|
Nashville, TN -- Saturday and Sunday, April 4th and 5th 2009. by Bo Marr.
Semifinals:
Old White vs Miami Tridents 41 - 8
Renegades vs Naples 42 - 38
Finals:
Old White vs Renegades 32 - 7
Consolation Match:
Naples defeats Miami
Old White took the top USA Rugby South crown in dominating fashion this weekend by winning the 2009 South D-I Championships by a combined score of 73 - 15, well done everyone involved. Old White also got sweet revenge when the stakes could not have been higher by taking back the Atlanta Cup from archrival Renegades. The Old White team that played this weekend is humbled that they were able to represent the culmination of so much hard work and sacrifice by so many that has finally led to the achievement of our penultimate goal. The victory this weekend was many years in the making, by Old White players from all sides and divisions, fans, and old boys. Many thanks to all of Old White Nation, to everyone who made this weekend possible. Appreciation and Respect also go out to the other clubs that competed very well this weekend.
----------------------------------------------------
SEMIFINALS vs Tridents, Saturday.
The stage was set for an intense day of rugby with perfect conditions where everything was on the line, not least of which was national playoff seeding: the winners of this day's matches were assured a home match and a good chance of winning in the next round of the national playoffs while the losers received the death sentence of having to travel far to the north and play an extremely competitive side in Detroit or Pearl City.
Old White controlled possession for much for much of the first half, being well prepared for the Miami Tridents chip kick attack that they are well known for. Petey, Marty, Texas Dave, and Eric stepped up big in the backline and Dave Wagura at #6 to contain this attack. Early in the match our season-long flyhalf, Marty, went down with a knee injury and let Richie Kanda take over. Richie took advantage of his new position early when the ball was sent out to the backline where he dummied outside, cut up to break the line and then was off to the races. He stiff-armed two would-be tacklers in Charlie-like fashion sending them to the dirt and then raced the rest of the way to the tryzone. Texas Dave showed up huge all day long, and made the first of many kicks, this one from the corner to go up: Old White 7 - 0.
Miami would capitalize on an Old White penalty and kick push the score to 10-3. Later in the half a penalty was called on Miami at mid-field. With his confidence never higher, Dave stuck a kick dead through the center of the uprights from 50m out to put Old White up 10 - 3. Dave would go 9/10 kicking on the day, going a perfect 5/5 on conversions and 2/3 on penalties. Unfortunately for Old White, even though we dominated possession keeping the ball inside the Miami 22m for most of the half, we were plagued by penalties getting called for diving over rucks inside Miami's 5m line on 3 different occasions. Old White up 10 - 3 at the half.
Miami applied extreme pressure at the start of the second half sending nervousness through the Old White faithful by taking advantage of 3 consecutive off-side calls to enable them to set a scrum on our own 5m line. The Miami surge continued as they drove our scrum into the tryzone where it was brought down, and the referee awarded a penalty try. Old white up 10 - 8.
With about 25 minutes remaining, Old White's depth became apparent where we sent in "impact subs" that changed the course of the game. Bo, Kevin Warde, and Jim McNally subbed into the forward pack, and Caleb subbed into the backline bringing new life to our Atlanta side. Off of a scrum about 40m out --- which were much improved thanks to the hardworking members of the Old White Pack led by tight five Keith, Bambi, Drew, Joe Lang, Jim McNally, Creighton, and Wally -- Cathal at 8-man scooped the ball off the back and shot past the Miami defense, and when the Miami backline defenders closed in on him he found Richie and offloaded. The last man in the miami defense tripped Richie up where he popped to Bo off the ground and Bo took the ball the rest of the way for a converted try, Old White up 17 - 8.
