Zappia is the game-breaker

Old adversaries Guam and the Philippines will play for the fourth consecutive year this coming Saturday, but this time there is promotion riding on the result. They advance after contrasting victories in their Asian 5 Nations Division 3 semi-final assignments yesterday. Guam were never troubled in recording a 23-3 win over Indonesia, whereas the Philippines were made to battle for every inch of grass on the field in overcoming Iran 15-0.,

Twelve minutes into the first game you would have been forgiven for thinking that Guam were going to run up a cricket score. They had performed a rousing haka prior to kick-off and whether it was this, or the words of coach Willie Heteraka ringing in their ears, something had them really fired up.

Indonesia seemed shocked by the intensity and speed of Guam’s game and were like the proverbial rabbits in the headlights for the first fifteen minutes. Before they had any opportunity to make a positive contribution to the game they were 12-0 down and facing an uphill struggle.

With only two minutes on the clock fly-half Steven Sablan had got the scoreboard moving with a try and ten minutes later virtual relentless pressure led to a second scored by captain Paul Claros. With one successful conversion from centre Kepueli Katoa a comfortable buffer had been established.

Indonesian captain Kirk Arundale managed at this point to convince his charges to lift their heads and get with the pace of the game and to their credit they responded. A Katoa penalty towards the end of the half aside, the Rhinos stood firm, but to be honest they seemed reluctant to attack and appeared to be adopting a damage limitation strategy.  One who did impress was prop Bobby Orlando with some barnstorming charges upfield.  He certainly focussed the minds of the Guam defenders every time he was in possession of the ball

During the half time break Indonesian coach Justin Sampson was clearly able to breathe some fire into his team and although it was short-lived the opening minutes of the second period were dominated by the Rhinos. This early pressure was rewarded with a successful penalty by Arundale.

Any hopes of an Indonesian comeback were derailed by the sinbinning of two players within two minutes. First full-back Warren Wilcox was carded along with Guam wing Paul Eustaquio and then Orlando was shown yellow reducing the Rhinos to thirteen men.

Guam added a penalty and a late try through the impressive Sablan and will be satisfied with a 23-3 win. One worry will be the condition of first-choice kicker Katoa who limped from the field early in the second half. Guam know they will need to lift their game to another level to be competitive on Saturday, but there is no bigger incentive for Heretaka’s men to do that than the prospect of downing the Philippines in their own backyard.

The second game of the day saw hosts the Philippines run out to face a side of which very little was known; Iran. What was immediately obvious was that they had not shown up to make up the numbers. Despite being under the cosh for the first six or seven minutes when they were pinned in their own 22, their defence was unyielding and time and again they held their line. To the amazement of the steadily growing crowd in attendance the Philippines decided not to take the easy points on offer, when Iran transgressed the laws on several occasions and instead opted to run the ball in an attempt to secure an early try.

This proved to be an unwise decision and perhaps the perceived arrogance of it made Iran all the more determined in their cause. The entire first half was an arm wrestle. The Philippines looked slick in patches, but never really put together any sustained period of quality play. Jake Letts at scrum-half was as ever reliable and Barbacetto at open-side terrier-like, but as a team they were misfiring.

One clear and obvious problem was that the normally reliable Ollie Saunders was having an off-day with his place kicks and opportunities to edge ahead were repeatedly squandered.

Iran are a big team; not just physically but in heart and spirit too. Their front row of Shasti, Andouhgin and Asgharzadeh are without doubt the toughest unit the Philippines have ever encountered both in strength and technique. Behind the pack scrum-half Jalal Jahanbakhsh was lively; however Iran’s game plan did not seem to involve him getting his three-quarters moving, with the preference being a route one, up the middle mode of attack.

One surprise introduction early in the game was veteran prop Paul Ingram at 44, now the oldest capped player in Philippine rugby records. Lock forward John Munro, also 44 was to hold this record for only 20 minutes as a back injury forced starting prop Ken West from the field and Ingram into the fray.

At half-time it was scoreless and was to remain so until the fiftieth minute when centre Matt Saunders was finally able to breach the Iran line after a period of sustained pressure.

The game was far from over though and remained on a knife edge until the seventy third minute. Iran, although inexperienced, lack nothing in determination and their dogged refusal to capitulate was admirable. We predict rapid advancement for them in the future should they get more exposure to international competition. All of their pack, some who sport cauliflower ears, not from rugby, but from wrestling are powerful and also not lacking in stamina. They do the basics well and up front there was nothing between the teams.

The return of Fred Morris, this year playing at No8 was a bonus for the Volcanoes. He carried the ball well and is a solid option at the line-out. The locks John Munro and Raf Zappia also put in a hard day at the office. Against bigger opponents they were tireless in the loose and put their bodies on the line time and again.

Zappia was to prove the game-breaker and in unusual circumstances. The Philippines had already tried Jake Letts with a couple of place kicks and still were without success and then with seven minutes remaining on the clock and still only five points in it up stepped the big  second row, kicking tee in hand. He then proceeded to do what both before him had failed to do and put a perfect kick through the posts. As he loped back to a more familiar role, that of receiver of the kick-off, the crowd were in raptures, with an eight point lead there was some margin of safety.

With only two minutes remaining Matt Saunders bagged his second after simple passing had seen a gap open in the tiring Iranian defence. Again up stepped Zappia to slot the resulting conversion and give a final score of 15-0.

Matt Cullen’s young guns and a couple of old ones too, march on to face Guam on Saturday, for the right to join Thailand, India and China in Division 2 next year. He knows better than most that Guam will provide another Herculean test on Saturday and will hope that his backline settle into the game far quicker than they did yesterday.

As for Iran they will face Indonesia on Saturday in the opening game. They might not be widely known in the rugby world yet, but they won the admiration of the spectators at the Nomad Sports Club and unless Indonesia adopt a more positive strategy and bring their outside backs into the game we cannot see them being beaten.