Global Rapid Rugby: South China Tigers win first home match as they beat Asia Pacific Dragons
- Hong Kong side fend off Singapore visitors in humid conditions at the Aberdeen Sports Ground to create a piece of history
The FWD South China Tigers survived a power try scare in the dying minutes to secure their first win in Global Rapid Rugby, notching a 29-19 victory against Singapore’s Asia Pacific Dragons on home turf at Aberdeen Sports Ground on Sunday.
The humid conditions and heavy grounds kept both sides from fully displaying the ball in play characteristics of Global Rapid Rugby, with temperatures peaking at 30 degrees at game time and with 90 per cent humidity, leaving the ball greasy and contributing to a number of unforced errors, particularly from the visitors.
The first half went exactly as planned for the Tigers as they blitzed the Dragons with three unanswered tries for a 21-0 lead after 15 minutes. Fullback Nathan De Thierry scored his first Rapid Rugby try in the opening minute as Tigers started hot.
The Tigers nearly scored a second try after three minutes, but Tom Varndell could not collect his grubber kick ahead in the corner. Centre Lewis Warner found space in the Dragons midfield on the next attacking possession to push the lead to 14-0 after fly half Glyn Hughes’ second conversion.
Minutes later it was the Tigers other international winger, Fiji 2016 gold medallist Samisoni Viriviri, who was on the spot to collect a well-weighted chip to the corner to dot down for a third try. Hughes’ conversion put Tigers up 21-0.
Hughes scored first for Tigers in the second half with a penalty shortly after kick-off to push the lead to 29-7, but the visitors were the more direct side down the final stretch, and were rewarded for their efforts with two tries in the final stanza, to close the gap to 29-19.
Coach Craig Hammond was pleased to get the win saying: “I think both sides really did their homework. We needed this one to get on the ladder and keep up our chase on the Force, but we can’t look past next week. The Dragons will really be wanting to get that result at home, and I don’t expect there is going to be any let down in the physicality next week.
“It will come down to who can work smarter, I think. We will have to analyse everything from today, but we are already looking forward to next Sunday in Singapore.”
Scrum half and captain Liam Slatem, who got his first cap on Sunday as he missed the Tigers game in Perth against the Force to be at the birth of his son, said Global Rapid Rugby is taking some getting used to.
“It is different, it’s a lot more open and guys want to run the ball a lot more, they probably ran it more than us but we were able to get the win.”
Hammond said the wet field made for a bruising game.
“If you saw the pitch yesterday you would have thought it wouldn’t have been ready given all the rain that came down [on Saturday]. But I’m proud of the boys, they adjusted well and a lot of them don’t play on grass a lot so we’re happy with the win.”
