For Guam’s high school rugby teams to gain experience internationally, they usually have to shell out thousands of dollars for travel expenses and play friendlies and tournaments at venues throughout the region and beyond.
And while this remains mostly the case, on Saturday, it wasn’t so. With Father Duenas Memorial School hosting a series of friendly sevens rugby games at the University of Guam, where the pitch powerhouses played the visiting St. Mary’s International School, a Catholic school located in Tokyo, Japan, the Friars took down the Titans 22-7.
“We did all right,” said Father Duenas head coach Josh Lujan. “St. Mary's is a lot better team than we thought they would be.”
Early in the first 14-minute game, both teams struggled to advance. But under the blazing sun, Friars standout Trey Blas turned a Father Duenas steal into a five-point score. Quickly, after a missed conversion, the Friars struck again.
After a 50-yard run from the Friars' Tomu Sawada advanced the maroon-and-gold 10 yards from the try zone, Adrien Bordallo powered through the Titan's defense, taking a player who was holding his leg for a ride, and dove past the goal line. After the second unconverted try, the Friars led 10-0.
For Bordallo’s try, which held up as the game-winning score, he said that it was a product of team chemistry.
“It’s knowing your boys, knowing how your boys play, and it all just connected and flowed together,” he said.
Bordallo told The Guam Daily Post that, before the game, he was nervous. Having never seen St. Mary’s was unsettling for the 16-year-old junior.
“It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but as we eased into the game, we got the feel of how they played and how we played against them,” he said. “We just played off what the defense gave us, and it was game.”
Not to leave the pitch empty-handed, at least not in the first half, St. Mary’s Ashton Yang sped away from the Friars’ defense into the open field for a try. After Nathaniel Twohig’s two-point conversion, the Titans trailed the Friars by three points.
“Any game where we don't finish with a zero on the scoreboard is encouraging,” said St. Mary’s head coach Roy Yorke.
Watching the game unfold from the sidelines, Lujan, at halftime, instructed his team and made a few changes. He wanted his team to play smarter, not harder.
“We needed to let the ball do the work,” he said. “A lot of times we're wasting energy and the boys get gassed because we're just doing things as individuals and not as a team.”
In the second half, from the opening kickoff, the Friars dominated play. After a strong drive down the right side of the field, Ian Castro broke into the Titans’ goal. Then, from a seemingly impossible angle, close to the right sideline, Tanner Costa converted the try.
Wasting little time, about a minute after Castro’s insurance try, Father Duenas’ Lavin Santos pounded his way into the goal.
Although the game favored the Friars, Yorke said that he and his team benefited from the competition and looks forward to returning to Guam, adding that he appreciated Guam's level of play.
“The level of Rugby is fantastic,” he said. “You’ve obviously got a great rugby culture here within the school itself and the island in general."
“The boys really, really enjoyed it and it provided us a lot of motivation to come back and be more competitive, on another occasion,” he said.
Cultivating the relationship
Terry Debold, the president of the Independent Interscholastic Athletic Association of Guam, the organization that manages sports for Guam’s private schools, said that St. Mary’s reached out to him and inquired about traveling to Guam for competition.
“We have a mutual interest in expanding this relationship to include other sports,” Debold said. … “ I see this growing into other areas, maybe sports and also academics, other types of activities where we share international relationship with these people.”
I think that it helps our Island and our kids, Debold said.
Lujan, sharing Debold’s and Yorke’s sentiment that further competition is not only warranted but desired, hopes the relationship continues and expands.
“Guam only gets so much competition. It's the same people they challenge every year, so when you can challenge someone different, who has played other people, I think it's a huge benefit,” he said. “The more international teams we get to play, not just FD but everybody, the better Guam rugby is going to get,” he said.
