The fifth Taiwan Rugby Union 10s tournament got under way yesterday, with 16 teams, including one from Hong Kong, one from Macau and four veterans’ teams, descending on Taoyuan Stadium for two days of rugby action, although not all of them were overly focused on winning.
In Pool A, Taoyuan City opened strongly with a 26-5 win over Taipei NTU Dreams.
Taoyuan captain Le Yu-feng said the team was on track to pick up a tournament victory.
Photo: Grant Dexter, Taipei Times
“We are confident about tomorrow,” he said. “Maybe we can win.”
The other two Pool A teams were Fivewoods and New Taipei City, who met in Game 2, with New Taipei City running out the 19-7 winners.
New Taipei City captain Chiang Yi-hsin said his team played well.
“We are all working well together,” he said. “We shall win tomorrow, because we can step it up.”
In Pool B, Taipei Blacks beat Taoyuan Tachu 14-5.
Blacks player Randy Wei said he believes in his team.
“We will get stronger as we play more,” Wei said.
Wei said it was his first outing with the Blacks.
“They helped me understand how to play in this team and enjoy myself,” he said.
Teammate Sean Wang said they practice five days per week.
“Every week we have very physical training, because we train for [rugby] Sevens together,” he said. “We are all Chien Kuo High School old boys and we train every day except Sundays and Mondays. Those are rest days.”
He said some of the team plays for Taiwan’s national team.
“Four of us went to Malaysia with the Taiwan team,” Wang said.
Taiwan’s 15-a-side team placed third in the four-team tournament, beating Thailand, losing to the hosts and just missing out on a win against the United Arab Emirates.
“Taiwan can improve, because the training time was too short,” Wang said. “We only had two weeks.”
Wang said he enjoys the 10s atmosphere each year.
“It’s good to have the international teams here, as well as from across Taiwan,” he said.
Also in Pool B, Hsinchu City beat Hong Kong Gaiwu 36-0.
In Pool C, the Taipei Baboons opened up with a 33-5 win over the Taiwan Ronin.
Ronin coach and captain Cullen Chen said he started the club in 2009.
However, before the game, he said: “We can’t win, because we just want to play for fun. We just want to enjoy rugby.”
“If we play hard, we might get hurt,” he said. “So we are just here for fun.”
Taichung Marauders captain Robbie Stark aimed a little higher.
“We are going for the bowl,” Stark said before their 12-10 win in Pool C over Macau RFU.
“The club has been going for three years,” Stark said. “However, for these boys, we are having our first practice in about an hour.”
“We come from all across Taiwan, and by the end of the tournament, we are all friends,” he added.
Macau captain Ricardo Pina said his side toured Taiwan last year and enjoyed it very much.
“It wasn’t really about the results, it was more for the fun,” he said. “However, it’s a two-day tournament, which makes people a little less willing to travel.”
In the Veterans Division, the Taipei Silverbacks, Taipei Blacks Senior, New Taipei Pirates and Kaohsiung 98 T-Rex faced off.
T-Rex coach Chern You-tsuen, the team’s oldest member at 53, said they were there to enjoy the day.
“We will do our best in the three games,” the Heng Yee Catholic High School physical education teacher said.
At the entrance to the stadium, Corne Venter, who operates Meat Mate, a maker of traditional homemade sausages — boerewors in Afrikaans — said he likes to “educate people on food,” which is why he sets up a barbecue stand at events like the 10s.
“It’s a bit quiet so far today, but it’s not lunchtime yet,” he said.
“It’s a full-time job, which is going well,” he said. “It’s boring to teach, but this, I make a product that people want more of.”
Meat Mate can be contacted at 0971-004-488.
Organizers the Taiwan Rugby Union describe the event as the nation’s largest international rugby tournament.
Cup quarter-finals are to begin this morning at 9:30am at the stadium on Sanmin Road. The Cup final is to start at 5:50pm.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS