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Nashville RFC vs. Queen City
RFC
Date: May 10, 2003
Location: Granite Park, Sacramento, CA
Referee: Terry Haas
Nashville played Queen City RFC in the opening round
of the Division II National Championship.
Nashville was in control of the game from the start.
We did not play our best game on Saturday. I think
the travel and time change played a part in our play.
10 minutes into the game, Chris Ryan set good go forward
from a lineout. The ball came out and Mark Miranda
scored the first try of the day. (Nashville 5,
queen City 0) Nashville continued to play hard
and was awarded a penalty on the Queen City five-meter
line at the 20-minute mark. Nashville play and
Chris Ryan scored on the 3rd phase. (Nashville 12, Queen
City 0) Queen City hit a penalty kick at the 23-minute
mark to make the score (Nashville 12, Queen City 3).
Two minutes later, Toby hit a penalty kick to extend
the lead, Nashville 15, Queen City 3. Queen City
made another penalty kick to make the score 15 to 6,
Nashville. At the 36-minute mark Hodgen Mainda
caught a kick and made a nice counter attack with a
high kick. The Queen City fullback had a knock-on
in the catch and Sully caught the ball. Sully
off-loaded the ball to James Maxwell who scored the
try. (Nashville 22 Queen City 6). The half
ended.
Nashville came out flat in the second half.
42-minutes into the game Queen City was putting Nashville
under pressure. Nashville held them out of the
try zone but Queen City had a five-meter scrum.
They wheeled our scrum and we did not do a good job
of clearing the ball. We mishandled the ball and
Queen City scored. (Nashville 22 Queen City 11)
Nashville converted a penalty kick at the 46-minute
mark to extend the lead, Nashville 25 Queen City 11.
Nashville had several scoring opportunities to put the
game away. Nashville was unable to score on several
long breaks. At the 70-minute mark Nashville was
called for wheeling the scrum. Queen City took
the quick tap and scored. They made the conversion
to make the score Nashville 25 Queen City 18.
With five minutes remaining in the game, Nashville had
a nice break in the back line. At the breakdown
Nashville had two rocket attacks followed by a Tennessee.
Sully made a break and off loaded to Chris Ryan for
the try. Toby made the conversion to extend the
lead, Nashville 32 and Queen City 18. No additional
score in the remaining five minutes of the game.
The final score was Nashville 32 and Queen City 18.
1. Tommy Forbes
2. Ted Balicki
3. Andy Shirley
4. Larry Roland, 55 min. Andrew Johnson
5. Dace Shuck
6. Nobuhiro Haruki, 60 min Neal Fetterman
7. Chris Ryan 1 try
8. Adam Kibler
9. Donald Mitchell
10. Toby Florek 2 pk, 3 ck
11. Dave Osler
12. Marc Sullivan
13. Mark Miranda 1 try
14. James Maxwell 1 try
15. Hodgen Mainda
Nashville
RFC vs. Riverside RFC, Finals of Sweet 16 Pool D, Division
II Championship
Date: May 11, 2003
Location: Granite Park, Sacramento, CA
Referee: Mark Wheeler
On a beautiful sunny day in Sacramento, Nashville
RFC took the field to play Riverside RFC for a spot
in the Division II final four. Riverside had defeated
Norfolk, Virginia to advance on Saturday, 68 to 0.
Riverside had a formidable side with two Eagles or former
Eagles, former Fijian 7's player and many other players
from the Islands. The scrum half and Miliki both
played for OMBAC for many years and both were on the
7's National Champions from OMBAC for 2002. JB
Marcus a Nashville Old Boy is also a member of the Riverside
Club.
Nashville came out ready to play from the opening
kick off. Setting the tone of the game early and
maintaining possession. 3 minutes into the game,
Riverside committed a penalty and Toby Florek converted
the kick to give Nashville an early lead, 3 to 0.
