Lanna Lions Keep On Battling

It was a great day for a game of rugby. It had been raining through the week and stopped the day prior, leaving the ground nice and soft for what would be an exciting match.

The 6th round of the World Flair NTR 10s league between  our 1st XV men’s team, Lanna Lions, and our biggest rivals,  Chiang Mai Cobras.

Since last season our men’s team has come on leaps and bounds. Even though we have been losing, it has been marginal. 5 points here and there. 

If Lanna Lions are to get into the finals for the NTR10’s league a win needs to be on the agenda. 

After the grassroots rugby practice, George, a 1st team men’s player in the making, and his father Chuck, were kind enough to help paint the pitch with Coach Tom. The club would like to give a huge thank you to the help they both gave on the day.

By the time the game came round to being played, the grass was cut, the lines were painted. The referees on the day were from TNSU. LRC is all about development so we saw it only right to give New and his colleagues the opportunity to referee this match. 

The whistle blew. Dtun, now the official kicker for the team, put up a great kick. The Cobras got hold and ran it back hard. Only to be confronted by the likes of big bad Bon!! 

The Cobras recycled the ball well, however since our first match this season, Coach Hirsty has worked his magic with the Lions, developing the ‘Big White Wall’ in defense. Time after time the Cobras ran at us, another Lion put them out of their misery. Unfortunately, the Lions were penalized at the breakdown in centre field the Cobras thumped the ball downfield for an attacking lineout.

LRC were backed onto the line as the Cobras won the lineout and made a sneaky run down the blindside opening the scoring for the day. Lions 0-5 Cobras.

LRC received and set their line up, going through phase after phase. Tom headed up an arrow only to be smothered by five Cobras players. Poly got on the ball and showed his stepping and improved strength this season ploughing through a couple of the cobras players. However, a scrum was awarded to the Cobras. After winning the scrum they were passing the ball between them well. Tackle after tackle was made by Smithy, Poly, Dtun, Stanton and Phil but it wasn’t enough. They managed to fight their way back to the LRC try line and put one more past us. Lions 0-10 Cobras.

The Lions finally turned it on. Lanna showed their attacking intent and pressured the Cobras line. After a few good phases of rugby LRC saw themselves in the Cobras 22. From the right the ball worked its way to the left through Poly and Phil, with Stanton finding the ball in his hands. He pulled off a bobby dazzler, chipping the  defense only by 5 meters, to catch, pirouette and score to the left of the posts. Dtun converted making it Lions 7-10 Shortly after, the Cobras managed to get one more try down the wing. The Cobras got their first conversion of the match. Lions 7 – 17 Cobras.

The time was ticking down to the end of the first period but it wasn’t over yet. Tom received the ball from phase work, decided to stretch his legs a little before going for a chip and chase. Managed to collect the ball but then was put out of touch. Thankfully Dtun was in support. He managed to pick up the loose ball and score a try under the posts. Converting for the second time today. Lions 14 – 17 Cobras.

After a rousing speech from Coach Hirsty and Captain Phil, the Second half got underway. When the ball was in the Lions’ hands we were a threat at any rate. We had less drop balls this match, communication was up and there was better organization. 

Lions were improving as the game progressed. Dtun put in a big run to put a try over making it 19-14 to the Lions. Is our luck about to change?!?

Again, after kick off, LRC turned the ball over. Poly was putting in a superb stint at Scrum Half getting all over the pitch. Tackles flying, making great decisions and going on a few great runs.

Bon Smithy and Stanton went into another ruck. Poly was there and saw Tom calling for it. As Tom received he could see Phil in the corner of his eye. Whipped the ball out to him for Phil to put those muscles to work. Smashing through Cobra after Cobra. Unfortunately Lions were lacking support and the ball was turned over once again. 

In the dying embers of the second third the Cobras scored two consecutive tries with conversions. Lions 19-31 Cobras.

The last third started lively. Cobras received but unluckily for the guy with the ball, Bon was there to knock him back a few. 

Brave and Luis were both putting in huge stints in the forwards pack, hitting every ruck to keep the Cobras at bay. After the last few weeks, something had finally clicked with Carlos. He was a monster, tackling everyone out to touch. Cannot wait to see more of that in future matches. 

Stanton went for another bone crunching run. As did Poly. Carlos went on a blistering run. Emi who was new to the team was getting stuck in with tackles.

In any case, the Lions got the ball again. TRY TIME! Phil got onto the end of a great backs move. He demolished the opposition scoring under the posts for Dtun to convert easily. 26 – 31 Cobras.

After that, the Lions were slowly on their demise. Cobras ran try after try past them. What with our depleted squad it was only time until we’d ran out of subs. Nong who had been playing fantastically all over the pitch was injured, as was Dtun and Stanton. We’d no longer got the 3 subs we’d started with. Shortly after Dtun was taken off through injury, LRC lost one more player. Down to 9 men Coach Hirsty spoke with the officials and decided that the game had to come to an end. 

The final score was Lions 26-45 Cobras.