Seoul Survivors Play

At Olympic Stadium

S E O U L S U R V I V O R S S E O U L S U R V I V O R S S E O U L S U R V I V O R S S E O U L S U R V I V O R S

R U G B Y F O O T B A L L C L U BR U G B Y F O O T B A L L C L U BR U G B Y F O O T B A L L C L U BR U G B Y F O O T B A L L C L U B

S E P T E M B E R 1 7 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 8

IN BR I E F :

• Training at Jamwon rugby

pitch scheduled for 10am

Saturday. Be ready to go on

the hour sharp. If you can’t

attend training please inform

Ra or Simon.

• An experienced English refe-

ree, Darryl Chapman, will be

running an informal clinic at

training this weekend for

anyone interested in giving

the whistle a go.

• Next Saturday, the 26th of

September is the Interna-

tional Touch Seoul (ITS)

tournament. It will be held at

the Korea Military Academy

in Nowon District, North-

East Seoul. Even if touch isn’t

your thing, please come

down and support the Survi-

vors from the sideline. There

will be refreshments on offer

and great oval ball action all

day.

CONTACTS :

• Ted Gray (Club Captain) 011-287-9558

• Roddy Bancroft (Manager) 016-494-7363

• Simon Walsh (Pitch Captain) 010-9417-9554

• Kurtis Taogaga (Media) 010-3149-6547

• Rawiri King (Coach) 010-8698-4982

• RJ Karas (Social Officer) 010-5465-6122

• Jordan Smigelsky (Community Project Manager)

• Richard Jarvis (Website)

Maybe Next Weekend

By Kurt Taogaga

The Oakwood Seoul Survivors

capped off a huge summer of

rugby by extending their 15-a-

side winning record at Seoul’s

Olympic Stadium last Saturday.

The 70,000 seat arena was

mostly empty for the 9am

match but the few early strag-

glers that had shown up still

constituted possibly the largest

audience that the majority of

the Survivors had ever played

in front of.

The ‘Grey and Blacks’ squared

off against a Korea University

B side composed mostly of the

college’s PE department as the

curtain raiser to the traditional

Korea University/Yonsei Uni-

versity rugby match that takes

CONTENTS :

Page 2: Gangnam 10s Reports.

Page 3: Player Profile - Jordan

Smigelsky

Survivors’ Mail Bag.

Page 4: Beer Pong.

Pitch directions.

The Oakwood Seoul Survivors and Korea University B enjoy the occasion at Olympic Stadium.

place annually at Seoul’s

Olympic Stadium. Warming

up with a lap around the field,

the players were pinching

themselves as they emerged

onto the same sports ground

that Ben Johnson infamously

“broke” the 100 metre world

record for Canada. Sideline,

the cheerleaders for the re-

spective universities warmed

up, testing their overpowered

speaker systems, making on-

field communication difficult

and contributing to the daunt-

ing atmosphere.

However, the Survivors were-

n’t rattled by the immensity of

the stadium or the occasion

and, in front of a vocal crowd

of student onlookers and the

regular sideline support, ran

out 20-0 victors over the inex-

perienced Korean side in a 50

minute match, abbreviated due

to scheduling clashes with the

main event. The highlights of

the shortened game belonged

mostly to the Koreans who

played the contact with vigour

and showed a refreshingly

mature approach to the game,

learning from mistakes and

getting on with the match

without resorting to constant

protests to sway the officials.

The University B side’s hardy

defensive effort restricted the

expats to four unconverted

tries including lock David

Judge’s first since 1997.

Congratulations, Judge!

Survivors accept their silverware at the Gangnam 10s. L to R: Justin Painter, Brett Fitzgerald, Jeff Rands, John Goddard, Richard Jarvis,

Dan Grover, Nathan Atkins.

Survivors Swallow Bitter 10s Pill By Kurt Taogaga

The Seoul Survivors were left ruing

their chances as call after call went

against them in the Cup semi-finals of

the Gangnam 10s at Jamwon this past

Sunday. The game was tipped in the

balance until a controversial penalty

try was awarded to the Ansan squad

pushing the ‘Black and Greys’ into

overtime. Unfortunately, the A team

were unable to stay in it at this point

and Ansan ran out winners to pro-

gress to the final before a mob of

outraged Survivors supporters.