After the kick off, Nashville continued to maintain
possession. When Riverside gained possession,
they were able to put Nashville under good pressure
with their outstanding back line. The Riverside
backs were very smart with their tactical kicking and
they were very fast and shifty. 7 minutes into
the game Riverside was on the board off a deep 22-meter
drop kick by Nashville. The Riverside player made
a nice counter attack avoiding several tacklers, kicking
the ball ahead, and regaining possession to score the
try. (Riverside 5, Nashville 3). On the
ensuing kick off, the Riverside scrum half (an Eagle
and former OMBAC player) avoided several tackles and
found speed in the open space for the second try of
the day. (Riverside 10, Nashville 3). In
the next 12 minutes, Nashville played hard to get back
into the game. We maintained possession and made
the Riverside team work hard on defense. Nashville
was rewarded for the hard play with three penalties
for the period. Toby converted two of the three
penalties to tighten the score. (Riverside 10
Nashville 9) At the 25-minute mark Riverside had
a scrum down around the half way line. They ran
a fake 1,3 skip 2 to 5 and the fullback hit the line
like a Fijian Rocket and scored untouched. (Riverside
17, Nashville 9) Riverside kept the pressure on.
At the 30-minute mark, Riverside scored a push off a
five-meter scrum. (Riverside 24, Nashville 9).
At the 35-minute mark, Nashville had maintained some
possession and Riverside was awarded a scrum down at
their own 22-meter line. The scrum half made a
nice break, going weak and found speed on the wing for
another score. (Riverside 31, Nashville 9)
After the kick off, Nashville was able to maintain possession
and drove the ball down to the Riverside 22 meter line
again. To me, the referee missed a "hands in the
ruck" call on Riverside and they got the ball out on
the weak side. We thought we still had possession
and were setting up the rocket to go strong. When
Riverside went weak no one was home and the Riverside
players passed around the wing and fullback to score
another long try. (Riverside 38, Nashville 9)
Nashville maintained composure and started the hard
work on driving the ball again. With time running
out in the half, Nashville was awarded a penalty on
the Riverside 15 meter line. Toby converted the kick
to end the first half with the score Riverside 38 and
Nashville 12.
Nashville regrouped and came out strong to start
the second half. The Nashville team remained positive
and played with much passion for the game. Five minutes
into the second half, Riverside was awarded a penalty.
Riverside converted the kick. (Riverside 41 Nashville
9) Nashville continued to run to put pressure
on the Riverside team. At the 52-minute mark,
Nashville was finally rewarded with a try. After
several phases of play, the ball went out wide.
Hodgen Mainda made a break and went for the line.
Hodgen got stopped ½ meter from the goal line.
James Maxwell on the play for the pick-n-go for the
try. Toby converted the kick to make the score
Riverside 41 Nashville 19. At the 55-minute mark,
the Riverside scrum half made an outstanding run juking
several players and making several nice side steps from
the half way line. Once he found space, he found
speed to score the try. (Riverside 48, Nashville
19) At the 59-minute mark, Nashville scored again
out of shear determination. Nashville was running the
rocket just outside the Riverside goal line. Finally,
after several minutes of pressure at the goal line,
Donald Mitchell got the ball in for the try. Toby
converted the kick. (Riverside 48, Nashville 26)
Riverside continued to play hard Rugby. Nashville
was hoping to apply pressure and have the Riverside
team loose their composure. It never happened.
Nashville continued to play hard and Riverside responded
with good hard play. The referee maintained control
of the game and both teams seemed to enjoy the game.
At the 61-minute mark, the Riverside backs found space
again and scored another long try. (Riverside
53 Nashville 26) After the kick off, Nashville took
it back at the Riverside team one more time. Nashville
was rewarded with a penalty at the Riverside 10 meter
line. After the penalty was rewarded, the PVC
goal post fell down. The game was delayed for
10-minutes while the goal post was repaired. Once
the game resumed, Nashville continued to pound the rocket.
Nashville did not get in and Riverside was rewarded
a five meter scrum. Nashville took the ball against
the head and Adam Kibler, the 8 man, picked up the ball.
