 
Cyprus Moufflons
 3D Tournament
28/10/2007 – 03/11/2007
Match Report
Cyprus v Slovakia
03/11/2007
Final Score: Cyprus 38 – Slovakia 8
CYPRUS DECLARED TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS
UNDER A virtually cloudless sunny sky with just enough breeze to
flutter the national flags, Cyprus won the FIRA AER European Rugby
League Division 3D Rugby League Tournament providing a sound 38-8
winning display against Slovakia in front of an enthusiastic
near-1000 crowd at the Kiniras Sport Centre, Geriskipou on Saturday
(November 3).
As expected, with both sides
unbeaten, the game started at a fast and furious pace and it seemed
that it wouldn’t be long before points appeared on the board.
Slovakia had the first opportunity but missed what seemed like an
easy penalty kick for handling on the ground.
The first break came on 13 minutes
when centre-back, George Agathocleous (Paphos Tigers), broke on the
right and scored a try under the posts, which Tony Crassas(Paphos
Tigers) converted to give Cyprus a 7-0 lead.
This led to a period of Cyprus
domination with some flowing passing movements and attacks on the
Slovakian line. To their credit Slovakia defended well having quite
a heavy pack and back division.
Cyprus gained a scrummage at 10 metres out and a movement started by
Andy Binikos(Currie, Edinburgh), without a doubt one of the best
players on the park, ended with centre-back, Panayiotis Ioulianou
(Epsom & Cheam), dropping over for another try. Crassas then showed
his ability at kicking by taking a very angled conversion kick
‘Wilko-style’ to make the score 14-0 to Cyprus.
It was not all one-sided as Slovakia
used their weight advantage to good effect and had several attempts
thwarted on the line. They were extremely good in lineouts and won a
number of scrums encounters against the head.
With just enough time left for him to
return before half-time, Chris Thoma (Paphos Tigers), was sin-binned
for a physical argument with a Slovakian player and Cyprus were
reduced to 14-men.
The last try of the half in the 32nd
minute had that element of luck and good enthusiastic running about
it. Binikos kicked well ahead from inside the Cyprus half and haring
after the ball managed a second kick which conveniently landed over
the Slovakia line in the corner and Binikos dropped on it to score
his second try of the half. This time Crassas failed in his effort
to convert to leave the score at 19-0 to Cyprus at half-time.
Half-Time: Cyprus 19pts, Slovakia 0
Just three minutes into the second-half, Cyprus were penalised for
‘holding-down’ in a tackle and Slovakian winger, Cmiel Martin, had a
an easy task to fire over between the posts for three points (19-3).
This brought about a period of
pressure from Slovakia and they scored a hard-worked try in the
corner after some good running by fly-half, Nosko Roman, after six
minutes, which wasn’t converted.
But now Slovakia were only 19-8 down
and looking dangerous.
However, Cyprus crowd favourite
‘Deano’ (Warren Dean of Paphos Tigers) passed neatly to George
Agathocleous (Paphos Tigers), who made one of his dazzling runs
before passing to Binikos to score a try in the corner after 49
minutes, which wasn’t converted.
Leading 24-8, Cyprus began to
emphasise their passing skills and Crassas proved that he wasn’t
just a good kicker by going over for a try between the posts two
minutes later and finishing the movement off by converting to make
the score, 31-8.
The extreme heat and physical
endeavours by both sides saw many changes with players coming and
going at regular intervals without seemingly disrupting the play.
The best of the tries came in the
67th minute when, after a flowing three-quarter movement involving
Tony Thoma (Paphos Tigers) and Binikos, Agathocleous, had a
brilliant take and cut through the Slovakian defence to score a
great try under the posts. Crassas converted to bring the scoreline
up to 38-8.
When crowd favourite ‘Deana’ came off
to the usual chant of ‘Deano’ – ‘Deano’ he had given his all and was
a vital cog in the victory as was back-row forward, Calm O’Cleirigh
(Bective Rangers).
The remainder of the match saw a lot of effort from both sides but
they were obviously tiring and tempers flared slightly in one
‘hand-bagging’ incident in a game that had been played in a very
sporting manner.
One of the many Cyprus stars, Tony
Crassos, sustained a wrist injury in the dying minutes of the match
that, in the main, had not kept the physios too busy.
The Cyprus team having beaten
Azerbaijan 29-0 at the Pafiakos Stadium and Monaco (19-10) in the
Makarios Stadium at Nicosia, claimed the tournament after this
thrilling victory over Slovakia and now get the chance to play
either Finland or Israel for a step up a division in the world
leagues.
It was a great team performance and does all credit to head coach,
Niall Doherty, and his team. The man-of-the-series award went to
Andrew Binikos, the man-of-the –match award to George Agathocleous.
In the other game, which was for third and fourth places, the strong
Monaco team proved too much for Azerbaijan beating them 41-3.
View Pictures from this match
3D Tournament
28/10/2007 – 03/11/2007
Match Report
31/11/2007
Cyprus select v Monaco
Final Score: Cyprus 19 - Monaco 10
The second match in the European Rugby League Division 3D kicked off
at 8.00 pm at the Makarios Stadium in Nicosia in front of a
passionate crowd of rugby fans.
