Touch, Tag and Rugby in Korea: June 2009

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Our heroes at the Asian Touch Championships

Monday, June 22, 2009

Now this is going to take some explaining.....

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Korea Touch restores pride at Asian Touch Champs Day 2

Clearly the Seoul-Tans had something up their sleeves after Saturday's showing as they were able to the raise their performance with two wins out of three on the second day to finish a creditable fifth place in the "open mixed" event. They capped their performance in a ping-pong battle with Southerners in the play-offs, overturning an earlier loss against the same opposition.
Earlier in the day, Amanda darted over for the touchdown that secured a second win over Beijing.

Ice-baths and the massaging of tired limbs clearly helped the second day's performance as did a growing team spirit; this is a team that wears its heart on its sleeve which certainly helped members to gel. Captain Nathan, disappointed by the results on day one, rose to the occasion with the help of Dutch Rudders representative, Cody.

A very enjoyable tournament with plenty of moments to remember and lots of teams at the Asian Champs are now weighing up the idea of travelling to Seoul for ITS 2009.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Seoul Tans Touch team start badly at day one of Asia Club Championships

Coming up against some very strong sides in the hotly contested "open mixed" section, Seoul Tans fought some hard battles but came away with just one win from six. The conditions were good underfoot on beautiful grass pitches but the temperature and humidity were brutal.

A lack of team preparation was probably the single most important cause for the poor return but by the end of the day, the Korean representative team was certainly struggling for fitness.
Full report and pics tomorrow, I hope.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Korean Match Official Development and Hirabayashi

Taizo Hirabayashi is one of the top rugby referees in the world, and he is the only referee in the IRB top referee panel who is not from Tier 1 rugby nations (Japan is Tier 2).

He was born in Japan and started playing rugby when he was 5. Then he studyed and played rugby in Australia until he became a full-time Referee Development Officer for the JRFU and the Technical Advisor for a Top League team in Japan, IBM Big Blue Rugby Club.

Now he is the most famous professional rugby referee in Asia and I can't deny the fact that he is the the fruit of aggressive investment of JRFU.

For further information about him:

http://www.rugbyinasia.com/japan/279-9/taizo-makes-history

http://www.irb.com/jwc/news/newsid=2032339.html#hirabayashi+flies+japanese+flag+jwc

Nevertheless, Korea has no referee on the ARFU (Asia Rugby Football Union) top referee panel so we can't see any Korean referees in Asian Five Nations Rugby Tournament although Korea has the second best rugby team in Asia.

However, now KRU has recognized the importance of match offcials for the game and started the development program for match offcials. We started the CMO course (Coach of Match Official) in May thanks to ARFU and the generous sponsor for KRU, Standard Chartered First Bank, helped and sponsored a match official education program for Korean referees with top referees and a referee coach from England.

When can we see a Korean referee like Taizo and see him referee in A5N?

CMO candidates evaluate Taizo's performance and work on stats at the Korea-Hong Kong match

Korean referees ask a question

Taizo explains his opinion about his decision

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Seoul-tans Touch team prepares for Asian Touch Champs

With team members from several of Korea's Touch teams and from different parts of the country, preparation has not been ideal for the squad...just half of them practiced together last Saturday so it will all be down to learning on the hoof at next weekend's Asia Touch Championships in Bangkok.
This is a first entry to the ATF Club Championships for a team from Korea and a squad of 11 will travel to play in the Open Mixed tournament, competing with seven other teams in what looks like a pretty high standard competition (Monsoon from Singapore as well as teams from China and Brotown must be stacked with people flying in from NZ).
A trip like this is very expensive, especially considering the extremely high entry fee for teams but it is an important investment for Korea to make as it helps tie the local organisation in with the regional governing body. Generous sponsorship has lessened the load on individuals selected which is a tribute to the long term planning of the Korea Touch Association and the benefit of running the International Touch Seoul tournament each year.
Later this year, after ITS 2009 which will be held in September, Korea is also intending to send a team to compete in the Shanghai tournament.

Pics from England Counties visit to Korea

The crowd was really pretty good!!

And the locals enjoyed meeting the England Counties players!!

And the boys enjoyed their transport courtesy sponsors Bentley!!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Seoul Survivors head for Manila

Read all about their trip here http://www.rugbyinasia.com/philippines/321-19/national-trials but the topic is also poignant for Korean rugby since it would make a lot of sense for the KRU to invite in more overseas to encourage the development of local players. Too much introversion means that Korean clubs and players learn little....they are only ever playing each other and so have small incremental development. Perhaps now is the time to allow the Survivors to enter the club competition. Survivors recently played one of the "Big Five" rugby clubs in Korea, Daisin and fared pretty well...leading even at half time. They also play regular games against the Korea Uni side. Being part of a bigger comp would allow a little more ambition into the game and with the three year residency rule applying everywhere, several Survivors players are actually qualified to play for Korea....
Bears thinking about!!