Nashville was stopped on the first phase but Ted Balicki
scored on second or third phase ball. Toby converted
the kick. (Riverside 53, Nashville 33) Riverside
continued to play good hard rugby. They scored
two more tries at the 69th and 75th minute mark to make
the score 67 to 33. At the 75th minute mark, Dave
Osler broke the line at pace on a nice back line move
by our backs. Osler played the ball out to Killion
on the wing who finished the try. (Riverside 67
Nashville 40) Riverside scored again to end the
game. The final score was Riverside 74 and Nashville
40.
1. Tommy Forbes
2. Ted Balicki 1 try, 70 min. Neal Fetterman
3. Andy Shirley
4. Larry Roland, 60 min. Andrew Johnson
5. Dace Shuck, 70 min. Dwayne Brown
6. Nobuhiro Haruki
7. Chris Ryan
8. Adam Kibler
9. Donald Mitchell 1 try, 75 min James Maxwell
10. Toby Florek 4 pk, 4 ck
11. Dave Osler, 65 min Lawrence Killion 1 try
12. Marc Sullivan
13. Mark Miranda
14. James Maxwell 1 try, 70 min. Mike Gower
15. Hodgen Mainda, 65 min Dave Osler
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Nashville 23
Miami Tridents 16
Referee: Phil Dent
Earlier rains had passed and the game was played in
mostly sunny conditions with only a slight breeze. The
game had all the ingredients to be a good match as the
Tridents were almost all Argentine descent with plenty
of rugby skills throughout their ranks. It was a hard
physical match but was riddled with constant stoppages
and in essence it was a butchered affair. Nashville
tried to play an up tempo game while the Tridents intentionally
slowed the game down to help offset their lack of fitness.
It was not a good game to watch, but in the end it was
Nashville's team discipline that saw us through to victory.
The game opened up fast and furious as the Tridents
put Nashville under pressure playing most of the first
ten minutes in the Nashville territory. The Nashville
defense held though and Nashville went on the offensive
but failed to score on several opportunities. It took
almost 17 minutes before Pieter Van Vuuren made the
first penalty kick. A few minutes later the Tridents
leveled the score with a penalty kick. Nashville re-took
the lead with another Van Vuuren penalty kick at the
25 minute mark. Near the end of the half Don Mitchell
scored the games first try after heavy forward pressure
broke the Trident defense. The Tridents put together
a spirited drive that begin from a penalty deep inside
their half and after two more penalties against Nashville
they were within range and made another penalty kick.
Halftime score Nashville 11 - 6.
Nashville opened the second half playing inspired rugby.
Pieter Van Vuuren finished off a try then added the
conversion. The Tridents were under pressure most of
the game but were able to make another penalty kick.
Mid-way into the half Mark Miranda scored a try that
went unconverted. As the game continued fowl play became
a repeated issue and several times throughout the match
it seemed order was lost. Three yellow cards were handed
out to the Tridents during the course of the game for
punching. Play was constantly interrupted by unusual
interpretations and blatant stalling tactics. In the
end Nashville team discipline held as for the most part
we kept our composure despite the inability to play
at a reasonable pace and the constant fowl play. With
one minute remaining the Tridents scored a converted
try, but it was too late.
1. Tom Forbes
2. Chris Ryan
3. Andy Shirley
4. Dace Shuck (c)
5. Graham McRedmond / Larry Roland @ half
6. Nobuhiro Haruki / Ted Balicki @ 70 minutes
7. Evan Bone
8. Adam Kibler
9. Don Mitchell 1T / James Maxwell @ 50 minutes
10. Pieter Van Vuuren 2PK; 1CK; 1T
11. Dave Osler
12. Derek Wolfe
13. Mark Miranda 1T
14. Toby Florek
15. Hodgen Mainda
Remaining Reserves: Neal Fetterman, Andy Johnson, Dwayne
Brown and Chris Gower Trainer: Teresa Diamond
South Championships
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Nashville 33
Boca Raton 3
Referee: Mike Cobb
It was a beautiful day with perfect conditions to play
rugby. The first part of the game saw both teams move
the ball and attack at a fast pace. Referee Mike Cobb
did a great job keeping the game moving and made sure
the ball was made available which made for a very good
game of rugby from both sides. It took fifteen minutes
before Nashville scored its first try that came from
captain Dace Shuck's decision to quick tap a free kick
- after two forward movements the backs spread the ball
wide and wing Dave Osler dove over for an outstanding
try. Five minutes later Toby Florek took over kicking
duties and slotted a 35 meter penalty kick. On the restart
Nashville mishandled the kick and minutes later Boca
got on the board with a penalty kick. At the 28 minute
mark Pieter Van Vuuren hit a 40 meter drop kick. Nashville
narrowly missed scoring two additional tries making
the halftime lead 11-3.
