Victim of Jakarta attacks, Aus Diplomat Craig Senger shared his love for the game with many young Indonesians
Whilst living in Jakarta, Craig chose to play for the Jakarta Bantengs, a club made almost exclusively of young Indonesian players. Craig chose to play with these developing@ players rather than join a mostly expatriate social/club side. Craig saw playing for the Bantengs as a great opportunity to pass on his rugby knowledge to young Indonesian lads, most of whom are new to the game and have not had the experience of growing up with rugby as most young lads do in Australia or other countries.
A great trait of Craig’s on the rugby field was his commitment, determination and spirit to succeed. All of these characteristics summed up a lad who gave 110% for the Bantengs whenever he pulled on a jersey.
Another great feature of Craig was the friendship he showed towards his Bantengs’ team mates, endearing him to become a ‘Brother’ as all the Bantengs’ lads refer to each other.
Craig will be sorely missed by all from the Jakarta Bantengs, but the Bantengs and Indonesian Rugby as a whole will be better for the experience of sharing Craig’s love and passion for rugby.
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT CRAIG…
It was about 18 months ago that the Jakarta Banteng Rugby Club first came across this “bule”, or in other words, another white man wanting to play rugby with the Bantengs… Our friend and then current player, another “bule” Glen Fischer first introduced us all to him. One aussie introducing another, “guys this is my mate, Craig Senger”… There and then, I knew it was the beginning of our friendship or in Banteng terms our “brotherhood” enriched by one Craig Senger…
At first glance I wasn’t too impressed by his physique, at all. He claimed to have played rugby back home, but I tell you what he didn’t look the fittest. Mind you neither did, or should I say do I. So I asked him, “Craig, how’s your fitness?” he so innocently replied, “Bobby, I’m as unfit as F@!*, but mate I’ll have a go”. This is the type of attitude that Craig brought to the Bantengs, his willingness to have a go, do the best you can do and be happy with your efforts. It didn’t matter whether we ended up winning the game or not; it didn’t matter how big our opponents were; what mattered was how big we played and if we gave it everything we had. Craig’s demeanor spread throughout the club rapidly, his pleasant, low profile style made it so easy for the other boys to accept him as our brother.
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The first ever Asian 5 Nations Division 3 Tournament kicked off in Manila on July 1st with the Indonesian Rhinos playing Guam in the first round.
The four team involved, who have until this year competed in the regional pools with no chance of advancement to the higher leagues, were vying not only for the Division 3 title, but for that all important opportunity to move up and take on more established rugby nations such as China and Thailand next year.
Prior to this tournament Indonesia has won their last seven international games stretching back to June 2006 and arrived in confident mood, but this year’s tournament was a big step up in standard for the Rhinos.
Indonesia’s training squad included 18 local and 11 expatriate players who were joined by four overseas based Indonesians. The strength of the domestic rugby scene was made evident through the nine clubs, from throughout the entire archipelago, represented in the squad.
Before heading off to the Philippines the Indonesian Rhinos came together in Jakarta for a nine day training camp where coaches Mohammad Ismail ‘Izzy’ Bin A Kadir, Justin ‘Sambo’ Sampson and Duncan Hall worked with the squad to gel them together for the tournament .
The first game saw Indonesia take on strong and well-drilled Guam team, and for the first 15 minutes the Rhinos seemed shocked by the pace of the game.
Going into the sheds at half time, facing a 12-0 score line, Indonesian captain Kirk Arundale managed to convince his charges to lift their heads and get with the pace of the game and to their credit they responded, dominating the early stages of the second half. This pressure was rewarded with a successful penalty by Arundale.
Unfortunately these were the only points scored by the Indonesians, going down 23-3. This result placing them into the 3rd place play off with an oversized team from Iran.
Saturday July 4th saw the final day of play for the tournament and Indonesia Vs Iran was the first game of the day. This was Indonesia’s chance to make amends for their earlier performance and taking the field the Rhinos looked like they were ready for action!
Although the score line blew out to 43-13 the final game was a big improvement for Indonesia and has highlighted the fact that they have definitely stepped up a level in International Rugby.
Indonesia will play in division 3 again in 2010 against Guam, Iran and Pakistan.
