Mon, 17 Feb 1997

Thai girls outtouch Jakarta Dragons

JAKARTA (JP): Nine girls from Bangkok who had not heard of rugby 12 months ago won the inaugural International Association of Southeast Asian International Schools women's touch rugby tournament here Saturday.

The International School Bangkok team went through the two-day event undefeated, beating the host, the Jakarta International School (JIS) Dragons, 4-1 in the final.

International School Manila beat the Singapore American School 3-0 to take third place in what was probably the biggest women's touch rugby tournament ever held in Asia.

In the men's rugby sevens competition, host JIS, after a sluggish start, overwhelmed the Singapore American School 36-18 in the final.

Playing in their first competition before a crowd of several hundred people, the Bangkok students never looked like losing the final after going three tries up, thanks mainly to the scorching pace of freshman winger Tyler Caudle.

Christine Danahey, with a lunging dive from several meters out, scored the only try for the Dragons but tight defense ensured the Bangkok girls' lead was never seriously threatened and they scored again just before the final whistle to confirm their superiority.

The final two teams in the competition were the JIS Griffins and the Jakarta Touch Rugby Club. The latter was a group of more experienced players who wilted as the temperature and their ages took their toll.

Tournament organizer Mark Gray, the JIS athletics director, said: "I'm really thrilled by both the high quality of rugby and the level of sportsmanship shown by all the participating teams.

"It was great to see how the level of play improved during the tournament as the young but very fit girls adapted very quickly to what is for many of them a new sport."

Donna O'Conner, a former captain of the Australian women's touch rugby team and currently its assistant coach, attended the event and helped train the teams.

She said afterwards: "It was a really good standard of play. I don't think the girls really knew what it was going to be like when they started, but the success of the event shows that women's touch has a really big future in Southeast Asia." (jea)