BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 22 – Cyprus 23

 Our mighty Mouflons proved to be too powerful for Bosnia & Herzegovina.

This game was full of twists and turns throughout.

Injuries along with key player unavailability meant several changes had to be made by Coach Andrew Binikos for this must win game. Captain Luke Frixou unable to make the journey due to family and work commitments, so Stephan Yarrow stepped up to take the helm.

The game started brightly with the Mouflons inflicting an early try in the 4^th minute.

The try scorer Andreas PapaAntoniou, one of our veterans returning to the game after being out of the team for over a season; Andrew (Seyhan) Fell the Cypriot kicker, successfully converting, giving Cyprus a 7-point lead. 5 minutes later the referee gave a yellow card to a Bosnian player for a professional foul. This should have given Cyprus the emphasis to push on and get some more points on the board, however, on 25 minutes a questionable try was awarded to Bosnia following a maul that took them over the Cyprus try line. Te Cypriot players and stand in Captain Stephan Yarrow remonstrating with the referee that the ball was off the ground.  This did not change the Russian referee’s mind. Pity that VAR was not available for this game. Bosnia missed the pursuing kick, leaving the score unchanged at Bosnia 5 – Cyprus 7. Cyprus then won a penalty kick that Andrew Fell successfully converted taking Cyprus up to a 5-point lead.

On 27 minutes another poor decision by the Russian referee Georgii KOPP showing George Agathocleous a yellow card for what appeared to be a clean tackle on the Bosnia player who was running down the line. The Bosnian linesman claimed that a punch was thrown. The replay clearly proving that the player was winded by a clean perfectly timed heavy tackle and no punches thrown whatsoever!

This provided the Bosnian team the impetus that they needed and taking advantage of extra man as their player who was earlier sin binned; had returned to the pitch. (A yellow card sending off lasts 10 minutes and allows for the player to cool off before returning back to the game). On the 30-minute mark Bosnia scored their second try of the game, this time successfully converting the kick taking the score to Bosnia 12 – Cyprus 10.

At this point the intensity increased significantly, with so much at stake for both teams. After 34 minutes Cyprus took full advantage of some wayward passing with Sam Burns who intercepted a pass through the middle of the pack and ran clear to score Cyprus’ second try of the game which gave Cyprus the edge once again, the score Bosnia 12 – Cyprus 15. Andrew Fell narrowly missing the follow-on conversion kick. The half time whistle came soon after, the half time score Bosnia & Herzegovina 12 – Cyprus 15.

The second half with everything to play for with the scores so close. Could Cyprus build on their narrow lead or would Bosnia score early to move ahead of Cyprus?

An early penalty kick to Bosnia which was successfully taken took the points level 15 a piece. Next came another twist – Cyprus refusing to give in, winning a penalty kick and successfully converting, despite the continuous unsporting heavy whistling by the Bosnia crowd, giving them a 3-point lead: Bosnia 15 – Cyprus 18.

At 65 minutes Bosnia scored a third try and successfully converted, affording them their biggest lead of the game Bosnia 22 – Cyprus 18. The Bosnia crowd sensing a possible victory became more vociferous, getting behind their team.

This seemed to propel our Mouflons, with the game moving into the last 10 minutes, Cyprus increased the urgency and intensity piling pressure on Bosnia, however unable to make the breakthrough with Bosnia holding firm. This continued Cyprus pushing up to the Bosnian try line then Bosnia managing the kick the ball out of the 22-metre line. Cyprus again relentlessly pushing forward with the clock ticking, if only they could make that breakthrough…he handful of loyal, die-hard Cyprus supporters who travelled out to support our team, could be heard urging our team on.

On 39 minutes following a penalty to Cyprus 5 metres out, another push for a try, but again unable to make the breakthrough the Bosnian line. The forwards trying a different manoeuvre, the ball moving swiftly out to the centres, Sam Burns taking the ball and kicking it over the Bosnian defence to the far side try line, the Bosnian’s scrambling back to get the ball, the Cyprus players running hard and fast to get there first. It was Andrew Fell that reacted the quickest touching the ball down. A try! With just over a minute to go to the full-time whistle.

The Russian referee however held off from awarding the try to converse with the linesman. The Cyprus coaches and bench wishing that another dubious decision would not go against them. This time the referee could not find a reason not to award the try and raised his hand to award the try. A try was given Bosnia 22 – Cyprus 23! The Cyprus players jumping for joy and hugging one another, you could see what this meant to each and every one of them!

The pursuing kick bounced off the right-side post and out which was then followed by the final whistle of the game.

This game brought back memories of the famous England World Cup win over Australia in 2003 when Johnny Wilkinson’s last-minute drop kick won the game for England and the World cup.

This was Cyprus’ first win at this level (Conference 1 South division) and it meant so much more than just a win.

This win means that Bosnia & Herzegovina are relegated to Conference 2 South division and Cyprus remain at this level.

The Cyprus Team Manager – Theo Lenos quote “this game aged me by 10 years at least. Peter Morrish chairman commented “What a game; I don’t need too many more like that or they will kill me off!

Ela Kypros!! Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς!

Peter Antoniou