Editor's note: The following summary of the first match by the Kunming Flying Tigers Rugby football club has been provided by Matt Bowden, with images by Yereth Jansen. If you would like to promote your local sports team on GoKunming, get in touch via our contact form.

Saturday's rugby match between the Kunming Flying Tigers and the Chengdu Pandas was preceded by a bad omen: in this time of severe drought and six-week-long stretches of blue skies and sunshine, the Pandas' arrival was accompanied by rain, forcing Kunming Stadium to cancel the game. Luckily a last minute back-up was found, with Tuodong Stadium offering their top-class pitch regardless of the weather.

The game got off to a solid start with the Pandas facing a great deal more resistance than they had expected from the inexperienced Tigers. As both teams settled into a slow, forwards-dominated game, breakthroughs were hard to come by with some excellent tackling and well-drilled defences. The rain - at one point torrential - induced a number of handling mistakes but neither team seemed to be able to capitalise on these errors.

With the half-time break looming, Chengdu finally managed to claim their first try but were unable to convert the kick. Reacting to this minor setback with increased effort, the Tigers were able to exploit a gap on the left-wing with Rob McElroy setting up Jared Price for Kunming's first ever try. McElroy's immaculate conversion put the Tigers in the lead going into the second half - a scoreline that had the Pandas visibly rattled.

As the rain cleared in the second half ther