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Friday, 26 February 2010 09:15

Pumas v Bakirkoy February 20

Pumas v Bakirkoy

Pumas v Bakirkoy match report The Cyprus Pumas scored their highest ever win on Saturday, 90-0 against visiting side Bakirkoy.Playing on the ground at Esentepe due to the usual home ground being unavailable, the Pumas took advantage of the wider pitch. The backs kept the ball in play at all times and passed well enabling winger Batuhan Öksüzal to score his second hat trick of the season and opposite winger Michael James two tries in the first half. A further try and three conversions took the half time score to 36-0.Despite a valiant attempt by the Bakirkoy team, the Pumas were unstoppable in the second half, team captain Sam Butcher setting up a couple of the eight tries that ensued, seven of which were converted. Final score 90-0.“This is the best we have played,” said head coach George Armstrong. “We kept the ball alive and we played as a team going forward and in defence.”Yavuz Ergün was awarded man of the match for his brilliant tackling and controlling the backs from behind.“This is an excellent score for the Pumas,” said club captain Sebastien Crebier. “However, we must give credit to Bakirkoy, they never gave up, they were worthy opponents, even when they were down two players, they kept going.”The Pumas next game will be against a UK visiting side on Saturday March 6. They will be kicking off at noon at the usual home pitch in Alsancak. Everyone welcome, entry fee 5TL for adults, 2TL for students and free to Pumas members. Gates will open at 11.30am.Try scorers: Batuhan Öksüzal 3, Michael James 2, Kurşat Canbaz 2, Emre Taşkın 1, Dinçhan Kilercioğlu 1, Joseph Ömer 1, Mehmet Ozan Ozmen 1, Hilmi Kocak 1, Ilkay Demirtaş 1, Can Özyürük 1

 
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Tuesday, 02 February 2010 08:09

Pumas on tour

Bakirkoy v Pumas

Pumas on tour

 

The Bakirkoy v Pumas game began with an early start for most of the team, with the flight to Istanbul taking off at 8am.

The planning for the trip had been fraught with problems, heavy snow in Istanbul on Thursday had been a major concern; a lack of Props being available until the last minute; no accommodation being booked by the opposition; frantically completed medicals to register the players; the opposition were insisting on a 12.00 kick-off and the hat to be awarded for ass of the day had gone missing.

On the positive side, a meeting with Pegasus airlines had resulted in discounted flight prices.

However, 18 set off from Ercan to be met by Ozzy flying in from Izmir, Dinchan coming from Ankara and Yavuz, Emre and Hakan, already in Istanbul, at Sabiha Gocken airport at 9.45am.

The Bakirkoy organised coach eventually turned up at 11.15am and they were expecting a kick-off at noon! Despite knowing they were collecting 24 rugby players and their kit, they sent a small mini-bus, barely big enough to shoe-horn 18 people in, fortunately Yavuz had his car!

During the wait, Martin, who had found a seat behind a taxi stall was approached by a member of the public for a taxi, to which he replied: “taxi yok!” Understandable he could be mistaken for a Turkish taxi driver wouldn’t you say!

The Pumas refused to go straight to play, insisting that they required something to eat and a warm-up before playing. The answer from Bakirkoy was “ok but the ambulance we booked leaves at 2pm.”

In the end, kick off was at 1.30pm, with no ambulance having turned up at all. After a few phone calls it was established that they were busy having lunch and had then attended another emergency. They finally turned up 10 minutes before the end of the game at 2.50pm! Fortunately they had not been required.

On arrival at the ground it became apparent that Bakirkoy were not very prepared at all. They had no rugby balls, luckily the Pumas had brought a couple to practice with them; there was no padding around the posts, the lines were being done as the Pumas arrived and none too straight and no water was provided. Fortunately the team manager had the foresight to purchase some water at the Hyper-market near the ground when he’d bought the after-match beers! The opposition’s water was kept in one of their cars until half time.

So far not much of a rugby spirit going on with the Bakirkoy boys! One of which appeared to be auditioning for Phantom of the Opera judging by the mask he was wearing to protect his broken nose. A first on a rugby pitch that any of us had encountered. Was it even legal?

Despite a scrappy start to the game, the Pumas took the lead 3-0 with a penalty kicked by Can. This was followed by a try from Dinchan and two tries by Batu, the second of which was converted by Dinchan, taking the score to 20-0 at half time.

In the second half Batu got his hat trick try which was converted. Can got sent off for high tackling; a Bakirkoy player got sent off for giving Sam a Chinese burn (although didn’t seem to understand the concept of the sin bin as he came straight back on again! Kev the ref soon put him right!) There wo further tries by Dinchan and Seb followed by a penalty try which took the final score to 44-0.

And there was a first for Ozzy, he managed not to get sent off!

