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Centenary Cup Match 2:
Jungle Crows 0 v Police Sergeants' Institute 12
CCFC Ground 17 August 2005
Where have the Crows gone?
Scrumcap
Kolkata 18 August 2005
Wednesday 17th saw the Jungle Crows attempting to reach the semi-finals of the Centenary Cup in an afternoon clash against the Sergeants' Institute at CCFC. An unseasonably hot and humid afternoon saw a dire encounter with little for spectators or players to take away from the game.
Injuries and other commitments forced the Crows into fielding a very changed side from their recent Delhi exploits. Amir Khan and Jaap Butter were bought in as last-minute replacements at second-row, Paul Walsh debuted as loosehead prop and the back-line was re-arranged with Ananda Das going in at inside-centre and young Sanjoy Das debuting on left wing.
Right from kick-off the Crows looked out of sorts with full-back and kicker Armen lining the pack up on the right but kicking left. Apparently the message had not got through to the back-line and no-one followed up the kick on that side giving the Sergeants easy possession and time on the ball. Early pressure from the Police was let down by nervy and unnecessary kicking from their three-quarters. At the first scrum the Crow pack stated their intent and easily shoved the Police scrum backwards at a rate of knots. Sadly this early promise was not followed up and the Sergeants' scrum resorted to wheeling, collapsing and pushing off the ball to disrupt the set-pieces.
Free running from the police backs and spoiling at the break-downs saw the Crow's forwards short of ball and pressure mounting on the Crow line. Following a kick-through by the police the referee saw the Crow full-back pulling back a player without the ball and gave the police the first of a series of penalties.
The police elected to kick and went ahead 3-0. Shortly afterwards, a rush of blood saw scrum-half Tudu tackle a rushing police back around the neck. A sweetly struck penalty saw the Sergeants 6-0 ahead and the Crows heads starting to drop.
Handling errors and some poor kicking saw the Crows pinned in their own twenty-two. The Crow replacement second-row tried gallantly at the line-out but their inexperience as jumpers was apparent and most line-outs went the police way.
The Crows appeared tackle-shy, especially in the backs, with players trying to tackle at chest height rather than getting low and making the hit. This meant that the runner was not going down, more Crow players were sucked in to put the man down which left gaps for the police backs to exploit. After another period of self-inflicted pressure, the referee again saw a Crow hand in a ruck gifting the police with another three-point penalty. 9-0.
Half time saw Walsh replaced by Azad and Jaap replacing the tired Amir Khan. Mendrik left the field injured and Balak took over on the right wing. The second half resumed as the first half ended with the police keeping the ball moving and out of range of the big Crow forwards. Even on the few occasions when the Crow forwards were able to clear the man at the breakdown the police were still coming out with the ball. Clearly they had spent time on working at spoiling in rucks and mauls, often managing to fall across the ball with impunity.
The Crow forwards finally managed to get quality ball and recycled smoothly to the backs. In a good running move the full back entered the line resulting in a two man overlap and what appeared to be a certain try. Faced with the last defender the Crows tried to step inside rather than use the overlapping runners. The tackle was made and the Crows best move of the game came to naught.
More sloppy play with frustration creeping in led to the award of more silly penalties against the Crows. The police converted one of them to go on to 12-0. There was some admirable Crow defending on their own goal line but as in Delhi they were defending their line as a consequence of missed tackles and sloppy play.
From the side-line it was obvious that Crow heads had dropped and the game fizzled out. The police were unable to break the Crow line and the Crows seemed to lack the heart or determination to go forward and score. This was not the Crow side we have been accustomed to watching. Maybe it was the physically draining weather, maybe it was over-exposure having just returned from a week of rugby in Delhi, maybe it was over-confidence. Whatever the reason the Crows need to reflect upon a poor team performance and build to improve.
Team:
- Paul Walsh (Prop)
- Vahe Shirinyan (Hooker)
- Arijit Sarkar (Prop)
- Amir Khan (Second Row)
- Amar Biswal (Second Row)
- Ejmin Shahijani (Flanker)
- Christophe Plais (Flanker)
- Gary Stilgoe (C) (No.8)
- Sailen Tudu (Scrum Half)
- Armen Markaryan (Fly Half)
- Mendrik Minrissian (Right Wing)
- Anand Das (Inside Centre)
- Aden Davoodi (Outside Centre)
- Sanjay Das (Left Wing)
- Armen Apelian (Full-Back)
Bench:
Jaap Butter, Md Azad Khan, Balak Murmur, Ajay, Dilip Singh
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