This was the first international
rugby match Cyprus has played in our capital city at the Makarios
stadium and the first Cypriot international rugby match played under
lights.
The teams were introduced to His
Excellence, Nicholas Galey, The Ambassador of France, and
accompanying him was Mr. Damianos Hadjidamianou representing the
Cyprus Olympic committee. There was a distinct lack of
representation from the Cyprus Sports organization, yet again.
Coach Niall Doherty, was forced to make up to 8 changes and to use
his squad players due to the many little injuries picked up in our
first match against Azerbaijan, only 3 days previously. The most
serious injury of all was the tragic loss of our captain and
talisman, Jonathan Pettemerides, who tragically tore his cruciate
ligament in his knee, and will be sidelined for at least a year. We
hope Jonathan takes heart from the support he has received from
everyone associated with the C.R.F., and we wish him a full and
speedy recovery.
The team was now led by our Vice
Captain, Tony Thoma, whose determined face was mirrored by the whole
of the team.
Both teams showed nerves in the first
10 minutes but after exerting some good pressure, we drew fist
blood. Fifteen minutes into the game and after good pressing by the
pack, the ball came back to the three quarters, and centre George
Agathocleous sped over the line for a fine try. The conversion from
Tony Thoma was good, and to the raptors joy of the crowd, we found
ourselves 7 – 0 up.
Monaco, were not about to become
innocent bystanders in this game, and their speedy backs began to
cause us some problems, all of which we coped with admirably. We
only managed to hold on to our lead for 10 minutes before the Monaco
pack drove to our line and scored a try through Davide Pozzati. The
scorer converted his own try, so we were equalite once again at 7 –
7.
On the half hour mark whilst defending near their own 22, an
infringement in the scrum by one of the Monaco players gave Cyprus a
chance to take the lead. Tony Thoma again stepped up to take the
penalty and made no mistake. So we were back in the lead again
though a very slender one at 10-7.
The game was fast and competitive and
no quarter was given by either side. It was Monaco who finished the
scoring in the first half with a great drop goal by their no
10.Davide Pozzati, and we were again back to square one with the
score at 10-10.
The second half saw both teams play
some excellent rugby with the Monaco team having the upper hand in
the backline managing to gain valuable ground on a regular basis,
but the Cyprus defence and tackling was fierce and managed to close
down any threat that this presented.
This good defensive play kept the
scoring down in the second half. The ball was with the backs most of
the second half so we saw lots of kicking for position and open
play. There were many breaks through the centre but the Cyprus
defence and tackling was fierce and managed to close down any threat
that this presented.
As the game wore on it appeared that
we were physically stronger and that Monaco showed signs of
tiredness. The game turned on a series of mistakes in the Monaco
back line that allowed Cyprus to convert 2 penalty kicks through
Tony Thoma to increase our lead to 16-10.
Monaco tried to counter and with less
than 5 minutes to play with a series of half breaks which brought
increased pressure on our 5 metre line. At times it looked that
their forwards would break through our defence and win the match,
but we stood firm. A penalty in our favour gave the opportunity to
our fly half Andrew Binikos to use his boot to clear our lines, and
he brought play up to the Monaco 22 yard line. From the resultant
scramble, Monaco were again penalized, and up stepped the quite
magnificent Tony Thoma, who coolly put the ball squarely between the
posts to put us out of reach of the opposition.
The referee immediately blew for the
end of the game and we deservedly won a very hard fought match.
Final score Cyprus select19 Monaco
select10
We now look forward to the vitally
important top of the table clash with Slovakia, and our weary
warriors have only 2 days to rest their sore limbs.
We wish them well.
Statistics:
Half time Score: 10 – 10
Full time score: 19 – 10
Tries: 2
Conversions 2
Penalties 3
Sad to see no Cypriot govt officials
View Pictures from this match
3D Tournament
28/10/2007 – 03/11/2007
Match Report
Cyprus v Azerbaijan
28/11/2007
Final Score: Cyprus 29 - Azerbaijan 0
The first match of the 3D tournament kicked off at 2.00 pm at the
Paphiakos Stadium in Paphos in front of a passionate crowd of over a
thousand rugby fans.
For everyone involved with this
tournament, from the Cyprus Rugby Federation (CRF), to the many
rugby loving volunteers, right through to our couch Niall Doherty,
his coaching staff, and to the players themselves, the day of
reckoning had arrived. All the months of hard work from behind the
scenes, was now to be put to the test on the rugby field.
It was the Azerbaijanis who started
more positively, and it was obvious that the Cypriot lads were a
little nervous. After a period of sustained pressure by the powerful
visiting forwards, our prop, in an effort to stop the marauding
Azerbaijani forwards from progressing deeper into our 22 metre line,
was caught offside on 2 occasions. Fortunately for us the diminutive
and talented Azerbaijani number 10 could not take advantage of the
resulting penalty kicks to give his team the lead that, at that
time, they so richly deserved.
