The Brevard Youth Rugby Football Club played the Lincoln Park Academy Greyhounds Saturday, January 31, 2004 in Fort Pierce in what was a first for many involved. The match kicked off at 2 p.m. with overcast skies and a light drizzle that would last for most of the day.
Scoring started when the Young Red Eyes committed a couple of penalties in their own half and the opposing flyhalf took one quick penalty wide, juking and sprinting into the corner :06 minutes into the game. Josh Gruner, playing flyhalf for the first time, chased him down and tackled him into touch, but the ref saw a high tackle and awarded them the penalty try. The conversion was missed, Greyhounds 5- Brevard 0.
Several spirited minutes later, an offsides penalty to grey led to a 10 meter lineout and a strong push across the try-line scored by #10 of the Greyhounds put the score at 10-0 at the :14 minute mark. The conversion put the score to 12-0 in favor of the home team.
From yet another penalty, Josh took advantage of generous space from the defense and sprinted up the field, supported by #8 “Medium Joe” Tropea and blind side flanker Bill Tuttle and lock Kyle Frieberg. Successful rucking and maintaining possession in the backline led to fantastic position inside the Greyhounds 22 meter zone. Sadly, the games first knock on (at the 19 minute mark!) gave the hosts the scrum just short of the goal line. The clearance kick was covered by winger #11 Charlie Staples under pressure, and the Red Eyes were awarded another penalty when he was high tackled during the counter-attack. Josh took advantage again, and scored in the near corner. The conversion by captain and hooker Joe Fisher was a bit short, and the first quarter ended with the score 12-5.
The second quarter yielded much smoother play by both teams as the initial jitters were overwhelmed by gasps for air and pounding hearts. Possession and defense was markedly better by both teams, but despite the apparent increase in experience, the quarter went scoreless for the most part. Highlights included line-out dominance by #7 Ryan Daly, defense of a speedy experienced opposition scrum-half by Red Eye #9 Skyler Van Der Molen, and perhaps the biggest job of all, marking the Greyhounds Big #12 undertaken by our own center, #13 Tim Bleigh.
The second half had our heroes down a player due to a calf strain, so fullback Chris Welch and #11 Charlie Staples reacted and played a two back defense to pick up the slack. Lincoln Park foolishly kicked to Joe Fisher who chipped to space just in front of their fullback. Flyhalf Josh chased and splattered the receiver, drawing “Oooooooohs” from the crowd of parents and coaches. The unlucky fullback knocked on and was left on the pitch rubbing his head in the dirt! Our scrumdown on the 30! “Medium Joe” picked from the base of the scrum and stiff armed the defense into their 22, but an offsides call due to overaggressive rucking gave the ball back to the Greyhounds. Their backs took the ball quick and their big #12 crashed through our line and up the field to our own 10, where Josh had chased him down from far-far away. Thank you, Josh, for saving the try. The opponents were to score, unfortunately, using hard rucking and despite the Young Red Eyes attempts to hold him up, a “big-un’” 16 year-old prop fell over the line at the :44 mark to put Lincoln Park ahead 17-5.
Six minutes was all their centers needed to score again, and their successful combination of slick-speedy #13 with their popular oversized #12 led to a try under the posts. Conversion straight through. Lincoln Park 24 – Brevard 5.
The ensuing kick-off to the host winger allowed the Red Eyes to crush him and take the ball away after the tackle. Fantastic rucking by forwards #1 Dave “Bubbles” Brassell and #4 Kyle Frieberg helped us maintain possession, but an obstruction penalty gave it back. Hard hitting by lock Kyle highlighted the next 10 minutes but opportunistic hustling by the opposition flyhalf gave the experienced high school senior another try to bring the score to 29-5.
Understandably, the messiest rugby of the day was produced by two extremely tired teams for the remainder of the game, and only hard tackling and opponents’ errors kept the Red Eyes safe. Highlights were continued support by “Medium Joe”, sprints by Josh and Kyle, and definitely, hits by Kyle. The game ended unceremoniously with the score 29-5.
While the match was marred by too many stoppages by the referee, all players had a great time and put on a heck of a show. The fans loved every minute of it, the coaches were smiling at the end of the game, and the players could not wait for a rematch. It was a great day for rugby. Man of the match honors for Brevard went unanimously to lock Kyle Frieberg for cleaning out rucks, leveling ball carriers, and gaining position almost every time he touched the ball.
Dang those jerseys look all nice and pretty before the game.
that lasted all of 2 seconds.
I can’t wait til we meet them again.
See ya’ll tonight.
Rob, great job on “writing up” the game. Young Red Eyes: you played with heart. Now that we have a game under our belt, the practices are going to be more meaningful. Only 4 weeks to learn a lot in a little time. Help recruit 4 more player so we can travel to Ft. Lauderdale with our own team and take home a victory.
Posted by: Brian at February 3, 2004 10:39 PM