Game Report - CW vs Meraloma April 5
The Castaway Wanderers Rugby Club is please to feel a small sense of kinship with Mr. Twain....witness CW Div1 26 Meralomas 20...CW Premier 28 Meralomas 23.
What a journey we've all been on since Sept 07....and now to be facing two play off CW home games Div 1 and Premier....."greatly exaggerated'' indeed!
Nevertheless the CW Nation (Juniors, Div 1 and Premiers) will go into the 2008 play offs a humble group, knowing that victory and defeat are often separated by a bounce or knock on, a won or lost line out.
The bounces went CW's way on Saturday April 5th in Vancouver where we were welcomed and treated royally by our long time friends the Meralomas Rugby Club. Great progress has been made on their new field repair/reconstruction and therefore we played on the ''B field'' which has a healthy slope, attractive to the team winning the toss and reminiscent of JBAA MacDonald Park with similar impact on the rugby psyche.
Div 1 won the toss and chose the uphill battle in the first half. By the half the score was Lomas 20 CW 7....and it felt like not enough separation for what was to come in the second 40. Getting ready to face the Meralomas kick off was like facing a team on growth hormone therapy! At least 4 guys in the forwards 6'4" and a few that size in the backs....big team and CW thought ''tough day ahead''. That proved to be the case but with the Lomas off the boil in the second half the visitors came back to seal the win. CW has been all too familiar with full 80 in the trenches battling to dig out wins, so the deficit at half was familiar territory. Calm and confident throughout, Phat Jonny Morris and Simon Lui lead a determined team along with another powerful performance by the back row combination of Hodge, Middleton and James. Stefan Alexander was a big contributor on the day putting in the heavy slogging at #5 and doing work around the field. Winston Lawrence a #2 and the line out forwards corrected the errors of the previous week....well done on this day. Hubert Buydens scored his usual ''one a game'' with a punch over try reminiscent of the tries of weeks gone past. A few loose passes in contact during play opened doors for the home team. Add to that the pressure situations, three good tries went to the Lomas....one in particular was very exciting.....5 phases of pressure inside the visitors 22 put the ball cleanly in the hands of the #10 who executed a perfect chip kick over the defense into the end zone for the recovery and dot down...a real beauty! However, after the turn with the score 20 Home 7 Visitors....Doug Hepp the grass roots vet led the lads to three tries and two conversions (no points for the Lomas in the second). One try equally as exciting as the Lomas #10 .....with Matt James at the 50 taking off with the ball.....cleanly beating the first man (as Graham Henry noted during his recent Victoria visit...the most important skill a rugby player must have is being able to beat a man one on one) fending off a second and unloading perfectly to a supporting Simon Lui.
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Premier CW vs Meralomas....again the toss was won by CW and the lads started up the slope.....also hoping to keep the half time score close.....it turned out to be CW 13 Lomas 15.....just right!
The game was a fasted pace exchange with lots of size and impact throughout....actually both clubs seem to share a similar style. Mr. Pat Allard did a good job in the control and fitness departments.....and very consistent around the loose play which enabled the players to figure it out and get on with the game. The Meralomas boast a big, strong, tight 5 with set scrum and line out powers.....driving and mauling by this group was very similar to the approach CW experienced vs Bayside. On the day the CW ability to keep the home team pinned back in their 40 proved invaluable.....this was done at different times and from different locations by Molia, Puck, Buckley, Weingart and second half Graf.....pick your poison! This all said, the Lomas scored a well deserved try from red zone pressure and forward driving power.....they seemed to come away from that try in the first half with an ''ok, here we go'' confidence. But oh my....the CW restart was taken by a Jebb Sinclair ''Air Jordan'' style down to a rushing Prop Devin Stubl....quick contact and toss to #9 Johnny Inoke and dotted between the posts. This was followed by a Hubert Buyden yellow for repeated infringement and 10mins for CW one down......3 mins into the binning the first set scrum required Goodland #8 off (big loss to the offense play of CW) and Josh Handysides in for his second game on the day. (solid effort by Handy holding things together and contributing around the field until Buyden's return) Sitting at Lomas 18 CW 13 a nice center splitting try was constructed by the CW backs to put ''Pichot'' in under the posts. Quickly followed by a back row attack from a set scrum that involved pick and go and pass and pass and O'Toole a 20 meter run into the zone.....this all seemed to put a reasonable, but not for sure, seal on the game if CW kept their heads and game control.
The match ended after 80......CW 28 (3 tries, 3 penalties, 2 conversions) Meralomas 23 (3 tries, 1 conversion, 2 penalties)
With that all done, we shared some beers and older warriors from both sides talked and told lies about games past as we always do......CW must apologize to the Lomas club and organizers as we made the move to the Bus too soon and messed up coordinating the speeches and man of the match honors.....a mistake for which the author of this repot takes full responsibility and apologies....we did get to exchange a few thank you's as the lads were on the bus....but not good style by the victors on the day......we'll fix that when next we meet! Once again, submitted by Brent Johnston embedded with the CW Nation at the home of the Mighty Meralomas .
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