You’ll be glad to know that I had a long, at times, very heated, discussion with our flyhalf (me) about his game vs Ocala today, both at the pub and on the way home. He has assured me that he won’t strap on his boots again and play a skill position without taking training, conditioning and the game itself more seriously. Almost had to pull the car over to beat this assurance out of him but after pretty much single handily being responsible for our first loss this Spring, not to mention the first win ever by Ocala, I was not going to let him off the hook. For those of you who missed the game, I’m being nice! A half blind, one handed, crippled monkey trained to catch and pass would have made all the difference today.
After taking almost 4 hours to arrive due to a wreck on I-75, we played Ocala RFC on their pitch. Ocala is a scrappy young side with good speed and forwards who like to hit and fly into rucks. Most of these guys have less than a year of experience though the skill positions were populated by good players. Reminded me of our club a year or so ago. The referee allowed us to play but still controlled things well enough while giving us water breaks every 15 minutes as an edge against the blistering hot sun. We played thirty minute halves with 13 forwards and two backs and all but the front row playing out of position. We were there to have fun, they were there to win their first game.
The first half started with us defending our goal and winning lots of 4 man lineouts. Our offense consisted of kicks to touch, bangers off the lineouts and a couple double dummy plays which went awry at the most critical moment. Otis had a good game at scrum half, improving measurably as time went by; you should consider playing there more John.. Rookie Mike scored a tough try in support midway (you still owe us a zulu!) and things seemed to be falling into place. Then right before the half, with a “critical player” out of position, we spun the ball but it was picked off for a goal under the posts. Ocala went into halftime with the lead on the conversion and all the momentum.
Except for a couple long, opportunistic runs, we didn’t get past the 50 very often in the second half. With standing orders to spin the ball wide, “it” always seemed to either go weak, straight up or on the ground. We even switched to a full lineout and ran Tennessee or Cadilac which produced ample opportunities for the backline but … well lets not go there too much. They began outrucking us as we tired of playing defense and, against the coaches explicit orders to the contrary, “someone” began whining about the quality of the forward play. Defensively, about midway, they punched in a try from about the 2 though it would have been very easy for “someone” to bury the ball in the ruck which set it up. Their third try came on a scissors at the wing that was telegraphed a mile away yet the opponent still managed to elude our “tackler” to the inside. I don’t remember whether they converted those so the score ended up 3 tries or more to one.
The RedEye Youth team played extremely well against Gainesville HS, defeating them 17-0 (I think). This was their first contact game ever, with unopposed scrums, and they were spinnig ball, rucking, tackling and supporting like seasoned veterans. Ray and the other coaches should really be proud of this bunch. Awesome job, everyone.
Posted by Pedro at March 29, 2003 10:40 AM