases of strong team play, quickly ran in a converted try near the posts. The pattern continued during the first 15 minutes as Sandy Bay raced to a 21-0 lead at the game’s first-quarter point.

Following the drinks break, DBP/FK were fortunate to score a try from a grubber kick through the Sandy Bay back line, albeit with a more-than-suspicious hint of an off-the-ball-tackle by the DBP/FK player. Not to be disheartened, Sandy Bay continued to play good all-round rugby, roared on by coach Tertius from the sidelines. Half time: 40-10.

The second half saw Sandy Bay introduce all six of their substitutes, which led to a pause in the scoring as the newly admitted players took time to find their feet (and in the case of one of the flankers, their hands). Fortunately, as the game wore on, Sandy Bay U16s were able to ensure their on-the-pitch dominance was accurately reflected in the score line (with the said flanker making welcome amends). Final score 52-10.

Special mention to Hans Shih who put in an all-round, man-of-the-match shift, and Kurtis Liu for his impeccable kicking from the tee (and tries).

All in all, this was a solid, workmanlike performance, where the team improved on their display from their first game, without seeming to have missed a heartbeat despite the weather-enforced bye of the previous Sunday. Furthermore, every single player on the pitch contributed to the win in roughly equal measure (with the tries shared among a number of players), with each of the named substitutes also receiving generous amounts of game time. Finally, although there are definitely certain areas to fine-tune, in training, the trajectory seems to be an upward one.

Each and every one of these positives will be severely tested next week, as the Sandy Bay U16s take on the early runaway league leaders, HKFC.

Naub