The Pumas were good in the rucks, despite a Bakirkoy player continually trying to pull them down. Martin eventually got fed up with it and there’s no doubt that player will be nursing quite a few stud marks for a while! The backs looked good when they got the ball and there was no doubt that the Pumas were the stronger side and it was very apparent they understood more of the rules than their opposing side.

“We are pleased with the result and that we didn’t have any points scored against us,” said Sam, team captain. “Although it was scrappy game from both sides, our experience paid dividends. The backs had a good game and the forwards played well, it was a good result all in all, but there is still room for improvement.”

After the game and an hour’s drive, the team arrived at the Hush Hostel in Kadikoy, where they were to be entertained by the new team in Istanbul, Khalkedon, run by previous Pumas chairperson Naci.

The night’s entertainment included the award of man of the match to Batu and the jester’s hat for his comments on the field to Martin, a round of Yogi Bear led by Sam, a convincing victory in the boat race by the Pumas, gate-crashing a wedding party, a fight and copious amounts of alcohol!

Mirunalan, who somehow landed a double bed, ended up sharing it with an extremely drunk ex-Puma player, after he had been convinced not to drive.

Thanks to Hakan, a coach was organised to pick up the weary team at 6am for the return journey, which was pretty uneventful.

  

Tour comments:

Michael – what seat number are you?

Sam – 28F

Michael – oh great I’m, 28 too, I must be behind you.

 

Martin – is Steve driving the mini bus?

Claire - No Martin, they drive on the other side of the road in Turkey

 

Steve on going to the toilets in MacDonalds – am I a Bay or a Bayan? How long have you lived in Cyprus Steve?

 

On the pitch:

Martin with his fists up after studding a Bakirkoy player for pulling down the rucks, who then decided to have a go back:  “Don’t touch me boy!”

 

Sam after an attempted Chinese burn on his leg and attacking one of the opposition number 12s – there were two for some reason: “You know what you */!*@#!* did!”

Fortunately the ref saw what he had done and the Bakikoy player got sin binned.

 

On the walk returning to the hostel after the night out:

Jon: 2TL for a gay? Hakan, why are they selling gays for 2TL.

Hakan: Jon that’s çay!

 

Martin at the airport to come home putting his luggage down – Claire, can I leave this here in charge of you?

 

And finally, the story of Kevin and the mystery Germans:

After struggling to sleep due the snoring of Steve (it couldn’t have been me I didn’t sleep at all!), Kevin decided he would try sleeping in the hostel lounge. Armed with his blankets, he curled up on a settee until being woken by some mystery Germans. Asked how he knew they were Germans he replied they had asked him in a German accent if they had woken him.

“One of them had a flat hat on his head too.”

Kevin decided to return to his room, which he shared with Sam, Steve, Jon, Seb and Joe, at 4am, where all five were apparently snoring in harmony.

Since the Pumas had occupied the entire hostel and the front door was locked, no one can understand where these Germans appeared from at 4am, however, Kevin will not have it that he dreamt the whole thing and continues to maintain they were for real!

Published in Latest News
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Tuesday, 16 December 2008 16:13

Pumas vs Bakirkoy

Pumas vs Bakirkoy
The Pumas achieved their second victory in this season’s Turkish league on Saturday The Pumas achieved their second victory in this season’s Turkish league on Saturday with an impressive 67-0 score against Bakırköy.

The Istanbul team arrived with only 14 players and another pulled out with an injury before the start of the game. With three players on loan from the Pumas the game kicked off at 2.30pm.

The Pumas showed their superiority on the pitch from the start resulting in their first try by prop Dinchan Kilercioğlu, converted by Can Özyörük. The Pumas were by far the stronger side with good flowing play from both the backs and the forwards.

“It was a stern test for the visiting side,” said Pumas Head Coach Malcolm Lightower. “It gave us the opportunity to experiment with some moves we had learnt during practice session and they came off. I’m very pleased with the team.”

A further four tries and two conversions took the half time score to 31-0.

The Pumas continued their domination of the game during the second half with Bakırköy barely making it into their opponents half of the pitch.

“A couple of the Bakırköy players stood out showing good skills,” said Team Manager Peter Heydon. “However the improvements brought about by Malcolm are already showing through and it was an excellent performance by the Pumas.”

A further six tries and three conversions in the second half took the final score to 67-0.

“This is the biggest ever result in the history of the club,” said team captain Sam Butcher. “We’re now looking forward to taking on the Ottomans.”

Can Özyörük recieved the man of the match accolade, notching up a total of 17 points for the Pumas

The only downside to the match for the Pumas was a collision of heads by two of their own players resulting in them having to retire from the game for treatment by the Emergency Rescue Services. Both players were later pronounced fit by Girne Hospital.

