D1: Old White  5 -- Nashville  0

 

Nashville, TN -- Saturday, February 7th 2009. by Bo Marr.

 

Atlanta Old White once again made history by beating the Nashville Outlaws rugby club in Nashville for the first time since reentering D1. With Nashville having a 1 - 4 record and the Renegades having an 0 - 4 mark in the division, Old White also clinched homefield advantage in the South Crossover Playoffs at 3 - 2 in the division and 10 - 2 on the season.

 

The game was marked by dominant hitting and strong defensive play by both teams as Nashville brought a refreshed and much deeper side compared to the fall season, who are always so tough on their home pitch. Old White had several notable line breaks early in the game with some quick off-loading between the forwards and backs leading to deep penetration in Nashville territory, but Old White was unable to translate into points because of several knock-ons, lost rucks, and penalties. We were able to win the majority of the lineouts, but the scrums did not fare as well, and rucks were largely chaotic slugfests.

 

Marty at flyhalf continued to mystify the defense with well placed kicks and great side stepping creating space for the offense on several occasions with offloads to Combo, Kenyan Dave, Bambi, and others. Texas Dave fielded kicks well under tremendous pressure all day, several times coming all the way across the field to chase down a kick or a player. He would save several tries throughout the day, taking one loose ball out of bounds when Nashville was chasing it down deep in our territory and holding up one ball in the tryzone.

 

The rest of the backline consisting of Eric, Luke, Richie, and Marnus had a linebreak on what seemed like every possesion, but again strong defense by nashville and lack of control by Old White prevented scoring one way or another. The first half ended with a 7-phase Old White possession, with contributions by everyone on Old White's side hitting the defense and rucks with umatched intensity. However, the first half ended 0 - 0.

 

The winning try was put on the board 10 minutes into the second half by Old White when Atlanta gained possession of the ball and weakened the Nashville defense with two long forward crashes by Charlie, Kenyan Dave, and the rest of the Old White pack on the far right side of the field. Kombo then sent the ball out through the backline all the way to the other side of the field where Richie broke through and headed down the sidelines in a dead sprint. The fullback finally chased Richie down, where Richie then cut across the field dodging several would-be tacklers faked, a switch to Bo, and then sent the ball out wide -- again moving the ball all the way across the field to the right side -- to kenyan dave who streaked down to the 10-meter line. After the ball came loose in the ensuing tackle, Bo dove on the ball where Richie, Dave, and others setup a ruck putting almost the entire Nashville defense offsides. Kombo, in a herculean effort, sent the ball for a third time all the way across the field to Luke who hypnotized the remaining defenders and shot ball to Kombo on the wing where no defenders remained. After having looped the entire backline to get on the wing, Kombo sprinted past the remaining defenders and put the ball down in the tryzone for the only score of the game.

 

Wally had several devastating hits once again, unfortunately taking the opposing captain out of the game with a broken arm, and causing 3 different blood subs on Nashville's part. Charlie was not to be outmatched and had several bone-crushing hits himself, one such hit on the flyhalf causing him a great deal of nervousness the rest of the game. Captain Joe Bambinelli had some of his best runs of the season many times knocking 4 or 5 defenders backwards. However, his life flashed before his eyes on one play where he ran a little too far and all 275 lbs of him was scooped 5 feet off the ground in pile-driver position by several large Nashville men with only the referee's whistle to save him from disaster. The final minutes were frightening where Nashville drove down to our 10 meter line, but the entire Old white defense held strong. Creighton, Kyle and Joe Lang put in heroic efforts on defense and in scrums throughout the game, and Mississippi, Keith Strellis, Jeff, Lee Kornfield, Drew, and Orlando provided fresh relief in the second half.

 

 

 

 

 

Old White D1:

1. Kyle Mayeske

2. Joe Lang

3. Joe Bambinelli (c)

4. Waldemar "Hope you don't need your bones intact" Mlynarski

5. Creighton "Tonka" Deasy

6. David Ngamau

7. Bo Marr

8. Chuck "Hustle" Mcfeaters

9. Chris p.i.m.p. Kombo

10. Marty O'Donoghue

11. Richie "Chief" Kanda

12. Eric "ATF" Degree

13. Luke Waikamakama

14. Marnus Coetzee

15. Dave "Texas Metro" Winiarczyk

 

16. Keith "Bullet" Strellis

17. Drew Percival

18. Jeff Calvert

19. Eric "Orlando" Woods

20. Lee Kornfeld

21. Riaan Kotze

22. Cheney Chris "Mississippi" Neel