Match Report / Photos
CBHS 22 - Davis Blue Devils 12
Our match against the Davis Blue Devils, that ended nicely under the lights at O'Neill Park, is making believers out of a lot of good rugby people here in town! That goalline stand to end the game, the way Brothers stepped up midway thru the game to take a firm grip on the match, and Nate's smart leadership down the stretch, pulled us through against a team with numbers and experience and huge desire to win. Hats off to Davis! Congratulations Brothers, you're playing good rugby, and proving your guts and ability to win!
This coming week we'll work on improving our fitness, our commitment to winning scrums and rucks, and our overall decision making. We need to recognize weaknesses in our opponents and exploit them better. And for what its worth, Davis does too. They found weaknesses in our defense, and yet kept going back to our strengths! They should have scored a lot more points. But then we were in the try zone 3 times (or more) without scoring a try!
The final score stood 22-12, and after Davis jumped out 7-0, that's a wonderful result. Gilbert Vaca, our Man of the Match last week, was well on his way again, until he took a knock to his cheek. He should be fine and be back at training Monday. Daniel Castano, our other athletic flanker, who has stepped up huge the last few weeks, scored a thunderous try (Davis clearly had no desire to tackle Big Daniel!) and was demon making multiple tackles and creating much havoc for Davis. Our back row forwards should be our best players, and whereas Sauce has stepped up nicely, we all can't wait to see Mike Macaluso back in on the pitch!
Lots of players played great, but we were very impressed with Robert Kwoka's work rate as the game wore down. As we needed to step it up, Robert seemed to take even greater responsibility on his already massive shoulders. If he hadn't made that one kick (one Nate told him to make), resulting in an offsides penalty called against Daniel, Robert could be the Man. Just take it hard up into contact forwards. Let the backs do the kicking!
Joe Perez, Joe Malm and Justin Walters all played great in the backs. Mike Maesretti was asked to play out of position, with Connor Adam home sick, and did quite well. Mike's dad Tim, a former star for CB Rugby in the '80s enjoyed watching! Sal Paolini began showing glimpses of greatness. But it is hard to give the game ball to a back when our forwards so completely dominated the Davis pack. Still, especially with such a wide field, and with our speed and skills, forwards, we need to pick and go less, and put the ball in Joe Malm's hands more! Joe's game is growing by leaps and bounds, and we will need him to lead us to vistory in our big matches ahead. Nate will be working on better vocalization of field commands this week at training, while Joe will be asked to work on his field vision and recognition. And the forwards need to develop an ear for listening! We missed many scoring opportunities out wide, but this will all come over time.
The Man of the Match this week goes to a hard working forward, a man who enjoys hitting in tight, and is growing great skills in the rolling maul. Joe Pane was in the try zone once, but was denied when Davis plucked the ball from his hands just before dotting down (as was 'Sauce' Castillo). But Joe kept coming, scoring a great try later in the game, and was also an integral part of the 5 Meter Lineout that started the 4th and final period.
We usually run 4-Man Lineouts, but for this play, we loaded all 8 forwards plus Nate jumping. Lucca got him the ball (and will be working hard on improving his throw-ins and hooking over the next week). As Nate pulled it down, the entire pack began driving the Maul off the sideline, spinning slightly towards the tryline and goal posts. The driving maul went on and on, sucking in all nearby Davis defenders, until Freshman Mark Spottiswood stripped the ball from Nate and rolled into the try zone untouched! Just like we planned it!
Acknowledgements must go out to Ed Forrest for hosting the weinerss and pops for the visiting team, and to Coach Greg Schubert, and Buzz Oates Industries, who coordinated the manufacture and donation of the most awesome goalposts we've ever seen! Thank you Leo and Royal Electric for transporting them back onto campus where they are stored.
