14 June 2009 YCAC vs Black Horse
Match report by Joe Fisher
Tries: Sias Potgieter (2), Steve Gray, Tristan Fahy, Joe Fisher, Brendon Timmins, Grant Thompson (2), Dougal Robertson
Conversions: Ben Duncan, Tristan Fahy
“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that is the way to bet.”
On an overcast day in Hodogaya YCAC powered their way into the finals of the Kanagawa League 2nd Division on the back of a commanding performance from the club’s big men.
With YCAC selecting a huge forward pack for this match it seemed likely that there would be plenty of opportunities to make ground close to the ruck and so it proved during the game. As things turned out it was actually the biggest of the big men - 195 cm and 135 kg lock Sias “Big Daddy Potheater” Potgieter – who took most advantage, grabbing the first two tries of the match by smashing his way through the defence from short range. Big Daddy Potheater then capped an excellent half of rugby by setting up a try for Steve “Big Cuzzy Bro” Gray through a nice off-load.
With YCAC dominating the set-pieces (especially the lineout) it was difficult for Black Horse to get their hands on the ball and two further tries followed in the first half – one to midfielder Tristan “I miss Dean” Fahy-Stallard after a typically well-angled run and one to the skipper after a typical piece of ball-hogging. Black Horse did manage one try before half-time but YCAC still went into the break with a healthy 20 point lead. However, to give Black Horse their due, they had not stopped trying and one can just imagine their team-talk at half-time: “OK. That was a tough half but these big guys have to get tired soon.” Unfortunately for them, YCAC had the luxury of changing four of their forward pack during the break, including replacing Potgieter with ex-Otago Highlanders player Brendon “Cheese” Timmins who made an immediate impact by breaking through a rolling maul to score within 120 seconds of the second-half restarting. One can also imagine the Black Horse team-talk in huddle under the posts at this point: “Bugger.”
The score from Timmins essentially put the result beyond doubt but, pleasingly, the YCAC side continued to apply themselves for the rest of the match. Determined not to let the YCAC forwards have things all their own way, midfielder Grant “Mr. Normal” Thompson (himself no midget at 190 cm) started showing the kind of physicality that got him temporarily promoted to the YCAC engine room last season and burst his way over for two second-half tries. Veteran half-back Dougal “The White Serevi” Robertson then finished the scoring off for YCAC by outpacing the cover defence to touch down a chip-kick put through by Cheese Timmins. This was probably the only moment of joy Kiwi Robertson has had in the past 24 hours as his French wife, not normally a rugby fan, has suddenly taken a strong interest in the game …
A final mention must to prop Erich “Freezer” Friess who, not wanting to disappoint the YCAC supporters (who included club president Simon “Still Dictatore” Ryan and the world’s biggest waterboy Jimmy “Night” Maher), ensured that the game finished with a bang rather than a whimper by getting involved in an altercation with the Black Horse hooker in the dying seconds of the match. By all accounts Freezer won the physical contest but the Black Horse rake won the verbal battle by unleashing a string of broken but expressive (and actually quite creative) insults at a stunned Friess before the final scrum - it was certainly the writer’s first time to hear the word “cun+rag” used on a rugby field.
Onwards and upwards to the final next Sunday.
Joe
7 June 2009 YCAC vs Nichidou Club
Match report by Joe Fisher
Tries: Maui Magele (3), Brimman Frazer (2), Joe Fisher (2), Ben Patu, Grant Thompson, Brendon Timmins
Conversions: Fraser Jamieson, Ben Patu, Grant Thompson (2), Maui Magele
With a blue sky above and a hot sun beating down on the artificial grass of the club’s home away from home (Hodogaya), YCAC finished off the pool section of their Kanagawa League campaign in the best possible fashion with an emphatic victory over the previously unbeaten Nichidou Club.
YCAC started well but the first decisive moment of the match came through an unfortunate head clash between the Nichdou openside flanker and YCAC fly-half “Big” Ben Patu. After two years out of the game recovering from a knee injury, Patu deserves some luck from the rugby gods on the injury front and this time he got it – although he walked away with a decent egg on his forehead he fared much better than the Nichidou player who split his eyebrow open and played no further part in the game.
Actually, the only real concern for Patu is whether his mind will recover quickly enough from the head knock to allow him to continue his fledgling media career as the comments man for J Sports 1 for Samoa’s games in the U-20 World Cup. Funnily enough, YCAC always knew Patu had a future in the media, it’s just that we thought it would be as a Michael Jackson (pre-op version) look-alike rather than as a talking head …
When play restarted the YCAC forward pack made a collective decision that they could not to be outdone in the toughness stakes by a fly-half and immediately lifted their game several notches, operating well as a unit both at the set pieces and around the park. As a result of this the gaps started appearing and the YCAC backline took full advantage, especially inside center Maui “Apocalypto” Magele who has always been quick to spot a gap – as two kids (and a lovely wife) by his early 20′s clearly indicates.
