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Buffalos’ Win Caps Day of Fine Rugby
A fine day’s rugby was watched by a good crowd at the National University on Saturday, when the Vientiane Buffalos rugby club fielded two teams against visitors from Roi-Et and Mahasalakham University. Hope for the future of Lao rugby was on display during a brave and often skilful performance by a young Buffalo development side, who eventually lost 38-20 to a much bigger Roi-Et team. Competitive touch rugby between local and visiting women’s teams was then followed by a gripping final men’s match, in which the Buffalos’ first team ran out narrow 29-24 winners against a strong Mahasalakham fifteen.
The Lao development team’s performance against a well-drilled Roi-Et unit gave great encouragement to their fans and coaches in the first match, with the visitors edging ahead 10-14 at half-time due to some inexperienced defence by the hosts. National coaching staff Rob Klacek and Steve Doyle were pleased with what they saw though, and blooded even younger Lao players in the second half. Valuable experience was gained by several players just coming through the development system, but the game was sacrificed despite the valiant efforts of veteran Toum in the Lao pack.
The touch series between the Lao Khaos, the Nok Ons, Roi-Et University and a Chantabouly All-Stars team saw the Lao Khaos win both their games, while the Nok Ons put in an improved defensive performance that bodes well for the remainder of their season. A contact rugby exhibition game was also played late in the day, showing that women’s rugby is moving forward in the region.
The main event, between the Buffalos and Mahasalakham, began at a frenetic pace. The Buffalos wore their new predominantly green kit, sponsored by Milsearch-BPKP UXO removal, in a home match for the first time. Some big tackles in midfield made it difficult for either team to establish superiority, with the Buffalo partnership of Mastaglio and Sheridan doing well to keep the visitors’ international centres from getting enough space to work their magic. It was eventually the home backs who made the first breakthrough, with Sheridan crashing through the defence for the first of four powerful tries after some good phases of play. Two more tries in quick succession from the outside centre and two conversions by fly-half Xang put the Buffalos 19-0 up but a fine score late in the first half by Mahasalakham signalled that the Thai students were not about to lie down for the rest of the match.
Indeed, Mahasalakham began the second half much the stronger, scoring two tries and agonisingly dropping a certain fourth on the Vientiane try line. Until that point it seemed that the Buffalos would buckle under the pressure, with the visitors looking to have more stamina and pace as the match wore on. A string of last-ditch tackles from the likes of Vieng and Sheridan kept the scores level, but the penalty count was building against a tiring Vientiane defence. The pressure was finally released by a fine try from Sheridan after good work by the home forwards, and though the visitors replied again, man of the match Sert finish a flowing move in the corner to secure victory for the home side.
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