First half tries: Dinchan Kilercioğlu (3), conversion Can Özyörük (10); Batuhan Öksüzal (14); Steve Knight (11), conversion Can Özyörük (10); Joseph Ömer (2); Steve Knight (11), conversion Can Özyörük (10)

Second half tries: Aiden Gill (6); Aiden Gill (6), conversion Can Özyörük (10); Hilmi Koçak (13); Can Özyörük (10), conversion Can Özyörük (10); Joseph Ömer (2); conversion Can Özyörük (10); Hilmi Koçak (13).

 

Published in 2008 - 2009 Season
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 08:48

Pumas vs Ottomans & Badirkoy

Match Report – Pumas v Ottomans & Badirkoy 26th April 2008

The weather conditions were foul – a strong breeze blowing diagonally across the pitch carrying a drizzly rain that hung in the air and soaked everything.

The match against the Ottomans began with a bright start from the Pumas. Playing from left to right strong Puma scrum pressure for the first 10 minutes or so kept the Ottomans back on their 22 and long kicks from the Ottoman fly half who had the advantage of the wind was their only means of clearing their lines. Good work in the lineout meant that the Puma’s retained possession and forced the Ottomans back repeatedly.

 However the Ottomans started to find their form and after 20 minutes or so the story was reversed. A good lineout steal on the half way line provided the Ottomans with the platform to create quick ball and only strong defence kept the Ottomans at bay. The pressure was intense and poor defensive kicking only served to make the Puma position worse. Only repeated Ottoman mistakes were allowing the Pumas any respite, the referee and linesmen doing well to spot Ottoman hands in the maul as they strove forward. Eventually the damn had to break and a smooth Ottoman backs move sent their winger clear with only the Puma fullback to beat. The attempted tackle was so high seagulls started to look worried. A penalty try was awarded, the full back sin-binned for 10 minutes and a difficult conversion, successfully taken, put the Ottomans 7 points ahead. The Ottomans were now in full flow and the Pumas now down to 14 men were fully stretched in defence. An open side pass after driving down the centre put the Ottoman outside half clean through but in his excitement he ran the ball out over the deadball line before putting down. The resulting 22 drop out from the Pumas was appalling and a Puma infringement in the resulting maul gave the Ottomans an easy 3 points for a 10-nil lead at half time.

The Pumas knew their school boy errors were putting themselves under pressure, they had to retain the ball in the pack and they had to ensure that the Ottoman fly-half was put under pressure.

With the wind behind them for the second half the Puma defensive kicks at last gained distance. However poor retaining of pack possession and some weak back tackling allowed the Ottomans space on the wing and another try was duly despatched and converted. Further errors started to permeate the side and another penalty this time for not releasing gave the Ottomans a 20 -0 lead. An Ottoman break down the left provided another try although the conversion was missed. The Pumas were tiring. A final penalty for going over the top on the Puma try line gave the Ottomans a 28-0 lead. Tempers had started to get a little frayed – the Ottoman attempts to dominate the match and the refusal of the Pumas to submit resulted in various incidents on the pitch in the last 10 minutes or so and a yellow card for Dinchan Kilercioglu didn’t help the cause. However Pumasa hung on and the Ottomans failed to score again. Throughout all of this game Sam Butcher had been outstanding – leading from the front and trying to take the ball to the Ottomans, one of the first in defence to make the tackle and all the time putting his body on the line for the team. He was deservedly awarded the man of the match by both sides.

Twenty minutes later the Pumas had to do it all again as Badirkoy had arrived at the ground. The conditions hadn’t improved, the Ottoman game had been extremely tough and the team was tired. Badirkoy are not a strong team. A fit Puma side would probably have run up four or five tries against them. Batuhan Oksuzal opened the scoring with a try wide left after a strong break from Mohammed Azari and Dinchan Kilercioglu almost converted from the touch line striking the cross bar. 5-0.

 Badirkoy were a strong physical side who wanted to give a good account of themselves. They made life hard for the Puma forwards who were exhausted from the previous match. Eventually the effort started to tell and the substitution of Dinchan in the second half meant the scrums went uncontested.

 Further substitutions were to follow as slowly the effort of the previous game took its toll. Special mention must go to Steve Knight who stepped up to the plate on the wing and has probably played himself into the first team through a bravura performance. He never missed a tackle and in the second half seemed to be everywhere on the pitch plugging the defensive gaps.

A second Puma try by Johnatan Nicholas after Halit Ozcan did everything except put the ball down and a successful conversion gave the very tired Pumas a 12-0 lead. The circumstances of the try obviously fired up Badirkoy who redoubled their efforts and tired Puma defence conceded 2 tries in the last 10 minutes of the match. The final score was 12-10 to the Pumas.

As a final word the Pumas would like to say a big thank you to the Ottomans for a fine Saturday night which was very entertaining and very much enjoyed by the whole team.

Simon Kiddle


Published in 2007 - 2008 Season
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