From the outset the Survivors A

squad took a professional approach to

the day’s proceedings warming up

and conducting drills sidelines to

keep the desire fresh. Unlike their

Killer Bs counterparts, the A team

were well rested, lucid and experi-

enced campaigners who had every

capability of winning the competition.

In the pool stages, the Survivors dis-

played their talent and ability beating

both the Yonsei and Haka teams to

compete for the Cup in the knockout

stages and title of Seoul 10s champi-

ons.

The standard of refereeing had, up to

the semi-finals, been of a fairly good

standard. However, in the A team’s

final outing, frustrated supporters

couldn’t help but think that some-

thing a little more underhanded than

simple incompetence was affecting

By RJ Karas

This past Saturday the Seoul Survivors

were lucky enough to submit two teams

in the Seoul 10s tournament at Jamwon.

The Killer Bs, as the second side was

known, truly found themselves in a win-

win situation. With a mix of youth, in-

experience and a few regulars who were

still seeing double from the night before,

expectations for the second side were

understandably low. With that being said,

though, the chance for many to get some

much needed playing time was too valu-

able an opportunity to pass up.

Jordan Smigelsky took the reigns of the

squad after watching Kurt Taogaga

consume a Big Mac that was in his kit

bag from the night before ... Taogaga

was obviously planning ahead. Smi-

gelsky did his best with the players that

were available however after moving a

utility back row/hooker to center, out

of necessity, one’s prospects of success

decreased exponentially.

Both seventeen year old Louis Galtié

and newcomer Juan Nieto stood out as

the Killer Bs took their lumps. Though

Galtié had to come off because of a

knock to the head he never showed fear

as he strapped up the boots with men

nearly twice his age. Likewise, Nieto,

a man known in his homeland for his

cow-wrangling abilities, displayed his

quickness and strength. As the day

wore on it became evident that the

Killer Bs were slightly outmatched

with the fast-paced style that is 10s

rugby. Although they did not get the

results that they desired the day was

not a waste. The Killer Bs held their

heads high and took solace in the fa-

mous phrase “we’ll live to fight an-

other day.”

Killer Bs Gain Valuable Experience...Even Without Their Stingers

the ref’s whistle. Nevertheless, the Ko-

rean opposition played hard, fair and to

the whistle but it looked like one of those

days where the expats would have to

completely dominate the opposing team

to have any chance of advancing. In the

tight exchanges, the 50/50 calls seemed

to all go one way and even the more

obvious decisions seemed to be out of the

ref’s grasp.

Eventually, the A team slipped away at

the last moment in overtime but left the

field holding heads high knowing that

the 2009 Survivors are fully capable of

fielding quality rugby teams that can

stand up to the best on the peninsula.

Look out for the Survivors 10s squads in Gumi early October.

Name: Jordan

Smigelsky

Nickname: Fratboy

Position: Prop

Birthdate: 04/03/1982

Hometown: Caledon, Ontario,

Canada

Player Profile Survivors’ Mail BagSurvivors’ Mail BagSurvivors’ Mail BagSurvivors’ Mail Bag

With his ever-present cap-turned back-

wards and sporting his favourite hockey

shirt, Smigelsky earned the dubious nick-

name of Fratboy. A regular in the Survi-

vors engine room, Fratboy has epitomised

the heart and soul of the team for over

two years. Fratboy’s other pastimes in-

clude disrespecting culture which earned

him the secondary nickname: Brokenose.

First rugby memory:

Training in a spring snowstorm and not

being able to feel my hands.

What are you doing in Korea?

Teaching and travelling.

Favourite thing about Korea:

The food, cheap beer and the ridiculous

amount of money that they pay recent

university graduates with no teaching ex-

perience.

Least favourite thing about Korea:

Korean rugby referees, ajummas and

ajosshis.

What do you enjoy about your posi-

tion?

Scrums.

What don’t you like about your posi-

tion?

Getting donkey kicked by a 1st time

jumper in a line-out.

Do you have a good luck charm/ritual

for games?

No.

What do you miss most about home?

Tim Horton’s, hockey, family, friends and

Canadian beer.

How would you like to improve

yourself off the rugby field?