Spurred on by a highly vocal local
crowd, the Cypriot team rallied, and managed to take more control of
the game. Realizing that the visiting forwards, were strong and
organized, the Cyprus captain, Johnathan Pettemerides started
bringing his fast and talented back line more into the game. After
about 12 minutes, a fluid handling move that cut right through the
centre of the Azrbaijani defence saw our Full back Tony Crassas
involved in a dummy inside break to score our first try of the
match. His successful conversion added another 2 points to the
Cypriot tally. A seven point lead to our team so early in the match
was just what our coaches were hoping for.
Within a few minutes a further 3 points was added to the score by
Tony Crassas when he converted a penalty after an infringement by
the Azerbaijani team in front of their posts.
Despite the superior strength and technique of the Azerbaijani
forwards, the Cyprus back line managed to break through the defence
again resulting in a second try being scored by Andrew Binikos which
was converted by Tony Crassas, giving Cyprus a 17 point lead.
At this point we were completely
dominating the game. Our forwards were matching their more powerful
opponents in every department. Our back line ably controlled by our
stand off half Andrew Binikos, was instrumental in generating
opportunities for the back line via some imaginative and astute
passing to his centres, together with some expert place kicking into
the open spaces left by the Azerbaijani defence.
The team grew in confidence and
continued to play some very fast open rugby which apart from
exciting their coach, enthralled their supporters. Every break was
accompanied by massive shouts of encouragement, and each point
scored was vigorously applauded and appreciated.
We were creating many opportunities and deservedly went further into
the lead some minutes later with a try by our elusive centre Colm O’
Cleirigh after some impressive team work and passing. His theatrical
dive over the line was equally as impressive. Tony Crassas converted
to give us a 24 point lead.
There was very little resistance at
this point, and we were completely dominant. Just before half time
we scored the best try of the afternoon. A fast flowing handling
movement with slick interpassing between 4 of our players,
eventually let our back row forward from Richmond RFC, Phillipos
Kyriakou to break through the Azerbaijani defence once more, to
score a most impressive try, bringing the half time score to 29 – 0
in favour of Cyprus.
Unfortunately, the second half did
not live up to the heights of the first. The game became a contest
that was played mainly in the centre of the park. There were no
decisive breaks that gave either side a territorial advantage. The
Cyprus team then started a series of forced substitutions due to
injury with the most serious occurring to our courageous captain,
who was regretfully stretchered off with a knee injury 15 minutes
from time, and is now out for the rest of the tournament. This
seemed to have a detrimental effect to the overall cohesion of the
side, and we were just not firing on all cylinders. We were also
guilty of persistent fouling and had our lock forward Warren Deane
sin binned midway through the half. It is to our team’s credit, that
even with a man down we did not allow the opposition to take
advantage.
Despite there being no further scores
in the second half, there was some impressive rugby shown by both
teams, with superb defence and tackling preventing any breakaway
tries.
Both teams played some excellent
rugby with the Azerbaijan team having the upper hand in the scrums
and loose mauls managing to gain valuable ground on a regular basis,
but the Cyprus defence and tackling was fierce and managed to close
down any threat that this presented. It was the superior passing and
running skills of the back line together with the unfailing defence
by the forwards that gave Cyprus this valuable victory.
Our coach Niall Doherty, and all his
coaching and backroom staff, must be applauded for the tremendous
work they have done on the team. Their spirit, and their
determination was there for all to see. These boys are proud to
represent their country, and the mere fact that they sang the
national anthem with such vigour that they even managed to drown out
the official singer to prove their point.
The team will now have to regroup
themselves and play on without their influential captain. With the
spirit around the squad, I am sure they will overcome this loss.
This was Cyprus’ second international match and we go forward with a
100% record; long may it continue.
Statistics:
Half time Score: 29 – 0
Full time score: 29 – 0
Tries: 4
Conversions 3
Penalties 1
Yellow cards 1
View Pictures from this match
24 March 2007 - International match.
Cyprus Moufflons win their first international match 39-3, versus Greece.
(Click thumbnails to enlarge)
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CRF Committee Members |
Our sponsor, Rona Bloomfield, ARTIO
Brasserie |
President of the HRF, Mr Evangelos
Stamou |
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President of the CRF, Mr Costas
Mastoroudes |
Mr Neophitou and Presidents |
Independence Cup |
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Main Game Officials (L-R): Mr John
Holland, Mr Johny Stavrinou, Mr Andreas Frangkopoulos, Mr Keith Elliot |
Pre-match Blessing |
Greek National Team |
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Cyprus National Team |
VIP's meeting the Cyprus team |
VIP's meeting the Greece team |
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Cyprus Moufflons Victorious! |
Moufflons Captain receiving Independence
Cup |
Moufflons Captain and Mr Neophitou |
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Moufflons Captain and Mr Stamou |
Moufflons Captain |
Cyprus Moufflons |
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Post Match Pose |
Cyprus Moufflons |
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Click here for full match report
Previous fixtures:
Cyprus Moufflons versus Combined Forces
2005 - View Gallery.
Cyprus Moufflons 2006 Paphos Fun Day - View Gallery.
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