TRIPOLI: First time out as a team playing serious opposition saw the Camels — the Jeddah schools’ select Under 16 Rugby League team — crashed to a 24-0 defeat in Tripoli last week. Those are the raw facts, but the simple scoreline does not reflect the merit of the play or the feisty challenge offered by the Saudi team.
“The lads performed excellently considering it was their very first ever game of full 13-a-side Rugby League against a considerably more experienced opposition,” head coach Chris Ratcliffe told Arab News. For the first 20 minutes of the 80-minute game, the score held at zero each with the two sides probing the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Adriaan Potgieter proved his speed and tackling abilities preventing two near-certain tries with last ditch flat out tackles that brought down breakthroughs from the Lebanon side.
The first try of the game came as their big prop forward barged over after a determined charge from close range. Undiminished, just before halftime the Camels went very close themselves with both Umar Basadien and Tamer Baladawi almost going over the line but, in the final few paces, the Lebanon defence held out to thwart the spirited riposte.
Shortly afterwards, Lebanon went the full length of the field in a single phase to score making it 10-0 at the break.
As soon as the halftime whistle blew the electrical power in the Olympic stadium went down and the stadium was in darkness for over 30 minutes much to the delight of the crowd of around 1500. This affected the Saudi players more than the Lebanese as they ran in two quick tries immediately after the break making the score 20-0.
Ryan Raad was close to replying for Saudi but once again, resolute defense saw the Lebanese hold out and a last gasp try saw them stretch their lead even more.
“The full time score of 24-0 really doesn’t reflect the true close nature of the game and with a few more experienced players we could have given them a much harder time of it,” Ratcliffe reflected. “Their scrum half is Lebanese but lived most of his life in Australia, and his experience of playing rugby league there showed as he bossed things for them.”
Adriaan Potgieter was voted Man of the Match for his all round leadership in the game. He was well supported by Ahmed Droubi, Sultan Mattar and Tamer Baladawi.
“To come here with a depleted side and with only five training sessions under our belt is a credit to the boys and coaching staff. The Lebanese have been training for 6 months so to match them proves that we do have talented boys playing Rugby League here in the Kingdom,” said Ratcliffe.
He added that he was sure the team could build on this experience and next time, with a full complement of players, spread the game to the other cities in Saudi in particular Riyadh, Al Khobar, Dammam and Dhahran. “It would be tremendous to have a truly national side.”
There are plans afoot for both Saudi and Lebanon to play in a tri-series in Doha, Qatar in December.
