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News
A Strong Showing for
the Griffins' Opener
January 23, 2007 -- It was a great day for rugby at the Furman
pitch this past Saturday. With an excellent crowd on hand, clear
skies, warm tempuratues, and a fast track, the Greenville Griffins
opened their 2007 spring season with a bang against local D3
rivals Columbia Olde Grey.
With loads of new faces on the club and just over three weeks
of training under their belts you could feel the anticipation
building throughout the week. An outsider would have thought
the Griffins were preparing for the world cup final rather than
a first out tune up match for the matrix league. It would be
an understatement to say that Greenville approached this as
a scrimmage. With the competition for spots being so tight everyone
on the club was keen to have a crack at live opposition to prove
what they were worth.
With the forwards providing an excellent platform from the set
piece it did not take long for the Griffins to strike in the
first 20 minute quarter. The first try of the match came as
a result of a bruising 2 crash handled by Patrick Milne off
of a short side scrum. He took the ball at pace and made easy
work of three potential defenders that stood between him and
the try zone. That burst of speed and strength set the team
in motion for the remainder of the day. Brett Van Der Merwe
added the extras with ease and Greenville led 7 -0.
The second try followed shortly after and came as a result of
some clever counter attacking by the Griffin back three. Columbia
was trapped behind their 22 and were looking for some relief
through the boot of their number 10. Much to the Griffins delight
his boot was not true and Mike "Tex" Miller managed to claim
the kick towards the middle of the park. Tex returned the kick
with interest by sending one of his own up to the heavens just
outside of their 22. As the ball floated back to earth two Griffins
converged on the Columbia winger and absolutely finished him.
Zach Hunt was johnny on the spot and managed to clean things
up by providing some go forward ball. As Columbia scarmbled
to provide cover defense the Griffins recycled quickly and looked
to move the ball wide. Dutch Jones cleared the ruck to Patrick
Milne at first receiver who moved it on to Tex, Tex then dummied
wide and came back with an inside ball to Milne who dotted down
for the second time of the match. Brett Van Der Merwe put over
the extras and moved us out to a 14-0 lead.
The third try of the first 20 minute quarter came after some
continuous pressure which resulted in an Olde Grey penalty for
holding on in the ruck five meters out from their own line.
Based on the strength of our pack we elected for the five meter
scrum. Brett Ferreira spread the backs wide for appearance and
promptly ordered up a 6 crash from Tex off the weak wing. Columbia
recognized the move but had no answer for the text book dummy
that Ferreira put on. Ferreira stretched his legs for the last
three meters and went in for the first of many try to come this
season. Van Der Merwe once again covered the extras with no
difficulty and we went into the break ahead 21-0.
With a shuffled side and some improved Olde Grey defense it
took us a little longer to get on top of the match in the second
20 minute period. There was little happening out wide with the
new backline but about half way through the period the Griffins
tight five started to flex their muscles through several rolling
mauls, and a number of clinical rucks. The mounting pressure
was rewarded when Jason 'Bucci' Rebucci dotted down our fourth
try under the sticks off of a rolling maul that started off
of a Greenville lineout. It was a great forward effort and it
appeared Bucci took Tony Coggiola's fingers with him when he
noticed the try line was under him and he had a chance to score.
Greenville scrum half, Dutch Jones was unable to convert the
extras which put us at 26-0.
With about three minutes remaining in the quarter the fifth
try of the match was the result of some excellent team work.
By this point of the match the combination of players that were
new to rugby and the lack of game conditioning on both sides
was starting to produce plenty of loose ball. The Griffins gathered
up a spilt ball by Columbia somewhere around the half way line
and started to move it down the long line of hands towards the
wing. About three quarters of the way down the line it was clear
to see that it was Rob Ritz out wide and it was going to be
a long haul for him to get home. Ritzy kicked it into high gear
and and gave his best Joe Rokococo shimmy but in the end opted
for the easy route by offloading a perfectly timed pass to Tyler
who finished off the move with a try in the corner. Ferreira
also struggled with the extras which took us out to 31-0.
The third quarter brought wholesale changes to the side but
the Griffins managed to focus on the task at hand and stretch
their lead by adding two more try. The first came after Columbia
was put under some heavy pressure by a strong burst by Dave
Edwards out of the center position. After beating two defenders
his hair finally got in his eyes and he was put to deck with
a try saving tackle from the Columbia fullback. The forwards
cleared the ruck providing Dutch Jones with not only quick ball,
but clean ball. Dutch spotted the red sea on his left and easily
finished the 30 meter journey to the sticks. Tex added the extras
and it was quickly 39-0. The second try of the quarter was scored
by Dutch Jones as well and the lead up to the try was almost
identical to his first. Tex Miller added the extras again and
we were out to a commanding 46-0 lead. When you see the number
9 running freely from the base of a ruck it usually indicates
that 1-8 are doing a good job, so hats off to 1-8 during that
period, and to Jones for having good field vision.
By the time the fourth 20 minute quarter started the result
was already secure but everyone on the side was still hungry
for more action. The benches were emptied and several people
were seeing their first minutes on the rugby pitch but the game
still managed to flow. There was not a lot of continuity but
some solid tackling resulted in another spilt ball by Columbia
which Matt Grant gladly tucked away and carried to safety under
the sticks some fifty meters away taking us close to a club
record with 57 points. Again, Brett Van Der Merwe pulled the
conversion and we stood at 57-0. To their credit Olde Grey never
gave up and their determination was rewarded with a lone try
in the dying minutes of the period. Final score Griffins 57
- Columbia 7. |
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