The second half kickoff set the tone as Adam Kibler
and Ted Balicki put in a driving tackle on the restart.
A few phases later Van Vuuren went short-side and fed
Kibler who sprinted through some would be tacklers to
score a try in the corner. At the fourteen minute mark
the try of the tournament occurred. Boca was attacking
at our own 22 meter line when they knocked the ball
on. Referee Cobb played advantage - and the ball was
moved wide where Kibler made a big run before being
tackled at the halfway line. After fast ruck ball center
Derek Wolfe made huge ground after he broke a tackle,
several other players touched the ball then Evan Bone
finished off the movement diving under the posts. Toby
added the conversion. Boca continued to play hard rugby
and they applied heavy pressure with hard forward running
and occasional back play, but the Nashville defense
held. Toby added a penalty kick at the 20 minute mark.
At the 35th minute on second phase ball Pieter ran in
untouched through the middle and scored a try and Toby
added the conversion. With the game decided it was ended
early.
1. Tom Forbes
2. Neal Fetterman / Ted Balacki
3. Andy Shirley
4. Dace Shuck (c)/ Graham McRedmond @ 60 minutes / Dwayne
Brown @ 61
5. Andy Johnson / Larry Roland @ half
6. Chris Ryan
7. Evan Bone 1T
8. Adam Kibler 1T / Rick Miller @ 75 minutes
9. Don Mitchell / James Maxwell @ 50 minutes
10. Pieter Van Vuuren 1T, 1 DK
11. Dave Osler 1T
12. Derek Wolfe
13. Mark Miranda
14. Toby Florek 2 PK, 2CK
15. Hodgen Mainda
Remaining Reserves: Chris Gower Trainer: Teresa Diamond
Overall it was a great weekend. Nashville played good
rugby showing good team discipline and was justly rewarded
with the clubs first ever South Championship in 15-a-side
rugby. (It should be remembered that Nashboro United
also won the 7's championship last summer.) It was an
overall team and club win. All the hard work pays off.
This victory deserves full celebration and is a definite
highlight for Nashville Rugby.
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Nashville 25
St. Louis Ramblers 17
Game summary by Injured Reserve: Dace Shuck
Referee: Jim (Mid-West)
Nashville traveled with 21 players to St. Louis this
weekend to battle against the Division I Ramblers. It
was an excellent day with sunny skies at 65 degrees.
The field conditions were the best we have seen this
season (soft mud with some dry ground and no wind).
Nashville won the toss and chose to defend the northern
end as Captain Mark Miranda observed a slight slant
on the grounds and wanted the NRFC going downhill in
the second half. For the first ten minutes, there was
a seesaw possession battle taking place in the Nashville
end. But at the 10 minute mark, we begin to click with
a series of phases and tactful kicks to reverse the
pressure in to the Rambler zone. The first try of the
day came where inside center "Rock" connected with a
back one pass to Nobu for a try under the posts. Gower
converts. The Ramblers responded immediately with a
try of their own as their wing beat us to the corner
from the 20m line. An over commitment to the previous
breakdown gave them the man advantage on the outside
and their back-line transferred the ball sufficiently
to the parameter. No conversion. Nashville begin to
find their rhythm at the 20 minute mark and started
dictating every possession. Excellent defense led to
repossession of the ball and 4 to 6 phases of go forward
would follow (multiple series of ball retention placed
the Ramblers under pressure for the majority of the
remainder of the half). At the 30 minute mark, a series
of penalties by the frustrated Ramblers led the NRFC
within striking distance of the goal and Larry Roland
picked and went for a well deserved try from a previous
pick and go by Brown made possible by multi-phases of
play (and excellent distribution of the ball by Pinhead).