Then try's started to rain from the sky with the energized Atlanta against the exhausted Miami side. A chip kick eventually found its way into Calebs hands where between himself, Luke, and Kombo put Richie away into the tryzone with quick passes and quicker feet. Seconds later on the ensuing kickoff Cathal caught the ball cleanly and sent a long pass out wide to the backline, catching Miami off guard. Between the backline and a chasing Cathal, they put the ball in the tryzone once again. And then the play repeated itself...the ensuing kickoff was returned deep in Miami territory for another try, turning the match into a track meet.
Wally and the Old White lineout could not have been more dominant on the day winning all of our ball and close to 90% of their ball, where each ball was mauled beautifully, sometimes as long as 20m with multiple off-shoot mauls. The maul off one particular lineout during this rush of scoring saw Cathal put the ball down for another try. Old White exploded to score 3 tries in a matter of a minutes. Old White wins and moves on to the finals, 41 - 8.
On a side note, Bambinelli was able to celebrate this first round victory ordering the biggest combination platter on the menu at a sushi restaurant...and then proceeded to order 24 more rolls of sushi, including his new favorite, the philly roll.
------------------------------------------------------
FINALS VS RENEGADES, Sunday.
With the claim to the Atlanta Cup, South Championship Cup, and the #1 South seed going into the national playoffs on the line, this game meant so much more than the regular season clashes of late. The victor would not only win these valuable prizes, but would be the first to claim a Division-I South title in recent history and win a commanding recruiting advantage. It meant everything.
With a storm coming in, the sky was grey and turning to black with heavy 15 mph gusts. With the wind blowing so hard, the bone-crushing hitting going on, and neither team giving an inch, the first few minutes of the game had a feel of a low-scoring slug fest. However, relatively early in the first half, we were awarded a penalty at midfield where we kicked for a 5m line out. Wally and the rest of the forwards once again claimed the lineout as theirs, bringing down a front ball where the pack continued the great mauling from Saturday. Bambi and Creighton showed once again that they have adapted nicely to keeping Wally from being pulled down and led a maul, stepping over multiple renegades players on the ground, where Cathal followed his fellow forwards into the tryzone for an easy unconverted try. Old White up 5 - 0. Shortly after this try, Texas Dave went out with a head injury bringing Lee in who did a great job at wing, and Petey who stepped up big at fullback, but without our kicker our conversion efficiency dropped off significantly.
After another penalty was awarded to Old White, instead of a quick tap and go, the team stuck with the strategy of taking advantage of our dominant lineout, kicked out to touch deep inside the Renegades territory, brought the lineout down and began another maul. Penalty awarded for the renegades attacking our legs in the maul. Kombo took the ball and put in into the tryzone, this time the ball was held up and eventually cleared.
The Old White defense held strong, several times executing a goal line stand to deny the 'gades any points, where Luke laid the flyhalf out in one of the biggest hits of the weekend, but was yellow carded for it. This may have been the turning point in the match where Old White not only held every inch on defense, but scored a try of their own a man down: At about midfield, Kombo took advantage of the swirling winds and sent a box kick skyward.
The Renegades wing, who had already bobbled several kicks in the match, was starting to feel the pressure, and was being chirped at by his own teammates as well as being heckled by the crowd. By the time of Kombo's kick he was clearly flustered and "searching for signal" as we say. The wing felt the pressure and caught the kick, but when he passed to his fullback, he sent the ball over his head bouncing around. Kombo chased it down and touched it down between the posts for an unconverted try. Old White up 10 - 0.
In one of the better anecdotes of the trip, Kombo and some of the boys took this opportunity to do a dance they had been practicing to the delight of the Old White crowd, not meaning any harm by it, but the Renegades and the referee were not so delighted and awarded the 'Gades a penalty on the kickoff. Tough defense and tough tackling by all of Old White, particularly Charlie and Luke who had 5 or 6 steals between them on the day, held the 'Gades until halftime.
In the renegades only score of the day, they take the momentarily tired Old White by surprise and put in a chip kick behind them to score a converted try. 10 - 7.
