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Centenary Cup Match 1:
Jungle Crows 8 v LMOB 7
CCFC Ground 30 July 2005
Sing Glorious, Victorious!
Scrumcap
Kolkata 01 August 2005
The team that is attempting to bring some fun back into Kolkatan Rugby brought their loyal fans their first victory in this, their inaugural full season on Saturday. The Jungle Crows were drawn against LMOB Blacks (La Martiniere Old Boys) in the Centenary Cup at CCFC. A straightforward knock-out competition meant that for both teams defeat would mark the end of their domestic campaign this season.
A hot humid day with occasional belts of rain lashing the City of Joy left the CCFC pitch greasy with standing water in some areas. The Crows ran out a wholly home-grown team with Englishman Stilgoe taking on the Captain's mantle. The departure of the Orissan contingent saw Stilgoe go to number 8, Tudu to scrum-half while Anand stepped in at outside centre.
LMOB won the toss and elected to defend the Army end. The Crow pack were keen to make their mark on the game and early scrums saw the LMOB scrum losing ground and possession. In an earlier encounter the Crows had been punished by the LMOB Captain, McClusky, rolling off the back of set-pieces to score easy tries. There was to be no repeat of this as McClusky was oft, in the opening period of the game, met by a thumping tackle from a waiting Crow forward.
Within ten minutes of the start, further pressure from the Crow forwards saw LMOB drift offside at a ruck. Young Armen, the Crow full-back, was full of confidence and slotted home the resultant penalty. Crows 3-0 up and looking good for their lead.
The pitch conditions conspired against good handling and both back-lines struggled to control the greasy ball. The up and under quickly became the LMOB main means of attack. Sloppy following up by their forwards however allowed the Crow backs to recover any dropped catches. Another offside saw the Crows with a further penalty just outside the LMOB twenty-two. Armen was keen to display his skills with the boot again but the Crow captain, decided that a kick to the corner with a strong drive off the line-out was the best bet. Things were looking good until a Crow forward and the scrum-half decided challenging each other for the ball was more fun than making the ball available to those forwards standing off for the pass or the back-line who were eagerly awaiting quality ball. A promising move then came to naught. The Crows continued to put good pressure on LMOB but could not turn that pressure into points. Amar (Paining) Biswal took a hit on the stroke of half-time and required some treatment during the break but came back even stronger in the second half.
There were a couple of scrums lost against the head early in the second half but the LMOB forwards never got on top and it was pleasing to see the LMOB scrum in disarray as the Crows drove forward with the ball securely at the feet of the number 8. As the surface cut up the two sets of forwards visibly tired. An untidy phase followed with neither side able to assert themselves. A series of weak punts were exchanged by both back lines without any gain in territory or even position. Eventually, and it did seem a long time in coming, the Crows pushed the ball down their line. It reached Zafar (Billy Whizz) Khan who went off on one of his jinking runs followed by the remnants of the LMOB three-quarters. Both sets of forwards had by this time given up all hope of backing up and stood and watched the action from approximately the half-way line. Billy was eventually chased down by LMOB's Ricardo but managed to keep his feet long enough to get the ball down in the in-goal for a try. The referee and linesman spent a few long minutes discussing the play and examining skid-marks in the mud but finally awarded the try. Crows 8-0 in front -the conversion attempt wandering off at the last second to deny the Crows the extra two points.
The score seemed to spur LMOB on more than the Crows and there followed a period of good pressure from LMOB in the Crow half. A ruck formed just metres from Crow goal-line. True to form LMOB smuggled the ball back to McClusky who burst off the back of the ruck. Two Crow forwards had been watching and both hit the charging McClusky. The ball popped out forwards but the LMOB scrum-half followed up sharply to dive on it and take the ball over the Crow line. LMOB had reacted first and got the score under the posts but the Crows were unlucky to have the referee decide that the ball had come off McClusky's knee rather than being knocked on. Them is the breaks but that was of little consolation to the Crows as their lead came back to 8-7 with only five minutes left to play.
Fatigue was beginning to become a feature and with it tempers frayed. Another break off the back of a maul saw McClusky trying to expose the Crow blindside. His progress was hindered only by Balak, probably the smallest man on the field, who ended up hanging off the chin strap of McClusky's head-guard to avoid his flailing fists. Christophe took on the role of St Denis, protector of France, and went to Balak's aid. Handbags at dawn saw McClusky and Christophe sin-binned !
A fast break on the opposite side of the pitch saw LMOB within inches of the Crow line but a desperate try saving Crows tackle saw the flying LMOB winger put into touch. Almost straight from the resulting line-out the Crows advanced up the pitch. Tudu fly-hacked a loose ball and then proceeded to outstrip the opposition and attempt to dribble the ball over the LMOB goal-line. His last kick got away from him but Billy Whizz was at hand to fall upon the ball like a big cat onto unsuspecting wildebeest - the only problem was Billy's nancy gloves, though very pretty, failed to hold the slippery ball. The referee decided enough was enough and blew time giving the Crows their first victory. Zafar, despite the gloves, was awarded the Crow of the Match for the try.
And so, days before the Crows upsticks and move to Delhi in search of fame, fortune and a berth in the All India and South East Asia Championship they secured a hard won victory at home. The domestic season continues on the Crows return to Kolkata with a quarter-final clash against the Sergeants Institute on 17 August. Spectators are sure of a warm welcome and a good game of rugby to boot.
Team:
- Md Azad Khan (Prop)
- Vahe Shirinyan (Hooker)
- Arijit Sarkar (Prop)
- Masudul Haque (Second Row)
- Amar Biswal (Second Row)
- Christophe Plais (Flanker)
- Ejmin Shahijani (Flanker)
- Gary Stilgoe (No.8)
- Sailen Tudu (Scrum Half)
- Armen Apelian (Fly Half)
- Zaffar Khan (Inside Centre)
- Ananda Das (Outside Centre)
- Aden Davoodi (Right Wing)
- Balak Murmur (Left Wing)
- Armen Markaryan (Full Back)
Thanks to our Supporters and Team Sponsors:
- JCB
- BOC
- SREI
- Crown Worldwide
And Friends of the Jungle Crows:
- Ontrack Systems
- Tiger Sports Marketing
- Skytech
- Descon
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