No conversion. The half ended with NRFC 12 and St. Louis
5.
Nashville begin the second half with a heavy blow to
the Ramblers when Gower placed a high kick-off for A.
Kibler, who took the ball on the run to juke the full-back,
break a couple of tackles, and then be shoved in to
the goal with the assistance and support of Nobuhiro.
No conversion. Again, the Ramblers responded immediately
with heavy pressure earning them the necessary striking
distance for a try (from a 5m penalty play) at the 45
minute mark. It is important to note that the ref awarded
the try prematurely as the ball had been held up in
goal. No conversion. The next 20 minutes of play was
by far the most physical we had faced this season. Ramblers
stepped up their defense and begin to play with an urgency
to take a lead. A lead they would never succeed as Nashville
continued to strategically keep the play out of their
end with good decision making from Gower and his back
line as well as the commitment to the break down from
the pack. Gower hit a 30m drop-kick at the 66 minute
mark to give the NRFC a ten point advantage with 15
minutes to play. The Ramblers continued to battle out
of their territory for the remainder of the game. They
were awarded a penalty try at the 76 minute mark from
a broken play beginning in their end with a series of
kicks from the ground during loose play that resulted
in Nobuhiro tackling a man with out the ball at our
10m line. Conversion good. Nashville immediately turned
the pressure back on the Ramblers and from a 20m scrum
right of the post, the back row executed their best
set play of the day with Nobu taking a pass-around from
Kibler for the last try of the day. No conversion.
Final: NRFC 25-17.
1. Tom Forbes
2. Neal Fetterman 3.
Andy Shirley
4. Larry Roland 1T / (Mark Tetley
blood sub @ 74-76 min) 5.
Brown / Jake Austad @ 40 minutes
6. Nobuhiro 2T 7.
Evan Bone / Lyle Jones @ 65 minutes 8.
Adam Kibler 1T
9. Don Mitchell 10. Chris
Gower 1 of 4 CK & 1 of 1 drop kicks
11. Killion / Mike Gower @ 35 minutes
12. Chris Ryan 13. Mark
Miranda (C) 14. Hodgen
Mainda 15. Dave
Osler.
Reserves: Joe Gerome, Pat Green, Mark Tetley. Thank
you for your support and preparation to play.
MAN of the Match - Nobuhiro. Excellent support and
outstanding defense. Two tries and an assist w/Kibler.
St. Louis "B" side played a local Air Force base in
the second game and our reserves got to play a half
with the Ramblers. Good play by all on the day.
Cheers - As we are all aware, there were several new
folks in the mix and others playing out of their normal
positions. Hats off to Neal Fetterman (Hooker) &
Brown (2nd Row) for their first start with us and their
excellent play. Larry Roland scored his first try with
the NRFC (Congrats, we need more). The reserves that
stepped on the pitch and the guys that were prepared
that never heard their number called.....Thank you!!
Without, we would of not had the success that we did.
Saturday, March 1, 2003
Nashville
21
Louisville
7
Game summary by coach: Mark Williams
Referee: Graeme Payne (GRU)
Nashville hosted long-time
rival Louisville on Saturday at Metro-Center.
After the recent rains, no sun in 2 weeks and two high
school games before our match -- the field looked more
like a pig pen than a rugby pitch. Despite the
sloppy conditions Nashville came out wishing to play
an expansive game. This tactic looked promising
when the Nashville back-row connected for a long movement
only to have the walk-in try dropped at the 5th
minute mark. This lost opportunity marked the
beginning of a series of unforced errors and poor
decisions that in essence saw Nashville continually
shooting themselves in the proverbial foot. Conditions
were a key factor and we needed to be far more conservative
with possession. We tried to make ill-advised
passes in contact and many times passed to player in
worse potion -- a cardinal rule of rugby.
