Vikings View - 18th June 2007
Vikings View
www.vikingsrugby.com.au
18th June 2007
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roman 'Wacca' Warcaba
It is with great sorrow that I inform you that Roman 'Wacca' Warcaba lost his battle with leukaemia early last Saturday afternoon. Roman was a very competitive prop in his playing days and was a valuable and successful member of the coaching staff, as recently as last year coaching Reserve Grade when he was first diagnosed with the disease. Roman was a fantastic clubman and will be sorely missed by the entire Vikings rugby fraternity. Roman loved his footy and was excited to be able to present the 1st Grade jumpers at a recent home game and was equally delighted and thankful to be able to join the players to sing after an emphatic victory. Roman is survived by his wife Donna and two boys Jake and Liam. Please keep Donna and the boys in your thoughts and prayers at this time. No funeral details are available at this time but I will forward them to you as soon as they come to hand.
A memorial service for Roman will be held at the RMC Chapel on Thursday 21 June at 1.30pm.
David Assenheim
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John I Dent Cup Match Results and Reports:
1st Grade 34 - 34 Eagles
2nd Grade 32 - 22 Eagles
Colts 55 - 5 Eagles
3rd Grade 44 - 0 Eagles
4th Grade 51 - 0 Eagles
Vi-Queens 5 - 12 Royals
First Grade:
A try in the final seconds to Tuggeranong Vikings Fullback Isi Ratalevu and a pressure conversion from Beau Dunley helped First Grade salvage a draw against a well drilled and committed Gungahlin Eagles side.
The game could have gone either way with the lead changing four times at Viking Park, but it was the Eagles that looked more committed at the business end of the game, punishing any Tuggeranong mistakes and turnovers.
Each side scored four tries in the 34 all encounter.
Vikings coach Pat Langtry congratulated his team on the style of rugby it played but said there was room for improvement.
"Vikings played some entertaining and committed rugby against a full strength Gungahlin side.
"At key times we rushed our worked for opportunities and neglected to mount sustained pressure on our opposition.
"Core elements of our game were pleasing, as was our effort.
"The second half saw Gungahlin back in the game with a solid kicking game and good field possession at the back end of 14 consecutive penalties to nil in the last 40," he said.
Vikings centre Tim Curren opened the scoring for the Redmen crossing for a try in the 3rd minute, followed by an intercept try to Beau Mokotupu 5 minutes before the half time break both converted by Beau Dunley. Dunley also contributing 2 penalties to give Vikings a 20 - 10 lead at half time.
An Adrien Clements try and Beau Dunley conversion 14 minutes into the second half put Vikings into a 10 point lead before the Eagles gained the momentum and came back with 2 converted tries and a penalty goal to lead 34 - 27. With time almost up replacement winger Solomona Fanifo made a 30 metre dash down the sideline and passed to Isi Ratalevu who beat 3 defenders to score out wide. Needing the conversion to draw the game, Dunley's boot was on target putting the ball between the sticks.
Players' Player and three points Best and Fairest went to Tim Curran who played his last game for the Vikings, Beau Mokotupu received two points and Isi Ratalevu received one point.
Second Grade:
Vikings Second Grade returned to the winners circle with a 32 - 22 win over the Gungahlin Eagles.
Solomona Fainifo continues to dazzle, scoring three tries and contributing 15 points to the final tally.
Andy Goodall joined Fainifo on the Vikings try scoring sheet with fullback, Phil Cook, kicking three conversions and two penalties.
Fainifo was awarded three points Best and Fairest for his efforts, Goodall two, and David Greig one.
Captain Jim Seivers was voted Players' Player.
Third Grade:
Vikings Third Grade scored 44 unanswered points in its win over Gungahlin Eagles.
Five-eight Emile Wessels scored two tries, kicked four of the five possible conversions, along with two penalty goals to contribute 24 points to the final score.
Vikings other four tries went to lock Grant Lukins, replacement Graham McIntosh, with number 8 Israel Vanikolo scoring two.
Vanikolo was rewarded with three points Best and Fairest, Wessels received two.
Prop Ray Tusa and outside centre Omar Ramsden shared one apiece.
Players' Player was Wessels.
Forth Grade:
Vikings Fourth Grade overwhelmed their Gungahlin counterparts, scoring nine tries to nil in the 51-0 encounter at Viking Park.
Outside centre, Matt James, scored three tries, with hooker Michael Lynch, flanker Tim Howard, halfback Geoff Kuczerka, fly-half Jerry Zutt, fullback Toby O'Brien and replacement Pete Seivers each picking up a try.
Three points Best and Fairest went to the try scoring Howard, two to Zutt and one to fellow flanker Peter Reitdyk.
Players' Player went to Kuczerka.
Colts:
The 55 to 5 win to Vikings Colts over its Gungahlin opposition showed the side still has room for improvement.
The nine try tally, shared by prop Ben Johansen, lock Jake Cannon, winger Tyson Burrell, winger Mitch Audsley, replacements Nathan Lalliard, Matt James, Jason Lobell, and fly half Henry Afasamaga, scoring two.
The kicking duties were shared about with Afasamaga, John Gibson and Lalliard each successfully passing the ball through the sticks.
Juan Paul Aualiita was named Players' Player and picked up three points Best Fairest, two points went to Henry Afasamaga and Cameron Jones received one.
