In perfect playing conditions on the richly grassed SKAB playing field here, JRFC’s Rob Holmyard opened the scoring in the first 57 seconds and JRFC powered on to triumph 45 – 15.

Two minutes after the initial score Taif were rocked by a second aggressive 60 meter charge from the restart that was only stopped by some frantic Taif tackling five meters from their line. The second shock triggered Taif into action and, aided by some sterling work from their pack and a very able scrum and fly-half duo, the Tigers clawed their way back into the game.

Jeddah, however, were not finished yet and kept the pressure on Taif with a lost opportunity at nine minutes into the first third when a penalty against Taif from a scrum infringement gave Jeddah a lofted ball that was fumbled at the critical moment just a few meters out from Taif’s goal line.

It was not until 14 minutes that Taif showed their mettle. A rapidly assembled linking movement from deep in their half developed into a flickering 60 meter run with a delightful offload that deceived Jeddah into opening a scoreable gap in their defense. Fate was not smiling as with an open door, Taif passed forward and were called back for a scrum.

However, the consolation prize came in the 17th minute of the first session when the potential shown in their first excellent linking move matured into a full length run from their 5-meter line that took them over Jeddah’s goal line.

Still glowing from the success, Taif failed to respond to a very rapid recovery by Jeddah from the restart, an up an under kick from Matt Jay who steamed through a still dispersed Taif defense to capture the ball, off load and set up a try at the whistle.

The spectators were delighted at the events on the field. Several hundred far-eastern employees of SKAB, who sponsored the match and donated the use of the field, stayed to watch the whole day’s matches that included the trials for the Under 16 Rugby League team that is to defend its MENA Champions title in early April. Imran Ali, a Bangladeshi laborer at SKAB was enthusiastic: “I very much like Kabbadi and this has much in common,” he said commenting on his first viewing of a live rugby match. Kabbadi is a hard contact sport played in India and Asia that is said to have developed out of personal combat training.

The game settled down in the second session of the three 20-minute “halves” and ebbed and flowed the length of the pitch. Taif pounced on some uncharacteristically scruffy play from Jeddah and muscled their way over for a second but unconverted try. Jeddah were by the end of the second session picking their moments to strike. An attack from Taif broke up under some pressure tackling and gave JRFC’s Teflon coated scrum-half Sou Miyake an opportunity to stretch his legs over 65 meters and slip through Taif’s entire defense in a comprehensive display of deception and sidestepping that would make an insurance company executive envious. He chose his moment to slip a neat pass to his escort Graham Catley who launched himself over for a try.

The final session Jeddah’s superior fitness began to tell on Taif. They were caught out by a kick ahead for their wing, a tactic that had served them well throughout the game, that was charged down by a still sharp Jeddah, picked up and turned into a corner try by Andrew Bohn.

Once more Jay, who was rather enjoying himself by this stage, demonstrated his speed and strength by straight-lining through the weakening Taif defense, littering the field with scattered defenders for a final Jeddah try.

Never turn your back on a Tiger, however, for at the restart that was quickly followed by a scrum from a knock-on, Taif girded their collective loins for a delightful cross-field full team attack on Jeddah’s line that saw them score for the final honors of the match.