Osaka Dingoes’ IMPACT Anzac Day Cup 2019
- Wednesday, May 01 2019 @ 10:53 pm ACST
- Contributed by: Yoshihiro Imagawa
- Views: 3,060
IMPACT Anzac Day Cup - Saturday 27 April 2019 12:00 - 16:30
Izumi Sports Village, Kaiduka, Osaka, Japan By Yoshi Imagawa (Osaka Dingoes player and Public Relations Officer)
Our third annual IMPACT Anzac Day Cup was held in a strong windy condition at 15 degrees. The strong wind made it feel around 10 to 12 degrees.
Shanghai Tigers from China travelled to Osaka that the Dingoes welcomed them and appreciated their attendance. Osaka also hosted the merged Tokyo clubs (Tokyo Goannas and R246 Lions).
Each club had struggled with fielding a full side within a club, so two Tokyo based clubs formed a merged club. Then Shanghai Tigers and Osaka Dingoes picked player(s) from Tokyo to play equally with seven players each side.
Two forwards, two midfielders, a ruckman and two defenders were fielded for two 12-minute halves games.
The first game was played by the two guest clubs (merged Tokyo and Shanghai Tigers). Tigers’ ruckman Tim Roberts hit out brilliantly with his height advantage. His fit teammates had good ball use and found open space. The Chinese club demonstrated fast footy that was impressive. However merged Tokyo club fought hard with handpasses and pushing hard towards goal square. Tigers won by seven points.
Osaka Dingoes versus Merged Tokyo followed, the visitors tackled us hard and played with good ball use. Clearly more experienced in playing they demonstrated better footy. The Tokyo side read the ball better than the home side and the merged team won by 26 points.
The locals faced the overseas side in Game 3. Roberts’ ruck duties were magnificent and his teammates grabbed footy quickly and ran fast. They created opportunities much more than the Dingoes. Open space was well established for the Tigers and Osaka only scored with the player coach and president Matt Gale’s goal. The Tigers had a massive win by 55 points.
The Round Robin tournament continued and the Game 4 was played followed by a 15-minute break after the Dingoes-Tigers match.
Northern wind cheered the Tigers scoring goals towards the southern end. Fast and powerful footy was shown by the Chinese side. They scored 3.1 in the first half while they gave away just a behind to the Tokyo side. In the last half, Tokyo team played hard and kicked three goals with southern end’s advantages. But the Chinese side kept the lead and won by 14 points.
Dingoes were advised to be close to the opponents in order to dominate footy, by the Goanna mentor Sam. We obeyed his advice and fought hard with good efforts. Tackles were laid, we created open space and pushed hard. But Tokyo team won this match by 13 points (Game 5).
The last game was played by the Chinese side and the Dingoes. We kept Sam’s advice, but Tigers roared hard with speedy and accurate footy. It was hard for us to stop Roberts and fast teammates. We created more space and kicked more goals than the previous meet on the day, but the Tigers were awarded the fourth win by 44 points.
Shanghai Tigers won the championship with all four wins. Trophy was taken by non Tokyo team for the first time and indeed head home to the overseas.
Their ruckman Tim Roberts was awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was handed a medal by Matt at the closing ceremony.
It was a good footy tournament and everyone enjoyed the opportunityto be out playing footy.
Scores
MT: Merged Team (Tokyo)
ST: Shanghai Tigers
OD: Osaka Dingoes
Game 1
ST 5.4 (34)
MT 4.3 (27)
Game 2
MT 7.3 (45)
OD 3.1 (19)
Game 3
ST 9.7 (61)
OD 1.0 (6)
Game 4
ST 4.4 (28)
MT 2.2 (14)
Game 5
MT 5.4 (34)
OD 3.3 (21)
Game 6
ST 10.5 (65)
OD 3.3 (21)
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