Matches Report
Try for Others Website - Games vs. Jesuit, Rio Linda, and Vacaville
All coaches felt our club made great progress throughout the day, gaining valuable experience with each game. The attitude and team spirit remains wonderful, as is the support we receive from parents and friends! And the Tournament itself truly was a great event!
Brothers Rugby, proud to step up to its first challenge this year against Jesuit, learned what it felt like to be on our heels all game, but the defense did hold fairly well. Our top player, Mike Macaluso, who played brilliantly again, though came off the field with an injured shoulder, and did not play the rest of the day. He has seen the Doc, and is pursuing Physical Therapy with Lino Cedros at Kinections (24th & J St., 441-5094). Losing 10-nil to Jesuit, for a first year club just out of the gates, was impressive! We expect to play them again on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.
We learned how to address physical play and not to give up, against an undisciplined Rio Linda Club. With Mike Macaluso out, Joe Malm stepped up his game, especially in the second half, as Brothers clawed back from a 12-0 deficit. A 3 point penalty kick from Joe Perez started the tide turning, followed by an awesome forward move off a tapped penalty by Nate. Daniel took the pass, went hard up into contact, and as he went to deck, Mark and Leo cleaned out the opposition perfectly, leaving the ball for Miguel to pick and attack with. He slipped through, but we couldn't slot the kick from the right side.
Down 12-8, and with the referee's watch ticking down, Joe Malm then incorrectly elected to go for points on makeable penalty. Once selected, the ref could not allow him to change his choice. Even if we made the kick, we would still be down by one point with the game clock about to expire. Joe Perez missed the opportunity (short) and Rio Linda knocked it on. Scrum to Blue, 5 meters out. Which lead to a penalty against Rio Linda. Refs do not allow a match to end on such a penalty. Joe then took the quick tap and all but scored under the posts. He was in the try zone, and had only to fall on it, but extended his arms out to show the ref the ball, however the other side slapped it out before he could dot down! Tough lesson.
On a down note, Rio Linda's players collected 3 cards (2 yellow and 1 red) for Foul Play (Law 10), and looked like trouble brewing. We sincerely hope they continue to improve as this was their very first week of match play. We will meet them again at the end of our regular season.
And finally, at the day's end, we learned how to win a close game against the Vacaville Black Dogs. Some players learned to really step it up, most notably Nate Bollinger, and Justin Walters (who played well all day). But in the second half against Vacaville, Nate seemed to take the game over. Perhaps he sensed that our only chance at victory on the day might soon slip away, but he would not let that come! His playmaking and tackling in the second half was intense, inspirational to all his teammates!
On the day our forwards all played well, continuing to grow as we all learn to put in the hard work. Addison Avila, Miguel Reyes, Leo Vellutini, Robert Kwoka, Mark Spottiswood, Joe Pane and Daniel Castano all continue to grow together nicely as a group. In the backs, Joe Perez and Connor Adam continue to shine, though we need to find ways to bring these two hard workers more fully into our offense. Luca Bertini, with an injured leg, was still out there working hard and learning valuable lessons. Eric Lichtenberger and Tyler Flissinger do everything they can to help, but these guys need a full Frosh/Soph team to become stars on!
We need to continue working with our backs so that they do not dive in rucks. Many times throughout all three games we saw only the wing lined up on defense. We cannot afford to see our 10, 12 and 13 overcommit, even though it might look like fun to jump in and join the ruckus! The backs need to work on coming up flat, together, on defense. From this sort of well organized defensive pressure we will create numerous turnovers. We also need to position our backline better when on offense. Coach Rich will be out this week to refocus our efforts there.
Our forwards (like our backs) need more depth (in numbers and) in attack. If you find yourself alongside a teammate who is getting tackled, you are in 'no man's land!' A successful forward attack is often a product of a column of support pouring through a weak point in the opponent's defense. We will work on depth of support all season long! And then again next year! Also, we need to catch and drive our line outs (Cadillac) before we can catch and toss it off the top.
Good to see our friends and injured warriors coming out. Scott Fenaroli and Jesse Silva came out for rugby for the first time since their injuries. Good to hear both will heal. Whereas Luca and Tyler keep trying to comeback, and we appreciate that they keep putting in the hard work needed.
