Tigers get the Bird...
28th February 2009
by Nigel Jarvis

Paphos Tigers 30  Akrotiri Flamingoes 17

Due to the heavy rainstorms over the preceding days it took several hours of hard work by the President and his band of willing helpers to transform the pitch into a playable surface. Both teams knew they would have to allow for the weather as well as the opposition, and the side making least mistakes would win the day.

The previous encounter with Akrotiri had been a hard match and the Tigers only got in front in the second half, and it looked like this was going to go the same way, for although Tiger Tony Crassas converted an early penalty after 17 minutes, the Flamingos hit back with a try only 5 minutes later which they duly converted and took the lead on 22 minutes 7 points to 3. Akrotiri were putting the wind at their backs to good use but the Tigers continued to keep up the pressure and counterattack, but good defence by Akrotiri kept them out, until a 5 metre scrum was awarded to the Tigers and two excellent side steps by Tiger fly half Kyle Oelofse put him through to score near the posts and Tony Crassas duly converted on 30 minutes to take the Tigers now up to 10 points to Akrotiri 7.

The tension was building and both sides were applying heavy pressure and mistakes were being made by both teams, and a high tackle on ex colt Jack Bilton resulted in the both Captains being called by the Referee and warned that this would not be tolerated, but more Tiger pressure resulted in a 5 metre scrum and a pick up by No 8 Chris Thoma supported by the back row enabled another try to be scored in the corner, making the half time score to be Tigers 15 Flamingos 7.

Second half and the wind is now at the Tigers back and some good handling moves and a 50 metre clearance by full back Jack Bilton kept the pressure on the Flamingos, and they were duly penalised for lying on the ball and then penalised again for talking back to the referee which now made this penalty 40 metres but kickable and Tony Crassas duly put the Tigers 18-7 up. At the next breakdown the Akrotiri Captain and numbere8 argued with the referee’s decision and was duly shown the yellow card and sin binned for 10 minutes. The Tigers upped the pressure and were able to score after some fine handling along the back line with Kyle Oelofse scoring and Tony Crassas converting taking the score now up to 25 to 7 to the Tigers.

The Tigers decided to bring on some more young players, but the Flamingos were not yet beat and they changed a few players also and were now back to 15 men and put the Tigers under a lot of pressure and only some good defence by centres Matt Lowe and George Agathocleous kept them out for long periods, but the pressure eventually told and Akrotiri scored a great try with a good move along the line and into the corner which they duly converted, making the score Tigers 25 Akrotiri 14. The last 10 minutes now saw end to end moves with both sides kicking for position but the soft ground killing the ball and hard tackles by both teams resulted in some stoppages for treatment, but the match was not yet over and the Tigers scrum turned into a rolling maul with Tiger captain Tony Thoma being driven over for the final score of the game making it now Paphos Tigers 30 Akrotiri Flamingos 17, and a well deserved 8th win out of 9 matches for the Tigers this season.

Nigel Jarvis Tiger Secretary