Wins for CNX Cobras & Lanna Rugby Club in Round One
The start of the 2024 Amora Hotels & Resorts CNX Dimbulla Rugby 11s League kicked off on Saturday 17th August with a mini youth tournament held at the Varee School. With games in the U12s, U14s & U16s it shows that the game is growing in the North with the stars of the future on show. A big thank you to TRU North for supplying the officials. There will be more youth rugby in the coming weeks.
This was followed with a lady’s game at Chiang Mai university between the Lanna Lionesses & the TNSU Teachers training college. Both teams gave it their all in an entertaining 7 a side match. The Lionesses fought hard but the fitter TNSU girls prevailed after scoring 2 tries in each half for a 24-0 victory.
In the main event, game one was CMU Purple Blacks taking on the Lanna Rugby club. CMU have combined the teams this year to make them more competitive, and so it was. Lanna started brightly and a lineout on the halfway was shipped to the left with centre Jamie Pell taking the ball, sidestepping his marker and scoring under the posts. Lanna were quickly on the board again from the kick off. Working the ball back up field pell again slipped his marker to set up Phil Gwyther for an easy score. Both conversions missed and Lanna leading 10-0 going into the break.
The Purple Blacks came out strongly for the second quarter and put Lanna under pressure. A penalty 10 metres from the Lanna line saw the ball moved to the right wing……. Who went in at the corner to reduce the deficit to 10-5. Lanna were straight on the attack and from a penalty at the breakdown, a strong run from Stanton had the defence in disarray as he set up David Nel for the score. Again the conversion was missed. 15-5 Lanna at half time.
CMU had fought so hard in the first half to stay in the game but a mistake midfield from the kickoff saw lanna regain possession and slick handling saw the ball go wide with the slippery Pell once again going in for a score in the corner. 20-5. CMU came back again and had the Lanna lads on the back foot until a wayward pass was intercepted by Nat for an easy run in with the last play of quarter. 27-5 Lanna.
Th final quarter got underway with Lanna pressuring the CMU line. Fine work by CMU had them steal the ball close to the line only for the clearing kick to be charged down by Pell who followed up with his 3rd try of the day. As the clock ticked down Lanna speedster Dtun finally found some space out wide on the right and sped away for the final try of the game. Final score Lanna 39-5.
The second game of the day was last years champions Chiang Mai All Stars taking on the 2023 runners up the CNX Cobras.
It was always going to be a close game and so it proved, with both teams giving no quarter in what was an attritional match. With solid defences and little space, chances were few and far between. The first quarter saw the All Stars dominate possession but big hits across the park by the Cobras gave them little to work with. John Brown on his league debut was a menace at the break down, with Josh Lim and Samual Lam doing a lot of the heavy work, carrying the ball in midfield.
As the clock ticked down towards the break, All Stars got turnover ball, and a missed tackle by Jono Nunn was all it needed for the All Stars to go in under the posts. All Stars 7-0 at the break.
The second quarter saw the Cobras begin to get more ball and assert some pressure on the All-Stars line. The game ebbed and flowed before the Cobras were awarded a 5 metre scrum in bizarre circumstances. Captain Jack McPherson cleared the Cobras line with a deep kick inside the All stars 10 meters. As the cover defence went to secure the ball he inadvertently kicked the ball back towards his own try line and it went dead. From the subsequent scrum the ball was first carried up by Brown before going wide where winger Khatcha “Tor” Wilailuk hit the line. He was deemed to have been tackled high whist going over and a penalty try and yellow card was awarded. 7-7 at the break.
In the third quarter the Cobras started to take some semblance of control with Charlie Jones at the fore with some devastating runs up the middle of the park. With Jono Nunn & Borwornpak “Pop” Boonrueng, beginning to make inroads, the All Stars were now on the back foot. A fine break by McPherson saw the Cobras surge towards the line with Nil Deichart held up just short. The speed of recycled ball saw veteran prop Dave McRitchie go over to take the lads in at the break with a slender 12-7 lead.
The All Stars weren’t finished and surged back in the final quarter putting the Cobras under all sorts of pressure. Props Opart Nawisit & Pongporn “Folk” Piboonsri, were prominent in defence, breaking up a couple of moves out wide and closing down what could have been dangerous attacks. Matty Valentine and Harry Gaylord made important contributions off the bench, as did Boyd Littleford on his debut. With time running out, the Cobras were pinned on their own line and only a try saving tackle by McPherson, holding up the ball over the line, kept the Cobras in front. The All Stars were awarded a penalty 5 meters out, and chose to go up the blind side. A poor pass out to the winger was knocked on, in what turned out to be the last action of the match. Cobras winners in a 12-7 victory. It was a mammoth effort by both teams and bodes well for the rest of the season. Big thanks to TRU referee Kiattichai “Kit” Noptakul and his officials & the medical team for a job well done.
Chiang Mai All Stars Rugby Club
CNX Cobras Rugby Club
Amora Hotels & Resorts CNX Dimbulla Rugby 11s League 2024 After Round One