We lacked patience to play through phases of play and
tried to look to hit a home run while standing in ankle
deep mud. Finally at the 35-minute mark Evan Bone
dove over the line as the Nashville forward pack put
the visitors under heavy and relentless pressure. Toby
Florek banged over the conversion for the only score
at the half Nashville 7 Louisville 0.
Nashville opened up the second
half playing its best rugby on the day. Chris
Ryan made a knifing run and we applied heavy pressure
but failed to convert opportunities into points.
We kept Louisville trapped though and finally Andy Shirley
scored a his first try ever for Nashville at the 10
minute mark. Toby added the conversion.
Even though we played well we couldn’t really build
to deliver the needed knock-out blow. Time of
possession in the opponents half was probably 65% Nashville,
but Louisville were a quality side and they were
ever opportunistic and every mistake was punished.
At the 25 minute mark Louisville scored their only try
of the game as their forwards earned a converted
try. Momentum stayed with Louisville until Mark
Miranda picked off a pass and ran 80 meters to score
the game’s final try.
Conditions were the single
biggest controlling factor on the day for both
teams. Louisville was a good side and this level
of competition was exactly what we were hoping
for. We made plenty of mistakes that should motivate
us as a team to continue to work on improving.
We also gained confidence in our ability to handle pressure
and overcome issues. Our defense was mostly good
with some outstanding tackles put in by center Derek
Wolfe. We worked hard a as a team and it
was this discipline in our game that earned us the
victory.
1. Tom Forbes
2. Chris Ryan 2T 3. Andy Shirley
4. Graham McRedmond
/ Larry Roland at 65 minutes 5. Dace Shuck
©
6. Nobuhiro Horuki
7. Evan Bone 1T 8. Adam Kibler
9. Don Mitchell
10. Toby Florek 3 of 3 CK; 0-1 penalty kicks
11. Andrew Killion
12. Derek Wolfe
13. Mark Miranda 1T 14. Hodgen Mainda
15. Dave Osler
Nashville B
22
Louisville B
5
Thirteen forwards and
two backs took on the Louisville b-side in the muddy
affair. The game was evenly matched except Nashville
found an advantage with hard running centers.
Jake Austad opened up the scoring with a try in the
first half. Louisville countered with a try early
in the second half, but it was the Josh Harris
show that made the difference. Due to work commitments
this was his first outing and he ran through would be
defenders on several occasions and touched down three
tries for a hat trick on the day. Despite
the conditions it was a good game overall with both
sides slugging it out with forward play. The Nashville
forwards did well keeping the pressure on the opposition
with pick and go and good rucking. The forwards
also stayed in our attack pattern and many players stood
out proving themselves ready for A-side play.
This depth and competitive spirit within the team
is vital for us to achieve our long-term goals.
It’s been said many times that a team is only as good
as its second-side and I believe this is true.
This is the best group since I’ve been coaching at Nashville
and this factor is what can push us over the edge in
a long competitive season.
1. Curt Foxx
2. Art Harris
3. Larry Roland
4. Andy Johnson
5. Pat Green
6. Mark Teply /
Joe Gerome @ half 7.
Neal Fetterman 8.
Ted Balicki
9. Scott Randolph
10. Marcus Williamson - 1of
4 CK 11.
Dwayne Brown
12. Josh Harris
- 3T “Hat-trick-baby”
13. Jake Austad – 1T
14. John Johnson
15. Mike Gower
Feb 21, 2003
Nashville 24 - Renegades 15
The clouds broke and the wind soared
for a few hours in Atlanta Saturday as The Posse went
to work for a well-earned victory against a solid Renegade
team. Nashville had the one-way strong wind advantage
in the first half and used it to keep the pressure
in the Atlanta side for virtually the entire half.
