I must confess that the reason why the reporting on this truncated round is a little thin is that a certain former RDO decided to get himself hitched at the weekend and in participating in the hijinks, I was not at the ISCI ground to see what was reportedly the best game of the tournament so far. The Bantengs and the Rams is always an emotionally-charged affair and one would think that without their iconic skipper, Bobby Orlando, the Jakarta boys would be at a bit of a disadvantage. That was not to be as a tight affair was played out in the only encounter of the day (the Samurai and Komodos standing down due to a game against the Singapore Bucks).
Up 17-0 at the 20-minute mark, it looked like a fait-accompli and that the Rams’ bugger-the-consequences-we’ll-cop-a-hiding-and-still-play-our-own-way brand of leagueby union would result in, well, just that. However, two crossings ‘o’ the line a few minutes later saw them go into the break 17-10 down and with a real chance.
That very devil-may-care attitude that I alluded to above was, ironically, almost the undoing of the Bantengs. RDO and match official for the day, Sam Refshauge, comments that the stick-it-up-yer-jumper-and-bash-it-into-the-big’uns style of the Rams seemed contagious on the afternoon, and the slick backline play the Bantengs are increasingly becoming known for went out the window. Oh for the love of a kicker, as inside centre Wesley crossed for his second of the day, the draw could not be salvaged as the conversion went wide and the Rams went begging once more for a victory.
The despair one feels for the valiant Papuan mountain men was almost as palpable as that felt at the reception later that night when several individuals, known to the IRFU, proved that you can’t take a bloody bule anywhere and stripped down to their smalls and dived into the pool at an otherwise classy Kemang reception centre. But as with all things, there is another side to the story and it was summed up with the arrival at said function by Bantengs and Rhinos forward, Dan Nugroho. Despite sporting a sizable ‘love tap’ on his handsome and rugged face, the lad was grinning from ear to ear in the knowledge that the Bantengs RFC continue to march onwards and upwards as a force in Indonesian rugby. As seen later that weekend on a certain Banteng’s facebook page, “viva Bantengs”, indeed. Viva.
