When an Egyptian rugby XV led the Vodafone Expatriates 12-3 on Friday night at Victory College, it appeared that a moment of history was to tick over on those celebrated fields.
The representative Egyptian XV was made up of players from both Cairo and Alexandria’s Rugby Clubs, and this match was a seminal moment in both Clubs’ development plans, which aim to build the game from the grass roots and spread the gospel of rugby.
“Even though we had not played together before, there was a great spirit amongst the boys , the captain of the Egyptian XV, Mohamed Salah, said.
“I have been playing for six years with Cairo Rugby and it was great to play together as an all Egyptian team .
Staged under flood lights, around 350 crowded the side-line, as mates finally faced off after several weeks of tension on the training paddock and spirited banter in the club house.
It was a nervous start from the more fancied and experienced Vodafone Expatriates who kicked away possession, choosing aerial raids to test out the Egyptian XV rather than the frontal assault of running hard and straight into the formidable Egyptian forwards, who later would exert their superiority by dominating the scrum and lineouts.
The Expatriates also conceded penalty after penalty, which not only relieved pressure when the Egyptian line was under threat, but allowed the Egyptians to score a 70 meter try from broken play. This morale boosting effort was followed by a pick ‘n’ drive offensive that destroyed the Expatriate defence and saw Karim Mohamed touching down just before the half-time whistle.
Wearing shinny new ruby colored jerseys, the Vodafone Expatriates must have rued the day they agreed to play, let alone coach, these tough no-nonsense blocks of flesh that buckled their scrum, out jumped their line-out and crash tackled their three-quarters.
I chatted to the assistant referee on the side-line at half-time, Laura Cook, who told me that the Cairo Rugby Club’s women’s team is trying to rebuild after a number of girls had left town and were looking for new players. Any women who are interested in arguably the best all round fitness program any sport has to offer and definitely sports’ finest social side should get in contact with Laura through the Club’s web site.
Down but not out, the Vodafone Expatriates stopped giving away penalties in the second half and were even awarded a few of their own. They again mounted sortie after sortie on the Egyptian line, which held out tenaciously for 10 minutes, before a blind-side move resulted in Henry Longden scoring a try and Man of the Match, Dave Sargent, landed the first of his three conversions for the evening.
The score was now 12-10 and there was a new sense of urgency amongst the foreigner’s ranks, desperate not to lose they picked up the pace and finally got their back-line moving, which incidentally coincided with the departure of fly-half, Peter Hall.
Concentration and determination now shifted to the Vodafone Expatriates and within seven minutes they were rewarded with a try when Chris Beales went over after good phase play from his forwards, leaving the Egyptian XV technically exposed.
At 12-17, the game was a long way from lost for the Egyptian XV and the pivotal moment for the Vodafone Expatriates may have been when Dave Sargent pulled off a glorious try saving tackle 3 meters from his line, in the corner where the Mosque stands.
The Egyptian XV had regrouped some what in the final quarter and again they could smell the try line after winning their line-out ball, but disaster struck, when Dave Sargent swooped on a loose ball from a high kick, scoring under the posts and the final score, Vodafone Expatriates 24 – Egypt XV 12.
Earlier in the day Cairo Rugby Club’s B Team had a 19 all draw with Alexandria B and a mixed junior match between students from El Alsson School and Cairo Rugby Club’s junior squad played entertaining rugby, peppered with many crowd pleasing tries.
Next weekend, the ever active committee of the Cairo Rugby Club, will be staging a junior tournament with teams from around the Middle East, including Doha, Dubai and Kuwait at Victory College, Maadi.
Rugby’s night of nights, the legendary Black Tie Desert Dinner, held in the gaze of the Giza Pyramids is awaiting approval from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, scheduled for May 16. For more information contact Karl on 010 638 3080.
This coming Friday is St. Patrick’s Day Ball, tickets are still available for the Black Tie dinner to be held at the Marriott Hotel Zamalek and Michael Flatley will be performing at the Cairo Opera House, March 30 and 31.
More information: www.irishcommunitycairo.org.
