Draw with the Great Wall in Shanghai

Yes the heading is gibberish as usual but if you decipher it, I took the Singapore boys to Shanghai and we had a very respectable 24 all draw with China. The photos are on the site so you can see a bit of what we got up to. Believe it or not I did go through Chinese customs with the fake glasses, nose and moustache on, as seen in the photos. The Chinese Customs guys had a good laugh and even took a photo.

After our terrible loss to Hong Kong on the 22nd of May we really did some hard work as a squad to prepare for the China Test Match on Sunday 13th of July. We even fitted in a trial against a US Navy Ship the USS Essex, they were good sports to front up for a game against a National Team. We were deficient in nearly every aspect of play against Hong Kong but our set pieces were especially poor so we packed plenty of scrums and did a lot of lineouts before the China Test.

Certainly an adventure flying China Eastern Airlines to Shanghai it takes 5 hrs and I think the plane was older than me. Shanghai is massive, covered in smog and a very interesting place. I knew the hotel we were staying in was a bit dodgy because 15mins after arriving in my room the phone rang and woman said “Mr Ryan would you like massage”. This happened every night without fail and as I politely declined each time I would also ask “Why do you keep ringing me” the answer would always be “So Sorry” then a hang up. Needless to say the boys had a good laugh finding out who got called up the night before, it was usually half the squad.

We played the Test in a big Stadium and it was a stinking hot day (we did not see the sun the whole time we were there). After the first half we were down 17-6 and the game was resembling the Hong Kong Test Match, we were looking at a rout. The lineout was in trouble and they were waltzing through our backline.
Jonny Zhang the Chinese version of Johny Wilkinson scored two tries and converted them, he also potted a penalty.

The second half was a different story the forwards began pinching the Chinese lineouts and competing really hard in the tackle area. Andrew Kwong was outstanding and the big hits wingers Desmond Wee and Andrew Kagoro put in were first class. We had pulled the score back to 17-15 when fullback Marcus Blackburn missed his first kick. We then hit the lead when Marcus Blackburn kicked the next one and we were 18-15 up with 15 minutes to go. Five minutes later fly half Jamail stretched our lead to 4 points with a field goal. A win was in sight with 10 minutes to go.

The turning point was when our flanker Riduan got 10 minutes in the bin for a high tackle. The Chinese forwards then rolled forward from a series of tap penalty’s and scored a try, with Jonny converting they now led 24-21 with 4 minutes to go. We had one last final attack and managed to get a penalty when our halfback Hairul was late tackled, Blackburn stepped up to the mark and slotted the penalty for a well deserved draw. It was a big turn a round from the Hong Kong disaster and full marks to the boys for stepping up and having a go.

Had a great weekend in Kuala Lumpur with the University 7’s Teams, teams from Singapore were NUS and NTU. I coached the NUS boys and we ended up winning the Plate Final. Rugby is getting big in Malaysia with 14 Universities providing teams for the tournament. It was a great weekend and I certainly enjoyed the hospitality of the Fijian Embassy whilst I was there.

Singapore Rugby is now gearing up for a busy part of the year, Coach Tom Browne and the 7’s squad are getting ready for the World Cup Qualifiers in Sri Lanka in September. I am preparing the 15’s squad for the Asia Rugby Tournament in Hong Kong at the end of October. The club season here in Singapore has just kicked off as well.

I think Ossie should come up here for a season of Rugby, he is on a fitness campaign and says he has already lost 10kg. The heat up here would knock another 10kg off him in 2 weeks. Ossie emailed and said that he looked like someone who had swallowed a Brahman Bull before he started the diet. Ossie’s usual idea of a diet was the 5 major food groups, Macas, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC and Dominoes. That guy from the movie “Supersize Me” should have followed Ossie around for a month.

Email Matt Ryan at bubbaemu@hotmail.com

Regards
Matt (Bubba) Ryan