Columbia, SC -- Saturday and Sunday, May 16th and 17th 2009. by Bo Marr.

 

National Round of 16:

Old White vs Media

23-19 (OT)

 

National Round of 8:

Old White vs Pearl City

11-41

 

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--Columbia South Carolina

 

Atlanta Old White's thrilling season came to an end on Sunday ushering in a new era of excellence as a club in the top level of American rugby. While there are many heavy hearts that the season is over, the weekend underscored what extraordinary improvements have been made by the club in such a short time. In just a short several years, Old White has reemerged from the dark ages of existing as a D-II club with only a single competitive side to having multiple playoff sides, a quite active and winning Old Boys side, and having one of the top D-I sides in all of the nation which held their own against the #1 ranked Super League team and finished in the top 8 in the premiere Division of USA Rugby. More than that, the camaraderie has never been better with the best Old Boy and fan support in the East, consistently 40-50 men showing up at practice even with the D-II season over, and 100s of Old White faithful coming together as a club at social events including straw-wielding alumni from all over the country. The season also has seen and will see several weddings with many teammates in attendance as well as new families started. Congratulations and well done to all.

 

On the playing field, accomplishments are highlighted by Old White returning to the national playoff scene in Division I for the first time in more than a decade. In the records of recent history, with online records being kept since 2000, Old White broke its mark of the most Division-I wins in a season by a large margin by going 7-2 against D-I opponents, qualified two sides for the playoffs for the first time, capturing the Division-I South Championship, and ensured that the Atlanta Cup will have been with Old White for 19 out of the last 20 months come our next match with the Renegades. The long term prospects look even better with Old White breaking ground earlier this year for what will become an international caliber stadium and clubhouse facility. Many thanks to everyone who made these dreams possible.

 

National Round of 8:

 

"You are about to embark on the greatest experience in sport you will ever have the opportunity to be involved in. There is an essence and ideal of rugby that once you open up to it, your life will never be the same and the only place you will find that essence again is here, in the game of rugby."

--Former Coach Theo Bennet.

 

The somewhat undersized Media side immediately showed why they belonged in the sweet 16 with what was an outstanding tactical kicking game. All day long, they chipped, grubbered, and kicked balls into hard-to-reach areas of the field while putting our back three under extreme pressure with their chase game. The weather conditions were also unfavorable with on-again off-again rain pelting both teams all afternoon. They were also able to keep us from getting deep into their territory in the first half by retrieving ball and clearing it when they themselves were under pressure. This strategy paid off with a made penalty kick for Media to go up early 3 - 0, which because of good Media defense and several Old White penalties, knock-ons, and missed opportunities was how the half ended.

 

The second half saw Old White play in Media's half of the field, with two exceptions, with one independent observer noting that "Old White dominated play almost the entire game". Much credit should be given to the starting pack of Joe Lang, Keith Strellis, Joe Bambinelli, Wally Mlynarski, Creighton Deasy, Charlie McFeaters, Ken Ivy, and Cathal Doyle for keeping possession and playing tough defense all game. After trading penalty kicks with Media to put the score at 6 - 3, possession finally translated into points when the backline of Chris Kombo, Richie Kanda, Luke Waikamakama, Eric Degree, Dave Winiarczyk, and Lee Kornfeld put Dave Wagura into the tryzone in the corner off of a loose ball with some quick passing. The team would have several more great runs throughout the game, including a 40 meter scamper by a combination of Cathal, Kombo, and Luke, and another one by Richie, Hunter, and Eric, that would be disrupted by a penalty or knock-on. Deep into the match the score remained 8 - 6 Old White.

 

The "Rescue team" of Jim McNally, Hunter Clark, Niko Ambrosini, Bo Marr and Craig Hyde eventually would sub in and have a huge impact on the game, showing one of Old White's key strengths: its depth. After a chip kick deep into Media territory, Wagura got his hands on the ball and made a scamper down to the 3 meter line where Atlanta had great support due to some fresh legs and formed a ruck formed. Niko quickly picked up the ball and with a push from several members of the Old White pack put the ball into the tryzone; Old White up 13 - 6.

 

Unfortunately, Old White would suffer from repeated penalties and missed opportunities eventually allowing Media to put a quick tap in for a converted try with time expiring, sending the game into overtime at 13-all. Two more 10 minute halves were played to decide the winner.

 

After trading penalty kicks in the rain, Old White would knock-on a restart giving Media the ball for much of the remaining minutes in Old White territory, eventually allowing for Media to go up 19-16 with a penalty kick.

 

With minutes remaining and the Old White season on the line, Wally successfully disrupted a Media lineout at the Media 22 meter line. The other members of the pack pressured the scrum half trying to pick up the ball, who in a panic tried to dish the ball out to the flyhalf. Bo Marr was waiting, picked off the ball, and put it in the tryzone where Luke converted as time expired for a heart-stopping victory, 23 - 19.

 

Also with valuable field contributions and making the roster for the weekend are Kevin Warde, Francesco Balsas, Ekypop Pariam, and Petey. Thanks to Trey Dickson for the management over the course of the weekend and to Kevin Warde and Riaan Kotze for their coaching efforts all season.

 

Round of 8 vs Pearl City --

 

This game showed more than anything that Old White will never give up nor back down no matter the opponent. While Old White perhaps got unlucky in the seeding having to face the #1 D-I team in the country as ranked by erugbynews instead of a B-side Old Blue team or a team that had lost to Pearl City earlier in the Detroit Tradesmen, Old White faced off against Pearl City without complaint. And as Mr. Doyle pointed out, to be champion, you have to beat everybody.

 

Old White earned their vengance for last year's match in the first half, particularly in the scrums where Atlanta pushed Pearl City around despite being outweighed by as much as 200 lbs. Indeed, until the last play of the half, Old White was only down 12 - 3, and both Pearl City tries were scored with Old White down a man due to a professional foul.

 

Eventually the extreme athleticism of Pearl City would take over. Three themes started to occur...Old White began to miss progessively more tackles, had a lack of ball possesion, and Pearl City made several devastating counterattacks on their kicking game, returning the ball back inside Old White's 22m line. Old White also committed a team yellow card, spending 10 minutes of the second half down a man as well. This resulted in several tries putting the game out of reach.

 

However, Old White fought to the end with the backline putting together a line break which saw Richie score in the corner and Captain Joe Bambinelli's now famous drop goal from 30 meters out showing once again why he's one of the most athletic props in the business. Final score 41 - 11. Coach Riaan gave a heartfelt season ending speech, after which all of the many Old White family in attendance were thanked for their much appreciated attendance.