Old White A, 20 -- Boca Raton, 10
Atlanta -- Saturday, March 14th, 2009, Bo Marr
Atlanta Old White earned a victory that was sweeter than most this past weekend because it meant extending the D-I season with that much more playoff rugby with this club that we love so much, and being able to join the D-2 team with something to play for. On a terribly ugly day, which started out in the low 40s with wind and a steady downpour prevalent throughout the afternoon, Old White remained the only team to win on the road on Crossover Weekend since the Division I USAR South playoff format began in 2007. Old White won an ugly but decisive victory in the rain at home as the Renegades also won at home against Ft. Lauderdale and Nashville lost on the road at Miami.
Many thanks to the Boca players who made the 12 hour drive and gave us a great match. Also much love goes out to all the Old White players and fans who came out in support despite the worst possible mix of conditions. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be able to play so hard. Our wishes also go out to Kyel Mayeske who went down with a knee injury. Big Ups also go out to Joe Bambinelli and Bambinelli's Restaurant for hosting a fantastic social.
So now Old White enjoys the #1 North seed in the South Championship weekend on April 4th, where only 4 teams in Division 1 South remain alive and where we will play Miami in the first round. The winner of that match will advance to the South finals against winner of Renegades/Naples. Also on the line is whether we will be home or away in the national playoff round of 32 which is determined by the outcome of the South Championships.
The match against Boca Raton was dominated by kicking early in the match, with both teams fighting for field position and ball handling at a minimum with the slick conditions dictating play. Old White controlled scrums (although a few balls slipped out the back but Charlie and Kombo did a great job controlling them), which were by far the strongest they have been all season, and controlled the lineouts all day -- with the ball hardly ever getting past Wally -- with only one minor slip. Dave and Marty especially had some very well placed up-and-unders, grubbers and kicks to touch. One memorable possesion, Dave kicked the ball to the right corner of the field drawing all of the Boca back 3, received the return kick, and put it perfectly all the way in the back left corner of the field to win key field position.
However, even though Old White won the territorial battle, playing almost the entire first half on Boca's end of the field, Boca Raton used very intelligent strategy to stop the Old White attack. Apparently, when teams get a scouting report against Old White, they hear that you must be wary of our backline. On the lineouts and open play, Boca would often have 2 extra forwards in the backline to guard against our speedsters. The Renegades admitted to spreading this strategy at the drinkup after our match with them. The half ended with a made penalty kick for both teams, score tied 3 - 3.
In the second half, Old White moved to more "twins" formations and crashing with the forward pack that seemed to open up some space. Old White's forwards must play more of an offensive role if we are to advance, and everyone did a great job of this in the second half with several long forward crashes, mauls, and great rucking from all of the Old White pack. About 10 minutes in after what seemed like spending all day at the 5m line, Luke got the ball out wide, juked, and charged past several defenders, putting the ball down in the corner with 2 defenders on his back. Texas Dave makes an excellent kick from the corner, Old White up 10 - 3.
Tensions grew to an all time high, with the season on the line after Old White's one slip of the game. Almost immediately after the restart from our try, Boca runs a quick pop to the front man in the lineout and the 8-man slips past our forwards, catching Old White completely by surprise, and romps 20m untouched into the tryzone for a converted try. Game tied 10-10. Only 20 minutes left, the next score could end the season for the other team.
A few minutes later, Old White once again found themselves on the Boca 5m line driving for the hard-to-get tries. A beautiful series of "Twins" crashes on the right side of the field with one final push by Wally saw the ball get put down in the tryzone. Ref calls it held up. We win the ensuing scrum, crash off of Charlie a few more times, and send the ball out wide left. Luke gets it, gets stopped, but then the backline and a few forwards use their strength advantage to push Luke over; the ball is called held up again. But Boca was also offsides, penalty to Old White. Captain Bambinelli elects to for another try and quickly taps and dishes out to the Hooker Drew. He sees an opening but can't quite get in. Old White gets lazy, and Boca wins the ensuing ruck and clears the ball. Luckily, just as we had been dominating possesion all day, we win the ball back and have another lineout in Boca's territory.
Wally brought the ball down in front again, and Old White tried to maul into the tryzone as they had a beautiful 20m maul earlier in the game. Boca once again does a great job adjusting and pulls the maul down. Bo sees the maul falling and slips out of the pack and inserts in the backline. Kombo throws the ball out to Marty who dishes to Luke, which pulls the entire Boca backline who had already been burned by Luke once and weren't going to let it happen again. Luke pops to his inside to the charging openside flanker who puts it down between the posts for the go-ahead try. Old white up 15 - 10.
Old White wins the kicking battle on the ensuing restart, and Marnus is able to retrieve it after some fancy passing and put the ball down in the corner for Atlanta to go up 20 - 10 and seal the victory.
Wally was later yellow carded and sent off the field with 10 minutes left. He had been putting devastating hits on Boca, which have become his trademark. Several times the head referee had to ask the side judge if it was clean to which the side judge responded "Yeah he just hit him really hard". Wally was thrown out when he kicked a loose ball in an open play scramble into a Boca player's chest. Old White was able to hold off for the last couple of minutes without him and close out the victory 20 - 10.
Old White Side:
1. Joe Bambinelli (c)
2. Drew Percival
3. Keith Strellis
4. Creighton Deasy
5. Waldemar Mlynarski
6. David Wagura Ngamau
7. Bo Marr
8. Charlie Mcfeaters
9. Chris Kombo
10. Marty O'Donoghue
11. Mike Aaron
12. Luke Waikamakama
13. Marnus Coetzee
14. Eric Degree
15. Dave Winiarczyk
16. Joe Lang
17. Lee Kornfeld
18. Jim McNally
19. Eric Woods
20. Richie Kanda
21. Ronn Omandi
22. Kevin Warde
