Hungarian rugby: Budapest Exiles won their first match in the season – with comments

Budapest Exiles are a rugby club with teams playing in the Hungarian Premier League, second tier, and ladies 7s circuit. Now they won against Kecskemet ARC 29:24 with the winning try coming in the last minutes of the game by Lucas Deyts. With more than four tries scored the Exiles managed to pick up a bonus point, with their opponents also getting an additional point for losing by less than 7 points. This was the Exiles first home fixture of the season, and also their victory.

The team that

represents the Hungarian expat community,

got of to a flying start with an early try by Hungarian full-back Zsombor Tuskan. The Exiles were in control of the game, with Frenchman Francois Lafuente leading the defence with tackle after tackle. This gave the backs a chance to attack with ease, and the Exiles could have extended their lead by another try, had it not been for a knock-on by Tuskan right before the try-line. Kecskemet punished the Exiles, by scoring on the opposite end of the pitch.

The points by KARC were a wake-up call for the Exiles who replied with a a very clever try from Hungarian rugby legend Zsolt Haboczky. During a Kecskemet lineout ”Habo” managed to steal the ball from them and place the ball past the try line. With another try added by

captain Joris Auger the Exiles went into the second half with a 19:7 lead.

Kecskemet came back after the interval, playing a very physical game. The same type that had helped them beat the Exiles on their previous two occasions. Despite many tackles from the Exiles defence they managed to score one try, to which the Exiles responded with 5 points on the opposite end scored by playing coach Thomas Aponte. A few minutes later, the Venezuelan gaffer received a yellow card for a shoulder tackle on one of the opposition’s centers, forcing the Exiles to play with 14 men.  This gave KARC the extra man that helped them score their third try of the day.

The game soon got interuppted,

after Exiles center Joel GauGau got a high tackle on the oppositions fly-half, which lead to a fight between both teams.

The referee Norbert Matrai had no option but to send two players from each team off. The touch judges pointed at Mexican Luis Fernando Herrejon from the Exiles and Mihaly Kadar from KARC, who were involved in taking blows at each other.  Whereas the Fijian GauGau received a yellow card for his high tackle and the visitors were awarded a penalty kick. Kecskemet scored the 3 points and the game was level at 24:24.

With the return of Aponte back on to the pitch after serving his time in the sin bin the ”Pink and Black” picked up their game. In the last minutes of the game

Frenchman Lucas Deyts managed to score a try and the Exiles were yet again in the lead.

The home team managed to hold onto it until the final whistle, with a chance of winning by an even bigger margin, but Frenchman Pascal Acquemain’s efforts from a penalty kick in the last play of the game fell short. This helped Kecskemet get the bonus point.

In an earlier game that day the Exiles development squad – MedEx played Szfinx. The visitors came back with a victory, despite trailing by 15 points a few minutes into the second half. With great runs, and a MedEx team not following the game plan marked out by

American coach Jeremy Hale Szfinx scored 5 unanswered tries and came back home with a victory.

The Exiles 1^st XV will be playing their next game on October 3^rd, at home in Kincsem Park against Debrecen University. Before the game there will be a “try-out day” for those interested in joining the three time Hungarian champions. All details will be announced on their social media channels.

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POST MATCH COMMENTS:

Luis Fernando Herrejon (Budapest Exiles, flanker)

About the oppostion forwards:
The forwards were pretty big and strong and they were using their physicality all the time. We had to be very technical in the tackling, tackling low, otherwise they would break our defensive line easily. The moment we tried tackling high we made mistakes, and it cost us some points.

About the fight:
I don’t remember well exactly/ I saw they were getting mad because of the foul play and I wanted to separate at the beginning but then I saw they started to throw punches, so if they punch some of my teammates I will always try to defend them. Nobody should be alone, especially in those situations . We are a team and we are together in the good times and in the bad times. So I punched and I got punched. Thats rugby, these things can happen, and only my girlfriend won’t be happy because of my fat lip.

Thomas Aponte (Exiles Head Coach)

On the game:
Before the game we knew Kecskemet would play a very physical game. We worked hard during our training sessions to be able to defend against them, and we did pretty well. There are some players that were exceptional in defence with us rarely getting called for being off-side. The same goes for the lineouts, where we actually managed to steal the ball from one of their lineouts and score a try. It was an amazing victory, and it will motivate the team to work even harder next time.

Source: Press Release