We started with what seemed like 10 minutes of pounding
from the pack rockets and lots of 22 drops due
to wind-taken kicks into the try zone, but were
finally rewarded with a penalty and Toby Florek slotted
it to give us the 3-0 lead. More pressure, more
22s from counters. The pressure inside their 22
finally resulted in a nice try on a keep run in from
Derek Wolfe carrying a few Gades in with him.
Toby Florek converted to make it 10-0. Wind, consistent
strong tackling and scrums forced bad kicks from the
Gades unsure-handed fly-half resulted in a nice
movement that saw an Adam Kibler, Hodgen Mainda
and David Osler counter, set up a nice ruck right side
of post about 30 meters out and Chris Gower came
all the way over from the left wing to take a
ball from Pinhead, then in to Mark Miranda who sent
Chris Ryan with a pass around for a sprint to
the line. Toby again converted for the 17-0 lead.
Second half and the strong wind advantage
shifted to the home team who gained a bit of life and
some urgercy. They now had the benefit of non-cleared
kicks and had some nice counters to the 22 only to be
stopped by The Posse and their strong tackling. At last,
their renewed vigor with the bumps off the rucks
finally produced a try. Unconverted 17-5. we kicked
deep and kept the pressure on despite some strong kicks
overhead of the back 3. Kibler made an excellent
run off some nice passing from the pack and darted down
the right sideline for a try. Well-earned after being
lassoed around the neck more than once by would-be tacklers.
Toby converted for the 24-5 lead. Atlanta seemed
to come to life and used strong runs from the loose
and a mishandled Nashville ball turned into a nice counter
from their pack to dot it down to make it 24-10.
Then after holding the line for what seemed like the
rest of the half, we got a bit panicky on a knocked-down,
then collected ball that didn't make it to a kicker's
hands and Atlanta's big boys got the push and a few
movements later scored their final trial in extra
time to make the uncoverted try and final score 24-15.
1 Forbes 2 Ryan (1T)
3 Roland
4 McRedmond, Johnson (60 min) 5 Shuck
(Captain)
6 Bone 7 Belicki, Nobohiro (70 min) 8 Kibler
9 Mitchell, Anders (65 min) 10 Florek (1P,
3C) 11 Gower
12 Wolfe (1T) 13 Miranda 14 Mainda,
Killion (62 min) 15 Osler, Mainda (62 min)
Nashville B 12 - High Country
7
Some poor execution in the
backs, penalties, inconsistency in the lineouts and
scrums negated our decided wind advantage in this 40
minute match. High Country used good pick -and-goes
to strong rucking to score an early try to give
the home team a 7-0 lead. After warnings from the ref
for excessive penalties, Nashville finally settled
down and got some nice play from Brown and others.
Chris Gower cleared a long ball, then a few chasers
pounced on the High Country winger who held the ball
which gave us a penalty at the 40. Gower quick tapped
and sent a goal-thirsty Chris Ryan racing for the line.
Gower converted to make it 7-7. After more pressure,
had a great opportunity for a break as Mike Gower streaked
through wide open hole only to receive a pass from little
bro that would've been tough for Yao Ming to snag. Then
some decent tackling and pressure produced a knock-on
which Chris Ryan scooped and again bolted to the line
for the try. Realizing time was up, Graham McRedmond
had no pressure to make the kick so he lacked focus
and miss-hit the drop-kick conversion to end the game
12-7.
