Rugby Academy | Finalists but no silverware for Bats

Macau Bats hosted three teams from Hong Kong last saturday as part of their U13 Spring 7s competition. Sai Kung Stingrays, Sandy Bay and Barbarians were the visiting teams and the early morning rain had stopped for the games but made conditions underfoot difficult. The tournament format was a round robin league followed by a final.

First up for the Macau Bats were the Barbarians and Macau got off to a strong start by winning  35-0. This meant that the Bats went into their second game against Sandy Bay full of confidence. Sandy Bay have been the top U13 team this season in Hong Kong, with only one defeat and having beaten the Bats earlier in the autumn version of this competition. Sandy Bay established an early lead but the Bats fought back and started to assert themselves with several break away tries. The Bats had powerful runners and finished convincing winners by 45-26.

The third pool match was against Sai Kung Stingrays who had shown good skills in their earlier games with a win against Barbarians after a defeat by Sandy Bay. Macau got off to a good start, scoring an early try, but despite plenty of pressure could not add to that score in the first half. Just before the end of the half Stingrays scored to reduce the lead and then early in the second half scored again to edge in front. Both teams added further tries but Stingrays ran out winners by 17-14. The sequence of results meant that Macau, Sandy Bay and Stingrays were all equal on points in the mini-league and the top two had to be decided based on tries scored leading to a Macau v Sandy Bay final.

The Bats had every right to be optimistic given their earlier win, however Sandy Bay were keen to exact a quick revenge and took an early lead by scoring two tries. Macau came back into the game with a score late in the first half. This in the end was not enough and Sandy Bay won the game by 19-7 to take home the Cup.

The following day it was the turn of Macau’s U16 teams to travel to Hong Kong for their 7s championship. Macau had once again combined forces with Kukris and Discovery Bay Pirates and fielded two teams. The “A” team won all their group games and qualified for the Cup final against Sandy Bay. Meanwhile the “B” team reached the Bowl final only to be beaten by the USC Tigers in a free scoring game.

The “A” team were underdogs in their final and Sandy Bay quickly showed why they were favourites by scoring two breakaway tries. The bats fought their way back into contention with three very good scores, however Sandy Bay added two late tries to secure a deserved 25-19 win.

Although three finals failed to result in silverware the Macau Bats can take great satisfaction from having once again punched well above their weight. The clubs next focus is on hosting the Macau Rugby festival on 13th April at TIS playing field, when 50 teams from Hong Kong and China will play-off in Macau. Donald Shaw, Hong Kong, Special to MDT