(19 July 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia)
The Indonesia Rugby Football Union beat Cambodia today to sweep both of its first ever home test matches and win the HSBC Asian Five Nations Regional Tournament in Jakarta. Today’s 55 – 3 demolition of Cambodia followed Indonesia’s 23 – 11 win over Laos on Tuesday, 15 July, 2008.
In the third and final game of the tournament, Indonesia scored seven tries to romp past Cambodia in front of an appreciative home crowd. Laos finished as Tournament runners-up after their 33 – 0 opening win over Cambodia on Saturday 12 July 2008 and the narrow defeat to the hosts.
Despite giving up considerable size to Indonesia, Cambodia started as the stronger side, matching their obvious pace with some highly committed tackling and effective scrimmaging technique to dominate the opening quarter. Similarly to their earlier match against Laos, Indonesia was a bit slow out of the blocks before finding their structure behind a great day from fly half Kirk Arundale. Arundale finished with 25 points from a try, seven conversions and two penalties.
Indonesia’s Papuan wings and fullback Sylvester and Ben Peter also provided an important injection of pace and some silky breaks to set-up several Indonesian tries. Fullback Peter was the first to exploit the gaps after taking an errant clearance kick by Cambodia at the halfway line to nearly score beneath the posts. After being dragged down at the five-metre line by Cambodian flanker Vannak Vong, who was tireless in defence today, Indonesian second row Stephen Barber, playing well in support, scooped up the loose ball to trundle over from up close.
It was Barber’s third try in two games, making him the Tournament’s leading try scorer. A successful conversion from Arundale brought the score to 7 – nil Indonesia. Minutes later Indonesian centre Nathan Flax scored his first of two tries on the day, which was again converted by Arundale to bring Indonesia’s lead to 14 – 0. A penalty by Arundale in the 40th minute closed out the first half scoring at 17 – 0 Indonesia.
After the evenly contested first half, Cambodia suffered some crucial lapses of concentration in the first five minutes after the interval. The Koupreys of Cambodia gave up two demoralizing tries within the first five minutes after play resumed with the first going to Arundale and the next to Flax, his second of the day. After two more Arundale conversions, the score was 31 – 0 Indonesia.
Fullback Ben Peter then enjoyed the reward for his jinking runs today by crossing over in the 58th minute. His try was converted to bring the score to 38 – 0.
Indonesia was relentless in the second half, starving the Cambodian XV of possession. Tries from winger Sylvester and reserve second row Victor brought the score to 52 – 0 with Arundale’s successful conversions. Cambodia got on the scoreboard with a successful penalty from fullback Malen Sun in the 71st minute, earning some well-deserved appreciation from the crowd for the team’s gutsy performance throughout the HSBC Asian Five Nations Regional Tournament in Jakarta.
A penalty from Indonesian Fly-half Arundale in the 75th minute brought the total to the final score of 55 – 3.
Today’s convincing win extends Indonesia’s home winning streak to two wins from two tests and gave the home side the added bonus of defending its home ground to become the inaugural champions of the HSBC Asian Five Nations Regional Tournament – Jakarta.













