Rugby Academy | Fast and frantic rugby by the Macau Bats in Bangkok tournament

Macau Bats U10 team winning the Shield at Bangkok International 10s

The Macau Bats had an eventful and ultimately very successful weekend of tournament rugby at the Bangkok International Tens. The club fielded three teams in the U10, U12 and U16 age groups. The teams displayed great resilience and no small amount of skill to return to Macau with some silverware.

Saturday’s pool games were full of fast and frantic rugby. The U10s lost their first two games – narrowly to Centaurs from Singapore (1-2) and Kuala Lumpur Tigers (0-4). The team then rallied to defeat Sathit Kaset from Thailand (4-0). This secured third place in the pool and a semi-final on Sunday against the Centaurs. The stronger team from Singapore ran out convincing winners (0-5). This gave the Bats a place in the Shield Final against Sathit Kaset and the Bats put on their strongest performance to win 6-0 and secure the Shield – the first piece of silverware of the weekend. Bats coach Dell Griffin commented “This was a great experience for our younger players and a really positive result to win the Shield. This will give us great encouragement to continue to improve.”

Macau Bats U10, U16 and U12 captains with their respective team cups from Bangkok International 10s.

Meanwhile the U12s had turned in a number of impressive performances on Saturday, winning their three pool matches against the Bangkok Lions (3-0), Singapore Centaurs (5-0) and Singapore Dragons (2-1) to give themselves a strong chance of getting through to the Cup Final. The team duly secured their place by defeating the KL Cobras (7-1) early on Sunday morning to set up a final against KL Tigers.

The Cup Final was one of the best games of the weekend with a substantial crowd enjoying the game and getting fully involved. The Bats took an early lead, however the Tigers struck back to equalize. The Bats were playing an impressive scrummaging game and scored again to lead 2-1 at half-time. The Tigers then scored a try early in the second half to set up an enthralling final phase. The Bats played valiantly but succumbed in the final play of the game with the Tigers winning 3-2. Despite the loss the team put in a great performance over the course of the weekend.

According to coach Saj Fernando, “This was the finest group of games that the team has played, everyone played their part and we are all tremendously proud of their achievement. This has made the practice and extra work that the boys have been putting in all worthwhile.”

The U16s got off to a difficult start in their pool game against Surin, the initial loss was overturned when it was established that Surin had fielded several overage players and the Bats were awarded a 10-0 win. This was followed by a much better performance against the KL Tigers, with the Bats unlucky to only draw the game 5-5. A tough game against the pool leaders Singapore Centaurs saw the Bats go down 17-0. This set up an exiting final pool game against the Philippine Volcanoes, who won this tournament in 2017, with the winner progressing to the Plate final. A very tight game followed with the Bats scoring a fine try and then holding their defensive line well as the Philippine team tried to break through. Full-time saw the Bats win 7-0 to take their place in the Plate final where they would play Singapore Dragons.

Having endured a tense game against the Volcanoes, the Bats tried to establish a quick lead in the final game, however each try from the Bats was matched by the Dragons, the difference being that Macau was able to gain extra points from the conversions. Halftime saw the Bats lead by 14-12, the Dragons then briefly led 17-14 in the second half before some fast breakaway runs enabled the Bats to score two tries and run out deserved 28-19 winners and secure the Plate.

Coach Paul Baker commented “Given the difficult start we had against Surin it was a tremendous credit to the team to bounce back and qualify for the plate final. To then win the Plate against a very good Singapore Dragons side was the icing on the cake.”

A very happy Macau Bats tour party returned home late Sunday with an array of silverware – Plate winners (U16); Cup runners-up (U12) and Shield winners (U10). Donald Shaw, Bangkok, Special to MDT