Dayton 31 Knoxville 24

Yet again the rugby gods have chosen to punish the faithful by robbing us of several players before another big away-game. This time we traveled up to sunny Dayton, Ohio, to take on the flying pigs. My worst fears were realized when we only had 13 players (plus little’ole me) show up at the pitch … a far cry from the 24 or so we’ve had at practice. In a show of true spartan spirit, the boys from Knoxville chose the pipe wrench (playing with 14) over the belt (playing with 14 + help from Dayton) and took to the field. Understandably, chaos ensued. Dayton jumped off to a quick lead due to mistakes and confusion on our part, and we were never able to overtake them. At one point late in the match we had clawed our way back to a two point deficit, despite the loss of Rob W. our fullback. But a late try to Dayton sealed the deal and we lost the match 24 – 31.

Kudos to the forward pack for playing their guts out. (At least) Two of our four tries were scored by Possum pigs (Rooster and Tanner, good one guys!!), with excellent support play in the loose and around the ruck. The backline had a harder time of it, with new faces at scrumhalf, flyhalf, OC, FB and wing, not to mention playing without a BS wing. We did the best we could and grats to Luke for playing above and beyond the call of duty … cleaning up loose ball, kicking duties, strong running and a fine individual effort to score a try. A well-deserved “Man of the Match” performance in my books. We’re going to work hard to be better, although i can only work with the guys that show up. And by show up I mean show up week in, week out, run the laps, rotate from defence onto offence, learn our moves, impress the hell outta somebody and earn the right to wear the jersey. Credit will be given where credit is due. Nuff said.

There are some big games to come. We need to put out the call and gather the faithful to the Possum Banner. Best I can figure, at the kind of attrition rate we’re experiencing, we need at least 30 at practice in order to have any hope of fielding 20 players on game day. Call somebody, put a bumper sticker on your car, wear your possum tshirts to the gym, put up flyers at Kroger, write an article for the paper, give out a possum business card to a stranger at the pub, donate a kidney …. anything!!! I will not shirk from 14-man “spartan” rugby, and I’ve been known to say that “fall is for fun”. But brave or not, the spartans wound up dead and driving 600 miles roundtrip to lose a game of rugby isn’t my idea of fun. My idea of fun is putting our best 15 on the field and letting the dogs loose; letting injured guys come off the field without having to feel guilty about leaving us “short”; giving our subs enough game time to let them show their stuff; everybody playing their hardest so that win or lose, there will be no regrets. Just one coaches’ dream …. club spirit, possum pride, a band of possums!

Thanks to Dayton for the game and post-match social. Unfortunately I had a previous date with the hotel hot tub, but from what I can gather a good time was had by all.

Rant off. See you at practice

Pete the C.

The squad – Dars, Rooster, Tyler “Prodigal Son” Husky, Jay, Tanner, Butters, KA, Noss, Raf, Luke, Big Wayne, Ingle, Rob and (because noone else was around) myself.

The points – Luke (2 tries, 2/4 conversions), Tanner (try), Rooster & a cast of thousands (try)

Man of the Match – Luke “Cage”
Purple Heart – Rob W (ankle), Tanner S (ankle, got better, then ankle some more)