With the team clicking and the points flowing YCAC went into the half-time break with a healthy lead. However, with only one game for the club in the past eight weeks the idea was to try and combat a lack of match fitness by sharing the game-time around as evenly as possible so four changes were made during the break and another couple of changes were made shortly after.
One who was no doubt feeling it in the legs more than most was lock Brendon “Cheese” Timmins who was making his comeback to the playing fields after seven years of retirement. In a previous life, Timmins had a long career at lock for Otago and the Highlanders in (what was then) the Super 12 and is over in Japan as a trainer for the Mitsubishi Dynabores. All of the old skills are clearly still there but seven years is a long time between drinks and after crashing over for a try early in the second half Cheese graciously decided it was time to “give someone else a go”!
In fact, the only player who seemed to be thriving in this sapping heat was Dean “Silk” Stallard. Despite a demanding social life, Dean always somehow still finds plenty of energy for rugby and 27 degrees was no problem at all for him – it just reminded him of mid-winter games back home in Townsville.
As the score sheet shows, YCAC kept racking up the points in the second half. To give the Nichidou their due though, they never stopped trying and were rewarded with three tries of their own. The end result was never in doubt though and Brimman “Brutus” Frazer ensured the match finished on a high note for YCAC by crashing over for the final try of the game.
Onwards and upwards to the semi-finals next Sunday …
23 May 2009 YCAC vs Fujisawa West
Match report by Erich Friess
Tries: Sias Potgieter, H. Yamaguchi (2), Jason Dunn, Dean Stallard, Fraser Jamieson, Ken Noguchi
Conversions: Fraser Jamieson (5)
Under clear skies (and flood lights), the YCAC kicked off it’s march toward the Kanagawa League First Division on Saturday night. Fujisawa West had kindly agreed to move the Sunday afternoon fixture from Hodogaya to Yamate. With “Not so Slow” Joe Fisher leading the YCAC’s 100km OXFAM walk team (along with Tristan “C U Next Tuesday” Fahy, Dom “Dominos Delivers” Townsend, and Bryan “Ginger Nuts” Ryan), Erich “Dirty Sanchez” Friess made a brief return as skipper. In fine Japanese banker fashion, Erich delegated the Kanagawa registration, pre-match warm up, team talk, lineouts and most of the on field decision making.
Fujisawa West were a committed bunch and the start of the match saw the YCAC groping to regain its form after a two month layoff. Sias “Big Sambo, I mean Daddy” Potgieter got the YCAC on the board with a bollocking 25m run (after some nifty passing from Jason “don’t poke me in the eye” Dunn and Leopold “Os” Visser). Yama “Buy some navy blue shorts” Yamaguchi and Jason “Blinded by the Light” Dunn rounded out the scoring in a tightly contested first half.
In the second half, after three years of rehab/recovery and three hours of taping his knee, “Big” Ben Patu returned to his familiar position of standoff, a little (ok, a lot) heavier, but no less skilled (welcome back Ben). As the second half progressed, we started to wear down the oppo. Yama got his second try of the day and Dean plunged over from 5m out on a quick tap penalty. Fujisawa West weren’t very happy trying to tackle Steve “Big Cuzzy Bro” Gray, who left numerous hand prints on Japanese faces; they weren’t very happy being on the receiving end of several big tackles from Dean “aMuse me” Stallard; nor were they very happy with the ref, who called an extremely fair match, pinging them for frequent off-sides and not coming through the gate. This was probably the first time in our long history that the penalty count was actually in the YCAC’s favor. However being on the right side of a ref’s favorable calls was not new territory for the YCAC’s European players and ROW turncoats (Chris “Benedict Arnold” Mander, Brimman “Brutus” Frazer, Rafi “Judas” Khan, Leopold “von Stauffenberg” Visser, Willie “Guy Fawkes” Lapthorn, and Yoshi “Tokyo Rose” Naiki).
Fujisawa West’s lone score came after a YCAC penalty, where we were slow to retreat and unhappy with a subsequent missed forward pass. Fraser “Big Pants” Jamieson slotted 5 out of 7 conversions and scored a try after gathering a not so well kicked chip from Yama “Buy some navy blue shorts” Yamaguchi that actually went backwards. Simon “Dancing with the Stars” Ryan, a first ballot YCAC hall of famer, skillfully worked the reserve bench, bringing on Hiro “Buy some navy blue shorts and socks” Iino and “Kava” Ken Noguchi who dotted down the match’s closing try. Welcome to Mitch “Buy some navy blue shorts” Davis, who played his first match for the club. The match was much closer than the 45-7 scoreline would indicate and Fujisawa West gave us a challenging time in the scrums and lineouts. Sias “Big Daddy” Potgieter was their MOM and Grant “Pink Ticket” Thompson was their best dressed.