By Bridget Tunnicliffe
Contributing Writer
Despite a thrashing of Korea at the hands of the England Counties rugby team, the crowd of mostly foreigners who turned out at Seongnam Stadium last Friday got its fix of rugby ― and for those first-time onlookers, a new appreciation for a curious sport.
England Counties beat a Korea President's XV 108-10 at the Bundang ground, south of Seoul, in front of a record crowd.
The tourists who are mostly semi-professional, scored 16 tries to Korea's one, scored by the number 14, Choi Si-won, around the 60-minute mark, much to the delight of the spectators. Estimates put the crowd at between 1,000 and 2,000, the majority willing on the underdogs.
Matthew Davis, 31, a teacher from Seoul, is more of an American football fan but came to watch his first rugby match on Friday. ``The rules are a little bit complicated but it's a good fast-paced game and it's high energy. I wish we had more of it on TV back home in the States,'' he said.
Park Yong-jin, 40, from Seoul, also a first timer, said, ``It's more aggressive than soccer. They are huge some of those England players ― it's a really active sport.'' His friend Daniel Lloyd, 62, a former player in England, spends a lot of time in Seoul on business, and was impressed with the turnout. ``We thought there would be about 100 people here. It's good to see so many foreigners come together and also quite a few Koreans too.''
After the game, head England Counties coach, Tom Borthwick, said that after watching Korea play Singapore and Japan recently he was impressed with the way they moved the ball around.
But he said Korea had trouble matching his side's physicality. ``It's always going to be difficult for Korea to play against semi-professional or professional teams that spend a lot of time in the gym. Playing these games though is good experience for their young players,'' he said.
A dejected Korean captain, Kim Won-yong, 23, conceded the visitors were too much for his young side, which was missing some senior players. ``They have very big players, the fitness was the biggest issue for us. But it's very good to see better rugby played in front of us, we're going to learn from it. We need more of these kinds of games,'' he said.
Natalie Hallemans, who plays rugby in Seoul, and was involved in promoting the game, was pleased with the turnout. ``I can say with confidence that that was the largest crowd Korea has had at a rugby game in Korea.''
The England-Counties players were also involved in coaching sessions at three different high schools. Hallemans said the kids really appreciated the fact that the players got involved in the drills themselves. ``They had a lot of fun, these guys actually played around with them, it was really refreshing as they're used to more regimented coaching.''
Despite the lop-sided score line, the visit bodes well for the future. Hallemans said the England players were impressed with the organization and felt very welcome. ``It was a fantastic event, I want to see some more like that. We're going to try and bring some more teams over,'' she said.