Game Summery #5
Eric Bryan
Gastonia 7 Asheville 79
This game took some organizing to get a team together to play we had ten confirmed then two of them dropped out it took a great deal of effort to raise a team to play Gastonia especially being a matrix game which we where not going to forfeit so thanks to Marcus, Figgy in the there help in rounding up players
We went down with sixteen players half the team of rookies some had played about 30mins of rugby so far. So with a new front row Tony pack leader and David (np) as prop and mike (np) hooking Jonny (np) and Matt second row, Chase eight man (np) D Smyth open side flanker big Pete (np) out side flanker we had a good big pack our back line consisted of Donnie (np) new scrum half first time he played this position Steve Heullet standoff Marcus captain and inside center Gabriel (np) outside center Jonathan (np) open side wing during the game Greg Scott other wing due to injure pick up two games ago and speedy Pete as full back Elli (np) as sub
I felt some what confident we had a good pack and set of backs that we would get a good score on Gastonia but we need 60 points clear if we want to go further in the matrix with that in mind the boys had a clear understanding what was required of them shut out Gastonia not let them play keep them off the score sheet and get 60 points plus
Well its was a complete reverse of last Saturday game the boys where up for the challenge had the pack played great in the line electing to play four man line out work well rucks and mauls where good but slow to rucks for my liking but quicker then Gastonia we feed the ball out well to out back line well, breaking down Gastonia defense and tackles take three to four of there players out of the game giving us large holes to exploit which we did Gabriel scoring number of tries he could have had more but gave the ball up to support players speedy Pete and Jonathan so by half time we where 38 to nil unfortunately with minute and half to go before half time Steve Heullet and Jonnie collided while try to tackle Gastonia number 10 luck for him that they hit each other but not lucky for us Steve required eight stitches on for head Jonnie cut above and long the eye brow required four inside and fifteen on the out sides big thanks to Maranda taking care of the boys at pitch side and taking them to the hospital stay with them.
Which put as at 14 men on the field so we lost eight man but important that had to flankers to keep Gastonia out it took ten minutes to settle down but we lost our composure which lead them to score a try but the lads took it straight to them putting their back line under pressure and we score straight after our tactic was to ruck hard and quick tire their pack out and quick ball out to the backs taking it in and rucking fast driving off the rucks back a long the line ruck quickly drive through more quick ruck and again driving up the field which lead to chase score a couple of try running 30 yards having breaking out of the ruck great player and tries what I like to see but disaster at a scrum which we held and push Gastonia of the field with 7 men Dave Smyth got in to a fight ending in him being sent off with 25mins off the game to go and putting Asheville in a position that if we lost any more men the game would not count Marcus moved to flanker Greg move to stand off Gabriel inside and speedy Pete outside leaving us with no full back but I must hand it to the guys they work hard kept Gastonia at bay putting them under pressure they elected to kick and chase when they had the ball with wind behide them, but all the guys made great recovers from the wings to pack members collecting the ball and driving up the field denying Gastonia the ball for us to ruck and maul and run down the line impressive playing by the guys the worked hard again our fitness levels began to pay off great effort and determination by the guys even with some injuries but kept on playing matt broken figures Marcus twist is ankle big Pete should pop out put back in great flight lads by every one concern every body played well and got stuck in the rucks and mauls both backs and forwards even had forwards in the back line when backs where tied up great to see Donnie play well to say it was is fist time at scrum half more training man for the future speedy Pete made some great runs but what I like about is play he stayed on his feet driving forward even three guys on which help for when pack arrive good play. Yet again hard to pick man of the match but I say it went to Gabriel fanatics runs up the field and unselfish play in giving ball to support players to score when he could have. All in all a tremendous effort and play by Asheville boys thanks lads you gave me more then my 60 points required excellent to see a great team effort by every body kept it up
Note will need to rest some guys so I will expect some of the old boys to take there places against Johnson city on the 8th March so that we will be ready to take on triad at home 22 nd March for us to win. Time to step up to the plate and help out this what Coach and team requires.