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News
Griffins Top their Matrix
Rivals Charleston Outlaws 22-0
January 30, 2007 -- This past Saturday at "John Roberts Park"
at Furman University the Greenville Griffins opened up their
2007 Spring Matrix competition with an impressive 22 - 0 victory
over a well respected Charleston Outlaws side. Charleston is
a perennial contender for the national title at the D2 level
so the victory was well earned and places the Griffins at the
top of the table after week one of a long matrix season.
In order to avoid any possibility of a let down due to the convincing
result against Columbia Olde Grey the week before the coaching staff put
the side through a mentally and physically grueling week of training. The
intense preparations certainly paid off but such a sound beating was
beyond anyone's expectations.
After watching the home town Furman University side come out victorious in
the curtain raiser against an outmatched Lander University side the
Griffins were ready to take the pitch for the first time in the 2007
matrix competition. The build up to the match was a little stop-start, and
the start of the match was delayed by a few minutes due to technical
difficulties with the TMO's microphone, but when Tevis blew the whistle
the Griffins picked up exactly where they ended off their match the week
before.
In the first half Charleston elected to play down field and
down wind so the Griffins knew they were going to be in for
a tremendous defensive battle for the first 40 minutes of play.
Both sides came out with all guns blazing but the Griffins seemed
to have an answer for everything that the Outlaws threw at them.
After nearly 15 minutes of back and forth rugby the Outlaws
finally conceded a penalty inside of their own half and Jonahtan
Mullikin made them pay the price by spliting the sticks from
about 27 meters out just off of the 15 meter line on the right
side of the pitch (Greenville 3 - Charleston 0).
After the restart the Outlaws went back to work with their centres
in hopes of breaking the line but the Griffin's defense was
up to the challenge. Somehwere between five to ten minutes of
solid team tackling later Charleston coughed up a knock on about
30 meters off of their line. With such a solid performance out
of Patrick Milne in the number 12 jersey from the week before
there was little doubt as to what the call would be off of the
scrum. The scrum was solid and the pass from 10 to 12 was timed
well and Patrick was quickly cutting through numerous defenders
on his way to a 3rd try in two matches. Mullikin added the extras
and considering the circumstances the Griffins could not have
been in better shape after the first 25 minutes of the match
(Greenville 10 - Charleston 0).
For the remainder of the first half Charleston tried to use the wind and
field position to their advantage but some steady kick coverage by the
back three and an incredible performance by the Griffins lineout crew all
but neutralised thier attack. The dominance of Todd Cherner in the
lineout, both for and against, was the best effort that anyone has put in
for the Griffins lineout in a long time. With the potential addition of
Joel "The Giant" Hedge in the near future things are certainly looking
good for the Griffins at lineout time.
The total team effort put in on defense paid off in the final ten minutes
of the first half as the Outlaws were again forced to knock on in their
own half. After another solid scrum from an energised Griffins pack
Patrick Milne found himself with the ball in hand and a short distance to
cover for his second try of the match and an impressive tally of four try
in just two matches. His determined style of running has made the
transition to a post Phil Weston era a little bit easier to handle.
Mullikin was unable to add the extras and we pulled into halftime with a
solid lead (Greenville 15 - Charleston 0).
Going into the second half the side seemed to struggle to get over the
mental hurdle that going down wind and down field was going to
automatically lock up the match for the Greenville side. The home side
lost the attacking style that had carried them through the first half and
spent the entire first ten minutes of the second half trying to recover
from poorly placed kicks that turned into fantastic attacking opportunites
for the Outlaws. Fortunately for Greenville the defensive effort was
massive and they managed to absorb everything that Charleston threw at
them, and did just enough to keep the Outlaws away from the try line. Over
the next 20 minutes the game kind of lost shape and both sides seemed to
struggle to put more than two or three phases of play together due to
missed gaps, shaky passing, and poorly timed penalties.
Eventually a few Griffin kicks started to find space and Greenville was
slowly able to take advantage of the field position battle. After a
little arial ping pong the Outlaws started to realise that time was
running out and they were forced to throw caution to the wind and began
trying to attack from everywhere on the park in hopes of mounting a
comeback. Fortunately the Griffins defense was once again up to the task
and was able to force another Charleston knock on about 22 meters off of
their own line. With the certainty of a solid scrum the Griffins elected
to gamble by spreading two backs to the blind side in hopes of being able
to attack the short side of the pitch. The scrum was indeed solid and
Griffin scrum half, Dutch Jones, was able to break weak with Fererria and
Miller in close support. After committing his defender it became a simple
2 on 1. The pass found its mark and Ferreria was easily able to dot down
the third and final try of the match in the right hand corner. Mullikin
was able to add the extras
and the result was sealed (Greenville 22 - Charleston 0).
Although the victory was deserved and well appreciated the Griffins will
certainly have to lift their game to reamin on top of the matrix table for
any length of time. One source of optimism comes from the flashes of
brilliance that the Griffins backs have shown over the past two matches.
With a few more matches together their timing will certainly improve and
they should be able to surpass the coaching staffs previously stated "Low
Expectations" of their play.
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