Get a Masters in the next couple

of years.

If you were to die tomorrow,

what would you be remem-

bered for?

Being the 2nd prop forward fea-

tured in Seoul Survivors Newslet-

ter.

What do you like most at train-

ing?

Playing Rugby League.

What do you like least at train-

ing?

Fitness and being yelled at to run

faster.

What are your interests out-

side rugby?

Xbox, reading, travelling and mov-

ies

Do you have a favourite quote

or saying?

“Put me on ice” (in response to

people telling me to run faster).

In an attempt to make the weekly newsletter

as interactive and informative as possible we

have decided to start a new feature, the Sur-

vivors’ Mail Bag. Each week, you are encour-

aged to email your questions to survivors-

mailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to address

your question or questions to any member of

the Survivors, the more people we can get

involved the better. As far as topics, as long as it is relevant to

rugby or the Survivors anything is fair game ... after all there is

no such thing as dumb questions, right?

As far as this week’s question, with Australia and New Zealand

squaring off in the final Tri-Nations match of 2009 on Saturday,

we figured that it would be appropriate to discuss the series, so ...

What is the significance & history

of the Tri-Nations series? The Tri-Nations is an international rugby series that is held annu-

ally between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Tri-

Nations began in 1996 when SANZAR was formed. SANZAR is

the union that was created in order to establish the tournament

between the three Southern Hemisphere countries. Since the

inception of the tournament the All Black’s of New Zealand have

taken home the Tri-Nations trophy nine times, South Africa has

won the tournament three times and the Wallabies from Australia

have taken the top spot twice.

The Tri-Nations series will cease to exist as of 2012. The suc-

cessful run of the tournament along with the improved play of

fellow Southern Hemisphere nation, Argentina, has created a

need to expand the series to include a fourth team. Argentina

will begin competing for the “Four Nations” series in 2012.

Credits

Editor: Kurt Taogaga Co-editor: Ali

McCannell

Contributing writers: RJ Karas and Kurt

Taogaga

Photos: Olympic Stadium/10s - Richard

Jarvis

By RJ Karas

Throughout history there have been

many events that have brought differ-

ent societies and cultures together.

For example, during the ancient

Olympic Games, first held in 776BC,

truces were agreed to between rival

city-states to ensure safe travel for

their respective athletes. Similarly,

this Saturday, on the third floor of

Scrooge Pub at 2 pm, many different

cultures will be promoting sportsman-

ship and unity while competing at the

highest level against one another.

Though the prospects of Kiwis, Aus-

tralians, South Africans, Americans,

Canadians, English, French, Vene-

zuelans, and all the other nationalities

that make up the Seoul Survivors

being civil during competition seems

unlikely it is worth a try.

Traditionally, Beer Pong is native to

North America however variations of

Public Transport:

Apgujeong Station (#335) Exit 6. Walk down the road for about 500 meters and then turn right between Shinsa Middle School and Hyundai High

School. Walk to the end of the road and turn left at the T-junction. Keep walking, after 75 meters there is a tunnel on your right. This takes you

under the Olympic Expressway and brings you out in a car park by the river. The rugby pitch is on the right of the car park.

Driving:

Go south over Hannam bridge over the Olympic Expressway, turn right towards Apgujeong Stn. The road loops around and you head east paral-

lel with the river but south of the Olympic Expressway. After 500m turn left at the traffic light between Shinsa Middle and Hyundai High schools.

Go to the end of the road, turn left and after 75m turn right through the tunnel under the Olympic Expressway. The rugby pitch is on the right of

the car park.

Beer Pong Bridges Gaps the game exist worldwide. In an effort

to bring cultures that do not have a

history of peaceful interaction to-

gether the first Survivors’ Beer Pong

Spectacular was created as a warm up

for the Australia/New Zealand test on

Saturday. Although there will be no

ceremonial doves to symbolize the

unity of the squad, all matches will be

played with white ping pong balls as

opposed to the standard orange col-

ored balls. An olive branch, of sorts,

from one culture to another. Hard

feelings will be saved for the final Tri-

Nations match later in the day. As

each team competes, for the pride of

their home country, they will remem-

ber one thing ... WIN OR LOSE WE

ALL STILL BOOZE!!!