Division 1: Competition Bye
Women's:
The Vi-Queens were unlucky to lose 12-5 to Royals at Phillip.
Fullback Nikki Ayers scored the Vi-Queens only points in the hard fought encounter. 3 points went to Katie Newton 2 points to Jo Hala and 1 point to Pip Butt. Players' Player went to Leah Hoolihan.
This week 1st, 2nds, 4ths and Division 1 all have the bye, whilst 3rd grade, Women and Colts travel to ADFA who are celebrating 21 years on the competition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update from Japan:
Konichiwa! All is well in Japan. After seeing the recent storm, snow and freezing weather reports on the internet I am happy to report that the spring conditions in Japan are very pleasant.
Kate, Lucy and I have definitely settled in well to our apartment and Japan living. It is great to spend some quality family time each day. We have had many little adventures on the trains and bikes and at the shops, pool and parks etc. Harujuku park on a Sunday afternoon is a real eye opener with live bands, dancers, bongo drum players, fancy dress and heaps of social frisbee's and volleyball games with beers while many take the opportunity to have a sleep in the sun. Many of the people are very friendly.....Last week Lucy came flying down a slippery dip and knocked over a little boy at an indoor play area at a local shopping centre. After apologising Kate started speaking to the mum and ended up swapping numbers and we were invited over to their house for dinner on the weekend with the whole family for a traditional Japanese feast. Lucy and Kate will start pre-school this week with Kate picking up some work as a teacher a couple of days a week. Lucy misses the interaction with friends and cousins. Hopefully this will tire her out as dad is still struggling with the early starts when the sun comes up between 5-6am!
The rugby is going well. The club has been very hospitable and friendly. Our team has just finished our Spring season practice matches. The results were as follows:
Defeated Kamaishi Seawaves 35-7
Drew with Kubota 28 all
Lost to Suntory 41-14
Defeated NTT 35-7
Defeated Coca Cola 21-17
The club is happy with these results and sets the season up nicely as we
were expected to only win two games. The Kubota game was particularly
pleasing as they defeated Secom by over 50 points in the Top League
competition late last year. Considering we only had one foreign player for
our first four games the Japanese players really had to step up. Our three
Australian foreign players arrive within the next two weeks (Josh Faumoana,
Matt Windle and Andrew Brown who have all been contracted with either the
Force or Reds over the last two years). There are plenty of quality foreign
players over here plying their trade. Over the last five weeks we have
played against or met Peta Alatini, Fifita, Toutai Kefu, Damien McInally,
Ryan Nicholas, Simon Mailing, Tim Lenevez, Tai Glassie, Wayne Ormond and
Mark Ranby. I look forward to catching up with Radike Samo, Ippo Fenikitau
and Sean Hedger during the season.
It has been a big learning experience but very enjoyable all the same. The club trains 5 days a week and we break the week up with weights, speed, MTLI, position specific skills, unit and team skills, reviews and previews of upcoming games etc. Ben Norcott arrived last Thursday as Strength and Conditioning coach and he is very keen to work on the physical capabilities of the players. Secom have a full time video analyst who tapes all our training sessions and games and comes up with all our individual and team stats as well as video editing. The team manager is slowly getting used to my weekly paperwork distribution! Managing a squad of 40 players certainly has its challenges as all the fit players are desperate for game time and it is a balance to try and provide players with opportunities but also ensure the team performs to a high standard.
Our game last weekend against Coca Cola was an away game. For those people that think the drive out to Nichols from the Valley is a drag we had to catch a bus, train, plane and taxi to reach the hotel the day before the game! It is great to the opportunity to see different parts of Japan with our camps, trials and competition games. The management sampled some of the local sights and culture which is always good fun on Friday night.
I have been keeping an eye on the local ACT results, tables and channel vision. It is very pleasing to see the club performing well in all grades and leading the club championship. I wish everyone involved with the club all the best of luck for the remainder of the season and hope that all the club and team goals are achieved. I am sure that the annual sponsors' luncheon this Friday will be another big success and enjoyable day for all.......enjoy! I know I won't miss waking up on Sat morning with a sore head.
SECOM WEBSITE: http://www.secom.co.jp/sports/rugby/index.shtml
Cheers
Bado
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Snippets:
Congratulations to former Marist, Viking, Brumbies and Wallaby winger Joe Roff and his wife Sarah on the birth of Xavier Lewis Roff on the 9th June.
Plain clothes were swapped for fancy dress in the Zoo on Saturday night. First grade captain Marty O'Brien who celebrated his 100th first garde game, lead the way in his superman Pajama's followed closely by President Geoff Adam dressed as the Dali Lama. However competition was tough and neither featured in the finals of the best dressed. Club Captain Anthony Brew awarded the best dress prize to 1st grade manager Greg Hayes dressed as a Nun.
A reminder that the Australian Schools Championship will be held at Vikings Park. Pool games will be played on Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th, Friday 6th from 12.00pm and the finals kick off from 10.00am on Sunday 8th July.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Weeks Games:
3rd Grade v ADFA 3pm ADFA
Colts v ADFA 1.30pm ADFA
Women's v ADFA 12.30pm ADFA
Quote of the Week:
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
…..St. Francis of Assisi