With the referee warning he would stop the game and declare a winner at any moment due to lightning, the first 10 minutes of the second half again turned into a slugfest, but one that Old White was winning.
With about 25 minutes, Old White began to make a charge to the goal line. Consistent offsides advantages were given inside the Renegades 22 m and the Old White pack attempted to force it in to goal with twins. They pushed the ball down to the 1 meter line, where Kombo quickly swung the ball out to the backline to push the ball in for the last 1 meter. The try was converted for a score of 17-7. The sequence that put the dagger in the Renegades hearts followed shortly thereafter on the ensuing kickoff with about 20 minutes left in the match. Wally went out with an injury from the previous goal line march before the kickoff.
Immediately afterward, where the term "impact sub" has never been more clear, Kevin Ward came in to replace Wally as well as Jim McNally for Keith. The 'Gades kickoff floated over the outstretched arms of K-Warde, who was hit by 3 Renegades thinking he would come down with it, where the ball landed into the arms of a sprinting Bo Marr. Bo shot through the gap and no one was left to defend him except for the fullback. K-Warde who had been in the game for literally 10 seconds, sprinted from behind in support where Bo drew in the fullback and sent the ball inside to K-Warde. Kevin dashed away from several pursuing defenders, and when they finally caught up to him, threw a hook pass to Drew Percival in support who centered the ball for another try 22-7, ending any remaining spirits of the Renegades.
Later, with the Renegades backline stuck in a ruck about 30m from their own tryzone, Joe "Philly Roll" Bambinelli snuck out to the wing where the opposing prop was the only one guarding him. Kombo sent a pass wide to Cathal who sent another pass all the way across the field in front of Bambi. Bambi tipped the long pass in the air with his arm outstretched, spinned under the ball, and caught it out on the wing. The Prop race to the endzone was on! In an amazing display momentum, Bambi outraces all defenders to the endzone, and leans into the middle of the tryzone to put the ball down for an unconverted try. Old White up 27 - 7.
Joe Lang and Ryan came in to do a great job in relief. Many thanks also goes to Craig Hyde and our Coach Riaan Kotze who drove up, but didn't get to play. It should also be noted that Dave Wagura did an excellent job at outside center all day, catching even the most ridiculous passes all day long. The backline would send the ball out wide to put Richie in the tryzone for one more score. Old White wins the championship as time expires, 32 - 7. There is much appreciation from the players to the supporters who were able to make the travel for what became an outstanding weekend.
Next is D-II at New Orleans for the playoffs and D-I in Atlanta for the national round of 32 vs the Cincinati Wolfhounds.
Old White D1 vs Miami:
1. Joe Bambinelli (c)
2. Drew Percival
3. Keith Strellis
4. Creighton Deasy
5. Waldemar Mlynarski
6. Dave Wagura Ngamau
7. Charlie Mcfeaters
8. Cathal Doyle
9. Chris Kombo
10. Marty O'Donoghue
11. Petey Ralston
12. Luke Waikamakama
13. Richie Kanada
14. Eric Degree
15. Dave Winiarczyk
16. Caleb Tanui
17. Jim McNally
18. Kevin Warde
19. Joe Lang
20. Lee Kornfeld
21. Ryan Bledsoe
22. Bo Marr
Old White D1 vs Renegades:
1. Joe Bambinelli (c)
2. Drew Percival
3. Keith Strellis
4. Creighton Deasy
5. Waldemar Mlynarski
6. Bo Marr
7. Charlie Mcfeaters
8. Cathal Doyle
9. Chris Kombo
10. Richie Kanada
11. Petey Ralston
12. Luke Waikamakama
13. Dave Wagura Ngamau
14. Lee Kornfeld
15. Dave Winiarczyk
16. Caleb Tanui
17. Jim McNally
18. Kevin Warde
19. Joe Lang
20. Ryan Bledsoe
21. Riaan Kotze
22. Craig Hyde
|
