A competitive two days of rugby, played at the picturesque Phang Nga Provincial Stadium, resulted in the Vagabonds claiming the competition’s crucial runners up spot, ensuring an invitation to the prestigious national 7s play-off, the venue and date of which has yet to be confirmed.
Facing tournament favourites, Krabi RFC in their opening match, the Vagabonds combined structured defense with crunching tackles to keep the opposition attack at bay. In particular, the efforts of Ben Williams and Willem Swanepoel during the first five minutes helped thwart every attempt by Krabi to take the lead.
Constant pressure and an aggressive stance taken by the Vagabonds soon paid dividends, however. Despite the team being reduced to six players following the dismissal of Dave Walker due to a yellow card, the deadlock was broken in dramatic fashion with an outstanding try by Daniil Komandir, the first of the young Russian’s match hat-trick and a platform for the Vagabonds’ eventual victory over their Krabi rivals.
Walker wizardry
Shortly after was a filler-friendly match against Phang Nga RFC, which proved another tight encounter. Both teams battled toe-to-toe for the most part, with searching lines and imaginative off-loading from the Vagabonds backs ultimately allowing Alex Lampton to break through Phang Nga’s defensive line and deliver the game’s first score.
Ahead by a solitary score and two minutes left on the clock, a little Walker wizardry sent wing Komandir through to score, putting the shine on another polished Vagabonds performance.
In stark contrast to the sunny and dry conditions on the Saturday, players faced a mud bath on Sunday after heavy overnight rains.
Under the weather, but undeterred, the Vagabonds carried on in similar style as the previous day, with big hits forcing errors in the opposition play before being awarded a scrum just 15 meters out from Phang Nga’s try line. Sensing opportunity, an aggressive drive from the Vagabonds pack gave their skipper, Paul Rothwell the chance to run an incisive line and score a well-worked try.
It appeared to be case of deju-vu as the Vagabonds led by a single try going into the final minutes of the match. However, on this occasion it seemed Phang Nga would turn the tables after a line break looked to have secured at least a draw, but an immense try-saving tackle from Dan Ashburn foiled opposition hopes and capped another deserving Vagabonds win to put them in the final.
Herculean efforts
Pouring rain and deteriorating ground conditions heralded the finalists, as the Vagabonds began wisely with forward ball control and solid tackling support from Williams, Swanepoel, Guy Choobal and Darren Parry keeping Krabi on the back foot. Unfortunately though another Vagabonds yellow card, this time sidelining the influential Williams for a deemed high tackle, would prove costly to the Phuket side.
Exploiting the player advantage, a breakaway Krabi try put greater pressure on the six-man Vagabonds side and, despite the herculean efforts of Rothwell, Komandir, Ivan Ustiv and Cameron Heyring, and a committed Vagabonds charge leading to the final buzzer being held up meters short of the opposing try-line, the Phuket side could not capitalise, allowing Krabi to claim the Southern 7s title.
The runner’s up place, however, was sufficient to award the Vagabonds a place at the national 7s tournament, to be played later this year.
Captain Paul Rothwell was impressed with his team’s overall performance in the challenging conditions, while also paying tribute to the team’s sponsors and coaches for all their involvement and support.
The promise of youth
The Phuket Vagabonds Junior Rugby Academy also participated at the tournament with two teams, including a full-contact U14 side and a mini rugby mixed U12, backed by a good contingent of travelling support from coaches and families for their second ever tour.
The physical level of the tournament was slightly above what the young Phuket teams have previously experienced when they won their maiden tournament in Krabi last year, moving this year from U12 up to U14 level and the contrast in player size proving somewhat intimidating.
The U14 team played very well, but unfortunately lost three influential players through injury and illness as the tournament progressed. Junior (Boonwanong Ladbasree) was replaced byAnda Jhansiri at scrum-half, and proved to be a highly flexible player, albeit his first time playing in such an important position. However, he too had to benched after suffering a broken finger.
Responsibility of nine then fell to Arthur Pinel who, with Hugo Traynor at out-half, proved a formidable combination throughout the remainder of the tournament.
The U14s fought valiantly in the third/fourth place playoff place, but eventually succumbed to Yala’s much heavier opposition, while the U12s made it to their section final, but they too could not overcome a more experienced Sainamyen Municipality School from Patong.
Despite not claiming any titles in this just their second tournament, a number of players stood out. Bertie Pinel was the U14’s lead scorer and Jack McReadie demonstrated great mature leadership.
Diminutive Nattaporn “Nut” Nuan-prachuap put in numerous tackles and gained the most distance in terms of individual runs, while Pimlada “Mook” Ronarith may have been the smallest girl on the field yet she showed great heart with her energy and fearless tackling.
The Academy coaches learned a great deal from the Southern 7s event, and will look to implement these on and off field experiences into future training sessions at the ACG, and into preparations for future tournaments.
The Academy coaches learned a great deal from the tournament on and off the field which they will look to implement into future training sessions and into preparations for future competition.
Kennes Sriwichai, coach of the U14s, voiced pride for his players’ efforts, saying it was a great weekend of rugby and that it was a wonderful opportunity for the players to travel and create relationships with other teams.
Coach Ivan Ustiv was equally proud of the academy team’s achievements, saying: “We are very happy with the strong effort our players put in until the last whistle. They showed great character by never giving up and now allowing their heads to drop.”
Head of the Junior Academy, Santiago Lopez, made special mention to players’ families and academy sponsors, thanking Phukets Finest Properties, Tarn Tara Spa and OG Fightwear for their respective support which made the trip possible.
Academy coaching sessions for ages 5-16 are held at 9am every Saturday morning at the ACG in Thalang.
For more information please visit the Phuket Vagabonds Rugby Facebook page, the Phuket Vagabonds Junior Rugby Academy Facebook page or the ACG website.
- Additional reporting by Dan Ashburn and Santiago Lopez