The KRFU Seven-a-side Rugby Tournament 2006

18th March 2006 at SPT Sports Academy

The inaugural The KRFU Seven-a-side Rugby Tournament was held on 18th March 2006 at SPT Sports Academy, Bangalore. The venue provided an ideal setting for this fun sporting event held on a hot sunny afternoon. A good sized crowd showed up to join in the picnic style atmosphere, to drink beer, cheer on the matches and share in the banter.

The Refugees v Australia kicked off the day with the first match. The Refugees fancied themselves to go all the way to the final after their strong showing at the All India 7s in Chennai. They had a rude awakening when the Australian team out enthused and out played them from the first to the fifteenth minute. Wuki got Australia on the board within 60 seconds with a long range effort and the Fugees never recovered. The Aussies added another try from Andrew before Chris replied for the Fugees with clever running from the base of the scrum. But, sensible handling from Andrew and Robbie and intelligent kicking from Chris meant that the Refugees rarely got a look in and Australia added further tries from Robbie and Chris to run out 24 – 5 winners.

Next up was FAPs Old Boys v Africa. Both teams tackled extremely well and the big hits were greatly appreciated by the crowd. The deadlock was broken by two terrifying charges by Marvin who scattered defenders who had up to that point tackled anything put in their way. Marvin registered two tries in quick succession. The FAPs Old Boys responded with a smart try by Tarun, their international winger. But Soloman, the African scrum-half, finished off FAPs with another try created by fine running and passing bewteen Alex and Amos. Africa won 17 – 5.

The surprise package of the tournament was MEG. They have only been playing the game for ten months and had six key players missing through army commitments. However, they blew away the Black Bucks 21-0 with a fine disciplined performance. The excellent distribution of Sivaprasad, playing at fly half, and the strong running of Venkatesun were too much for the Black Bucks who also were missing two of their strongest players. The handling of both teams was impressive but the fitness of the MEG boys told in the end as the Black Bucks got tired and fell off one or two tackles.

In the first Cup semi final between Africa and Australia it was that man Marvin again who was the difference between the teams. He twice brushed tackles aside to finish off the Australian challenge for the Cup. The tackling of the Africans was faultless as Australia failed to register a try.

In the second Cup semi final Ireland used their extra weight and experience to good advantage to over power MEG. If one or two more of the MEG passes had stuck they could have found themselves in the Cup final. But the extra pressure exerted by the keen Irish defence forced some uncharacteristic errors out of MEG. Shane and Ray were able to capitalise and score tries to take Ireland into the final to face the impressive Africans.

In the Plate Semi-final the Black Bucks got more into the swing of things with a strong performance against CMP. The Black Bucks scored three good tries. The first try coming from a strong surging run from Harsha down the right flank. Black Busk’s forward Jaggadish continues to impress and is making very good progress considering he has only played the game for les than two months. He is one to watch for the future and his strong tackling and committed style is something that more experienced players could learn from. The Black Bucks went into the Plate Final winning 15 – 0 with good passing from Nachi, Sunder and well led by Kathik.

In the other Plate semi final the Refugees again flopped as the FAPs Old Boys tore them apart with a fine exhibition of open running. Tarun teased the Fugee’s defence time and again scoring two tries and having a hand in several others. Siby was also able to run clear after selling an outrageous dummy to the defence. The Fugees were able to score a consolation try through Phil but by that point FAPs had already booked their place in the Plate Final. Final score 26 – 7.

The Refugees were able to save some face by beating CMP in the Bowl Final. With tries by Greg, Phil and Chris the Fugees were able to open up a healthy lead against the new boys from the Military Police. However, in the second half CMP shocked everyone by scoring three unanswered tries to put some real pressure on the much more experienced Refugees. Lamba and Prasad were able to capitalise on some weak tackling to streak clear of the defence and score from long range. The Fugees were able to keep their composure and score through Greg and Gary. Gary finishing off a nice handling move and powering his way over in the corner.

In the Plate Final The FAPs Old Boys faced the Black Bucks. Once again it was Tarun who was the main creator for FAPs, assisted Pradeep. They also had a lot of power in the huge figures of Charles and Subu. But it was the youth who need a special mention. Nishant has the hands, rugby brain and size to develop into a major player for Bangalore and possibly India. And it was another new boy Roshan, who stole the show with his strong running style rewarded with a brace of tries . Tarun added another to make the score FAPs 19, Black Bucks 0. The Bucks fought bravely against a team with greater size and experience throughout the whole match never letting their heads drop. They deserve a great deal of credit for making a match of it.

In the 3rd and 4th place match MEG ran out the winners against Australia 17 – 14. It needs noting that for MEG to come 3rd out of eight teams in this tournament is a great achievement after less than one year playing the game. Credit needs to go to the hard work they have put in and the efforts of Puneeth and Tarun who have coached them this year. Well done to all concerned.

The Final was a pulsating affair. The crowd favourites, the Africans started well but strong tackling from the Irish kept them at bay. Both sides moved the ball around comfortably. The Irish relied upon their confrontational forward game which had overpowered MEG. The Africans, however, were better tacklers and kept their line intact. The African prop forward with the sidestep of a winger made space for Washington to crash over the line and take the lead. Soloman added a second try to lead 10 nil at half time. The Irish played some lovely stuff in the second half and through quick hands were able to release Trevor down the right wing who rounded the fullback and scored by the posts giving the Irish hope. But, it was Marvin, named as man of the tournament after the match, who had the last word. Showing great awareness to support a break he was on hand to kill off the Irish resistance and win the KRFU 7s Rugby Cup for the Africans. The final score was Africa 17 Ireland 5.