Friday, June 12, 2009

England Counties v Korea rugby photo comp results due out this weekend

Seems like around 100 photos were submitted so there will now be lots of action shots...more can be found here...
www.rugby.or.kr/england

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Massive rugby match at Korea's Olympic Stadium 20th June

Thanks Casey Lee of CORK for this info...it is a match I attended a couple of years ago and what an occasion...thousands of kids singing school songs, waving flags, cheerleaders etc and some great rugby on the pitch.
The match is between Pai Chai and Yang Chung High School.
There are leading 2 private high schools in Korea, more than 100 year of history,
The Navy Blue (PC) meets The Orange Eagles(YC), annual game as ;
on 2009 6 20 Sat.
at Jamsil Olympic Stadium
( Metro Line 2, 종합운동장 -, Sports Complex. exit 6&7)
at 1130 over 40's
at 1230 middle schools
at 1330 High schools Young Boys
at 1530 main game OB All Stars.

A year or so ago, Dow Corning organised the visit of Pai Chai HS to Japan to play Waseda HS...the Pai Chai boys won the match (and their old boys reportedly won the drinking afterwards)...so you can be sure that teh standard of play at Pai Chai will be very good. Meanwhile, YangJung have some very big players (100+kg) and looked very strong versus Seoul Colts last week.....expect a cracking match!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Seoul-tans Touch team gear up for Asian Championships

The team has been selected and it shows an interesting blend of youth (read skill, pace, capability) and experience (read "old")....more about this shortly but frankly, it doesn't look like we need to create a space in the trophy cabinet!!

England Counties own view

http://www.rfu.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/RFUHome.England_Detail/StoryID/22819

England Counties administer a spanking in Korea

It was a tour of two very different halves; off the field and on the field. According to the England Counties management, they have never received a better reception than in Korea and from the moment they were met by photographers flashbulbs on their arrival last Monday in Incheon Airport, the England Counties lit up Korean rugby.
The KRU had invited England Counties with a view to raising the profile of rugby; a minnow of a sport in Korea with around 1500 registered players. The second objective was to upgrade their ability to host foreign teams and finally they wanted to use the visit to raise playing standards at youth and senior level.
Publicity was planned and executed to perfection, helped by the announcement of a slug of sponsorship from Standard Chartered First Bank. Coverage of that and the England Counties visit was extensive in Korean and English language media and the outreach work with schools attracted similar attention, culminating in a slot on the KBS primetime news the evening before the match http://sports.kbs.co.kr/news.php?kind=c&id=1788194 (click on the phot and play with the Active X installation and linespeed). The public responded and the Friday evening match, an awkward time for many Koreans and staged at a fairly remote stadium, still attracted a crowd of nearly 2000 spectators.
The visitors enjoyed superb hotel and training facilities but had to work hard throughout their time in Korea. Training sessions were followed by outreach work with school teams and scores of youngsters from five middle and high schools enjoyed a new brand of training with the added bonus of an ad hoc English lesson! With five schoolteachers in their squad, the English had plenty of good coaching resources at their disposal. In addition, the warm up match gave newly formed Seoul Colts their first outing with a 10’s match against the famous YangJung High School rugby team.
The big match itself pitched a Korean Rugby Union Presidents XV against the England Counties. The tourists management had been impressed enough by what they saw of school teams to be wary of the senior side but their caution was unnecessary….they simply blew away a Korean side with simple attacking rugby which was unrelenting throughout the eighty minutes. The hosts were dogged by selection difficulties leading up to the match; players at Japanese clubs were unavailable and some ill-judged decisions led to players being withdrawn ahead of the following week’s domestic competition. Supporters found the rationale for that difficult to understand but nevertheless still enjoyed the Counties exhibition of skills, even though it was all over as a contest after just fifteen minutes. A solitary interception try for the Korean side late in the game did raise the biggest cheer and a penalty took them into double figures before the Counties hit the century mark as they scored 16 tries in their final score of 108-10.
Given the huge margin, it is hard to imagine senior rugby will have learnt much from the match except to understand the size of the gap they have to bridge. The impression that the schoolboy level rugby is on a better footing suggests that learning may stagnate in club rugby which would confirm the need for even more exposure to foreign teams in Korea. In which case, Korean rugby needs to pick itself up, lick its wounds and fight on!
More info on http://www.rugby.or.kr/england

Thursday, June 4, 2009

England Counties rugby on KBS news

Apparently the training and outreach work will be covered on the news tonight, 9pm. Arirang news will also cover it...

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

England Counties and Standard Chartered sponsorship of Korean Rugby gets massive coverage

Gumi Touch tournament a big hit down south

Read all about it in the JoongAng Daily http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2905553
And the Korea Herald
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/06/02/200906020062.asp

Monday, June 1, 2009

England Counties rugby arrives in Korea

And get welcomed by reporters and photographers from Yonhap news...amongst others http://search.naver.com/search.naver?where=nexearch&query=%B7%B0%BA%F1&sm=top_hty&fbm=0
See the boys in action...training or playing...their itinerary is on the "news" section of www.rugby.or.kr/england

How to find the Jamwon pitch

Driving: Go south over Hannam bridge over the Olympic expressway, turn right towards Apgujeong Stn. The road loops around and you head east parallel with the river but south of the Olympic Expressway. After 500m turn left at the traffic light between Sinsa Middle and Hyundai High schools. Go to the end of the road, turn left and after 75m turn right through the tunnel under the Olympic Expway. The rugby pitch is on the right of the car park. XXXXXXX Public Transport Apgujeong station and Walking from Apgujeong station, take exit 6 and head west for 500m and then turn right between Sinsa Middla and Hyundai High schools and then follow the same instructions as for driving. Click on map to get a better view...the pitch is the oval shape near the river.

Touch, Tag and Rugby in Korea