1 Rick Miller 2 Irvin Loas 3 Artie
Harris
4 Dwayne Brown 5 John (new guy)
6 Joe Gerome 7 Pat McRedmond 8 Andrew Johnson
9 Adam Anders 10 Chris Gower 11 Lawrence Killion
12 Nobuhiro Haruki, Chris Ryan (5 min)
13 Mike Gower 14 Ted Belicki 15 David Osler
Graham McRedmond (not sure who he subbed for)
Saturday, February 8, 2003
Nashville
55
Memphis Blues
0
Game summary by coach: Mark Williams
Referee: David Haines
Nashville traveled with over 30
players to Memphis this weekend to open up the 2003
spring season with a matrix game. It was a cold
day and field conditions were a soggy mess. Nashville
took control of the game from the opening kick-off applying
heavy pressure on the Blues that resulted in a try
by Adam Kibler. The game seesawed back and forth
for the next several minutes and Memphis had repeated
opportunities to score due to mental mistakes
and silly penalties by Nashville. It was during
these occasional lulls that we could see our first game
rust and a lack of discipline. At about
the 15th minute into the game Mark Miranda scored a
try as he burst through a gap to score under the
posts. A few minutes later Kibler made a
break and passed off to Nobuhiro who drug players over
the line for a try. Near the end of the half Chris
Ryan scored a try. Toby Florek went 3 of 4 on
the conversion kicks making the halftime score Nashville
26 Memphis 0.
In the second half Nashville
maintained their focus and continued to apply pressure
in the sloppy conditions. Special mention must
be made to the improved scrum work especially from the
front row. Also Evan Bone as jumper did an excellent
job in the lineouts. In the 5th minute Toby
Florek chipped over the top and was able to fall on
his kick for a try. The next three tries
came from heavy forward pressure as Chris Ryan scored
another try, Graham McRedmond drug would-be tacklers
over the line for a try and scrumhalf Donnie “pinhead”
Mitchell was justly rewarded with a try. Toby
finished off the days scoring at the end of the match
with another try. Toby went only 2 of 5 on conversations.
Overall it was a good start.
Someone asked me if it wasn’t great and my response
was – it’s way too early for great. It’s going
to be a long season and we have a lot of work
to do to achieve our goals. In sports you must
work to improve at every opportunity and you must prove
yourself at every game. Memphis showed a
lot of heart in that they battled just as hard in the
last five minutes as they did in the beginning.
Our next meeting with them in Nashville will be a different
affair. The best thing we can takeaway from this
game is identifying the areas we need to improve on
and establishing a point of reference in how we
will get better. Forget about the one-sided shoreline
as it only means one victory. We have a long way
to go and it’s going to take a lot of effort by a lot
of people to get there. We took a good first step
on Saturday, but we still have a lot of work to do
and a long way to go.
1. Tom Forbes, 2. Chris Ryan 2T, 3.
Andy Shirley
4. Andy Johnson / Larry Roland at half, 5. Graham
McRedmond 1T / Jake Austad @ 60 minutes
6. Nobuhiro 1T / Ted Balicki @ 70 minutes, 7.
Evan Bone / Scott Randolph @ 71 minutes
8. Adam Kibler 1T, 9. Don Mitchell 1T,
10. Toby Florek 2T, 5 of 9 CK
11. Chris Gower / Brian Savasta @ 65 minutes,
12. Derek Wolfe, 13. Mark Miranda © 1T
14. Hodgen Mainda / Killion @ 50
minutes, 15. Dave Osler
Nashville B
7
Memphis B
7
It appeared that the Nashville
B-side were going to continue the onslaught as early
in the game Killion finished off a nice run made by
Dave Osler. Chris Gower added the conversion.
This play served as the only points we scored in the
game as continuity was disrupted by sloppy play or handling
errors. Conditions and the overall play of the
game were sloppy. We had several good plays but
lacked the overall team continuity needed to turn
opportunities into points. Memphis was forced
to have many players play again from the A-side so they
did have some good players in the game. We had
many bright spots and many individuals showed some good
talent. In the end Memphis scored a try at the
end of the game with one of our borrowed players
making the final pass to put them across and with the
conversion a tie game.
1. Curt Foxx, 2. Irvin Laos,
3. Rick Miller
4. Mark Teply, 5. Pat Green,
6. Tatsuo Tani
7. Neal Fetterman, 8. Scott
Randolph, 9. Dave Osler
10. Chris Gower, 11. Charlie
Martin / Art Haris
12. Brian Savasta (Injured) / Ted Balicki
1st half
13. Jake Austad, 14. Mike Gower,
15. Lawrence Killion
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