With the sun shining in Shanghai and a pristine pitch, the stage was set for another epic Yellow Sea Cup encounter. It was simple; the Devils needed a winning result in order to secure the Cup, having seen off challenges from Guangzhou Rams and Seoul Survivors.
From the off, the fair sized crowd were treated to a fast paced and hard hitting opening quarter, with neither side willing to give an inch, as has come to be expected from these Devils versus Crabs encounters. The Crabs’ open style of play put the Devils defence under early pressure, using their large forwards to power it up before looking to spread it wide. The well-drilled Devils defence held firm, albeit under increasing pressure, leading to a string of penalties from the Devils looking to slow the break downs. Whilst the bulk of the game was being played around the half-way line, despite their wholesome efforts, neither side managed to cut any clear chances, typified by a bursting run from Samoan centre Louis Ofele coming to nothing.
The Devils were still leaking penalties, but Shanghai continually looked to take quick taps and run the ball in favour of territory or kicking for goal, a decision they may regret in hindsight. Meanwhile, Shanghai were giving away infringements of their own, but the Devils were unable to capitalise, seeing two long range efforts on goal go agonisingly wide. With tensions rising high and penalties becoming an all too common theme of the match, the referee eventually lost patience with the Devils ill-discipline with veteran lock, Ben Peacocke, seeing 10 minutes in the sin-bin. It was imperative now that the Devils address their penalty count, but a further string of foul play culminated in a straight red card for Louis Ofele, whose ill judged decision to charge into a ruck, left the Devils with only 13 men on the field. What had seemed a tall task had now become what appeared to be mission impossible for the Beijing outfit.
Shanghai looked to seize the opportunity by throwing the ball around menacingly but without any tangible result. Ben Peacocke, returning from the sin bin restored the Devils to the 14 man team they would see out the rest of the game with and whilst the Crabs threw all they had, the Devils continued to resist and frustrate. Half time arrived with the old rivals locked at 0-0.
The 2nd half began in a similar vain; Shanghai looking to attack from all areas of the field and the Devils defending aggressively whilst having seemed to address the issue of discipline. The Devils had only conceded 17 points in their 5 games since the summer break and one could see why. Well-organised forwards did not give an inch, whilst the backs despite being a man down managed to snuff out the attacking threat, seen particularly from Shanghai full back, James Elliot.
However, it was the Devils who finally drew first blood, with a penalty and a drop kick in close succession from the boot of fly-half Mark Moss, playing his final game for the Devils, to further frustrate the Shanghai home support. However, this seemed to have a galvanising effect on the Devils players, where they started to take control of the forwards battle both at the break-downs and at the set piece. The Beijing pack were turning the screw in the scrums which resulted in winning one against the head just inside the Crabs’ 22 metre line. Devils’ powerhouse number 8, Dave Archer, set off on a rampaging run down the blind side, brushing off several attempted tackles to score a decisive try, which went unconverted.
Only minutes remained for the Crabs to try and snatch a late victory, but the Devils looked to shut the game out, defending magnificently and keeping the ball tight. However, Shanghai managed to turn over possession near the Devils the try line, then whipping the ball out wide to put their winger in the right hand corner to finally give their supporters something to cheer about on the last play of the game. It was the Beijing Devils, however, who could celebrate a hard-earned and well-deserved 11-5 victory as the referee’s whistle brought an end to proceedings.
Beijing now become the most successful team in the competition’s 6 year history, having won it 3 times and become the first Beijing Devils team to record a grand slam.
