The Macau Bats sent a U14 team to participate in the 2nd Asian Rugby Exchange Festival held in Fukuoka, Japan over the last weekend of September. Macau joined 15 other teams – seven from across Asia and eight local Japanese teams.
In the run-up to the festival the Macau players were the Japan Rugby Union’s guests at the Italy v Canada World Cup match held in Fukuoka and had a training session with the Manakata Sanix Blues professional rugby team. However, on Saturday it was down to business with Macau drawn in a pool composed of Indonesia plus two Japanese teams – Fukuoka and Oita.
Macau’s opening game against Oita saw them quickly fall 21-0 behind as Oita took advantage of a sluggish start from Macau. Early in the second half Macau briefly threatened a comeback at 21-14, however Oita scored a decisive fourth try to run out 28-14 winners.
Next up was a very strong Fukuoka team, expected to be one of the fancied teams for the tournament. Fukuoka established a comprehensive lead of 32-0 by halftime. However, the Macau heads did not fall and the team rallied to score three second half tries before going down 59-19.
Macau’s third game was against Indonesia and once more Macau started slowly, allowing the Indonesian team to lead 14-5 at halftime. Another Macau rally was seen in the second half, scoring two tries to Indonesia’s one, however it was not quite enough and Indonesia won the game 19-17.
Day 2 of the competition saw Macau up against Malaysia, Nepal and Fukuoka. The Malaysian team was a combination of physically strong players with several fast wingers and they proved to be too strong for Macau, winning 26-0.
Macau stepped up their game against Nepal and built a 19-0 halftime lead, they maintained their defensive shape to ensure that their would be no Nepalese comeback and Macau won the game 26-0.
The final match was against Fukuoka, with the Japanese team being the pre-game favourite. The match was a tight affair with Fukuoka scoring three tries to Macau’s two to lead 17-14 at halftime. There followed a strong second half performance from Macau, scoring a further three tries to one, to finish the game 35-22 winners.
It was a tired but happy squad that returned to Macau, and coach Saj Fernando commented, “The team put together a good set of performances and represented Macau well. We definitely got stronger as the competition progressed. This has been a tremendous experience for the players and also to be in Japan during the hosting of the Rugby World Cup will be a treasured memory for them”. Donald Shaw, Special to MDT, Fukuoka
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