March 29, 2014 Queen City 46 – Denver Fire Rugby 24
Finally! A warm spring day for rugby greeted Queen City RFC as we hosted the Denver Fire Rugby team at Glendale. The boys were loose before kickoff and ready to come out and bang. The Firemen had a couple of rugby whores from other local teams for this friendly, guys from Glendale, Harlequins and even one of our own making his way over to help out for the first half, Zeus.
Right from the kickoff the Rams were moving on the front foot as the forwards went right to work with pods and were breaking the gain line. Hard running from Loren Baker, Dan Herr, Jeff Westbrook, Jeff Van Geet and Jesse McKinley in the backs saw City inside the 22. The boys ended up with a penalty, which was slotted by Cody in the 4’, 3-0 City. The orange and black went right back to work off the kickoff and earned a penalty at half field. The kick for touch went out inside the 22 and the forwards went to work with a nice lineout, which turned, into a rolling maul. The Firemen stopped the forward movement and then were spotted cheating and another penalty was awarded to the orange and black. This time the kick went wide. After the 22 drop out the boys were on the attack again, however a lone runner saw a quick turnover by none other than our own whore Zeus who was able to break some tackles and scamper 80 meters for the try, 3-7 after 10’. City was a little incensed by this and off the kickoff went, putting the Firemen under pressure forcing a knock on. The ref played advantage; Jeff Van Geet was able to take a quick pass and broke through the gain line. The boys kept the ball moving and eventually the ball went wide to winger Steve Ng who finished the move (8-7 13’ Ng). The boys were feeling it and from the kickoff were able to move down the field once again. Johnny English was able to make a quick scamper off a ruck and Ryan Orlowski was in support to touch it down, questionable conversion was waved off (13-7 Orlowski 17’). At this point the Firemen got…...wait for it….…fired up and came at City from the kickoff and created a penalty at the breakdown, which was taken quickly. The Rams were definitely not ready and the Firemen broke through a gap on the outside. Conversion gave the Firemen the lead in the 20’ 13-14. Just like before the boys were incensed, came at the Firemen, and pinned them deep in their own zone, great defensive pressure from the whole team. Off a Firemen lineout at their own five meter line Loren Baker absolutely demolished a man attempting to impede his path to the ball carrier before laying waste to the ball carrier at the try line. In doing so he dislodged the ball and touched it down for a try. Cody added the extras and City was back on top (20-14 Baker 25’). The boys were making great in roads throughout the rest of the half and a couple of missed passes away from putting the final runner away. Jesse McKinley was running hard, Alex Knorr was running the backs well and the forwards were putting work in all over the pitch, Ian Jacobs, Brian Gustafson were looking for work at the break downs. The Firemen held tough for the next 15 minutes though. However at the death of halftime, a quick tap penalty was taken by Loren Baker who shed a tackler and then found Dan Herr in support and scored under the posts. Charlie Keener with the extras to extend the lead at the half 27-14.
The second half saw the orange and black continue to be pinged back for repetitive penalties. The Firemen made City pay by going over in the 43’ to draw the score to 27-19 City. The teams at this point started playing some open rugby and saw the action a little more back and forth between the 22’s. City was finally able to maintain some possession and work down the field and some good running by the backs. Even a chip over by Chris Ng saw some field position gained. Once inside the 22 though the urgency crept back in for both sides. Multiple penalties from the Firemen let to quick taps and finally resulted in Mike Redding going over. Unfortunately the post wasn’t forgiving for the conversion attempt (32-19 Redding 50’). City was keeping a bit of possession at this point and working the game plan more at this time which resulted in an ocean call which saw angry Derek Kerr in space, he saw the hole and was gone 35 meters for the try, Keener with the extras to extend the lead (39-19 Kerr 60’). However, the next kickoff was mishandled and allowed the Firemen to score an unconverted try (39-24 62’). The Firemen at this point were going for it and pinned the orange and black inside our own half. City kept committing penalties at the breakdown and was warned by the Sir. The Firemen creeping inside the 22 and ramping up the pressure. Eventually the Rams were called for another offense in the ruck and in the 70’ Brian Gustafson got binned for what would be repeated infringements by the orange and black. The boys would really have to man up at this point, the Firemen were knocking on the door and we were down a man. Somehow, the boys withstood the deluge of pressure from the Firemen and kept them out. This was an amazing 10 minutes of defensive resistance, well other than the penalties and yellow card, but the not being scored on part…..that was awesome. Not only did we keep the Firemen, but also we got a penalty of our own. City kicked for touch and was able to relieve the pressure. Not only relieve the pressure the orange and black then went down the field. New Player Matt absolutely destroyed his opposite number on a run that brought a roar from the sidelines. A penalty to the orange and black was taken quickly and resulted in the final try of the match to Chris Gustafson. Charlie Keener with the extras to make the final score 46-24 City.
The Firemen brought it in the match and the boys were able to match the intensity and lift it at times. Jesse McKinley had a good all-around match at inside center, defense, attacking. Derek Kerr as well did some good things at outside center running the appropriate lines and making good tackles. Up front, the boys are always working hard, Dan Herr was looking for work, and Jeff Van Geet was getting himself around the pitch. However, on Saturday without doubt Loren Baker went off, full beast mode. He drank the right water because he had “tackling fuel” and was tackling everything, even obstructing runners to get to the ball carrier. Work rate was up the entire time, great work ‘Man of the Match.’

Match details

Match date

Sat 29 Mar 2014

Kickoff

14:00

Team overview