Purple Knights Tag Team With Weatherman

Wirene Haka

Can You Say I N C L E M E N T ?
In a game that had many thinking, "What's going on here?" the Panthers faced a wake-up call from the weather and a decidedly focused and capable St. Michaels team this past Saturday at the Middlebury pitch. In a driving rainstorm, the MCRC repeatedly faced determined tackling and increasing intensity as the Purple Knights club realized that they could compete with Middlebury.


Meany - Manyuru - White

With their team down by only 7 points a small but vocal set of St. Mikes fans hopes were very high as their squad carried the Panthers deep into the second period by repeatedly stifling the Panther running game.

Did the weather play a factor? Was this a different St. Michaels team from old? 'Yes' and 'hopefully.' Coach Ward summed it up: "We have been spoiled by great weather which really allows us to play our flair styled game. We had a string of dropped balls and way too many lost possessions in the rucks for us to keep the time of possession in our favor and the attack going."


Ruck Forming

The cold and rainy weather caught many players off guard. Fly half Luke Hammock had trouble getting the balls into and out of his hands. "I couldn't feel them, they were so cold in the first half." That coupled with St. Michaels consistent pressure caused many backs to look for running lanes before they caught their passes leading to the dropped balls.

At the halftime discussion with his players Coach Ward exhorted his team to focus and change tactics. Noting that his team could ‘lose this game’ with the continuation of mishandled balls and departure from the fundamentals they had trained during the week, he urged all to step it up.


Yoquinto Near Goal Line

In the second half, though Middlebury was only to score once more during the game, they caught passes and set up their phases a bit more consistently all the while preventing any kind of St Mikes offensive threat from forming. Coach Ward observed, 'despite [facing] 'into' the wind, we held a good territorial position that did not allow them close to the goal line."


Nope

Concerning the 'new' St. Michaels pressure, Coach Ward said, "St. Mikes always gives us a bigger game than we expect. These guys have been on the edge for some time now, and I hope that they grab the opportunity to get into the playoffs and use that to springboard them higher for the next couple of years.


Manyuru Near Goal Line

"When teams continue into the playoffs their learning curve continues while the losers' stagnates -the gap is very noticable the next year."

The high point total wins aside, it is certainly a more rewarding victory when the other team 'shows up' and gives a good match. Coach Ward hopes the team has "had our 'bad' game, and we will get back on track." Final score: MCRC over St. Michaels 12-0.


Purple Knightmare?

With some good practices this week the team is focused on this Saturday's matches with Babson College. 'A' match starts on the Middlebury pitch at 2:00pm. There is also rumored to be a Old Boys game in the making... stay tuned. Better yet, just show up and see what happens. I hear there will be a considerable number of Friends of Rugby fans and parents in attendance for this final match before the playoffs begin.