On a beautiful 82 degree day in Naples Florida, Old White was able to set a new team record and advance to the grand stage of the South Championships.  Naples were wonderful hosts, providing a beautiful pitch lined with palm trees.  Since online records have been kept, Old White set a new team record with this win for most wins against Division I opponents in a season, and remain only one of two teams to play in all D-I South Crossover challenges and stay undefeated, along with Life, Old White's next opponent.. 

 

The match started out with neither team sure what to expect as it was the first meeting between these two clubs.  Naples started off hot with their "rocket attack" offense, which involves the forward pack picking the ball off the back of the ruck, charging off the side, and immediately starting a maul or popping to a another charging forward to expose gaps off the side of the ruck.  This attack worked in the opening minutes as the Naples prop broke the line for a 30 meter dash.  Even though the Old White pack was outsized, it was by far the quickest pack Old White has put on the field, and were able to chase down the prop.  A few rucks later, we were called for coming in through the side and Naples put a penalty kick through to go up 3 - 0.  Naples would come up against a stone wall of defense for the rest of the match and go scoreless for the next 72 minutes. 

 

The game was dominated by an ultra-fast pace style of play by Old White, with the ball being zipped back and forth across the field to rampaging Old White forwards, cutting backline players, and not touching the ground for minutes at a time.  The score was not a good indicator of how smoothly the Old White offense was run on this day.  This style of play paid off midway in the first half as Ron Omondi exposed a crack in the Naples line and performed a tomahawk dive into the try zone.  Dave Winiarczyk converted for Old White to take the lead 7 - 3, which remained the score at the half.  Atlanta was able to adapt to the type of play defensively with their Mad Dog defense holding strong.   At many times, the Atlanta player closest to the ruck could be seen in a 3-point stance, in perfect position to cut down the pick-and-go forward of Naples.

 

Another strong point of the day was the Old White set pieces and the back-three counter attack off kicks.  Chad, Kevin Ndongi, Marnus, and Dave covered kicks all day with precision on defense, and devastating chases giving the Naples returner little breathing room.  Luke at the full back position was in top form, with none of the first 3 defenders to attack him being able to bring him down, who had over 200 meters in kick return yardage on the day.  He was even able to keep a Naples kick in-bounds with an acrobatic volleyball set-bump in mid-air back to the wing.  The lineouts, led by Wally Mylnarski, were not even contested by Naples by the second half because of the great execution by the pack.  For the first time this year, Old White showed power in the scrums with a great performance by Johnny 2k, who was playing his first full match at prop, Bambi, and Joe Lang who was all over the field.  Old White won all of its own scrums driving Naples back a good 2 meters from the force of the engage, and Atlanta was even able to wheel 2 Naples scrums and win the ball back. 

 

The south Florida heat definitely affected both teams as one of the Old White pack members even threw-up during the game, and like a warrior, continued to play on; at other times we played with just 14 men because of a cramp that had to be taken care of.  The scrum half, Kombo, was instrumental in keeping the pack's heads in the game, constantly boosting morale with his clever phrases and speeches all the while playing an exceptional game himself. 

 

Just after half-time, with the Naples backline sensitive to the gaps that had been exposed on the wing, Richie was able to send a dummie pass to the outside and run through the ensuing gap for a converted try, Old White up 14 - 3.  Several minutes later, Naples attempted to send the ball out wide where the outside center sent an errant pass boucing on the ground which was picked up by a sprinting Dave Winiarczyk at our own 40 meter line.  After being chased down, he popped inside to Ron who made it down to the 10 meter line.  In another example of the unique experience a player only gets with Old White, Richie told Ron in Swahili to "throw it over him" meaning the Naples defender who was guarding for the underneath pass.  Ron sent a beautiful rainbow pass over the head of the Naples defender and Richie put the ball in for the third try of the day, Old White up 21 - 3. 

 

In the 65th minute of the game, Captain Joe Bambinelli was sent off the field with a yellow card for holding the ball in.  Bambinelli suffered as it was a team penalty since it was the 4th or 5th time Old White had been called for that infraction on the day.  Luckily, Keith Strellis, Stetson, and Francesco were able to provide valuable fresh minutes and the remaining 14 players held off a Naples side attacking with desperation.  Naples was able to put an unconverted try in the corner in the 75th minute.  Old White wins 21 - 8.