A big day of rugby out at Cook Park this past Saturday, as the Queen City Rams clinched the Frontier Division 3 League Championship by securing all five points against our arch rival Denver Harlequins with a thrilling 27 – 5 victory. A large crowd was on hand, as the QC Olde boys played a curtain raiser verse a motley CSOB’s/Harlequins team. The Olde Boys ran out 33 – 15 victors on the day.

The Olde Boys side was put together by Joe Moore. We had a great showing of Older boys and young Olde boys making a generational side up for Queen City. Players playing from City teams that competed in the 80’s, 90’s & 00’s. A big thanks to the boys who came out (Sorry if I missed someone). Dave Cooper, Greg Gomez, Joe Moore, Joe Scott, Joe Shannonhouse, Cody Reeves, David Merida, Nick Opp, Tom Shanklin, Chris Felton, Russ Evans, Eric Baliruno, John Bogdanoff, Chet Marshall, Craig Mills, Mike Grennon, Geno Rooks, Pierre Izard, Lloyd Chavez, Mike Dellere, Matt Savage, Juan Ureta & Steve Myers. Many other Olde Boys made their way out to support both the Olde Boys and the actives. We are striving to have at least one match for the Olde Boys in each season as well as other social events. The support and work is starting to payoff. Great fun to watch some guys getting a run in again. Try scorers on the day: Joe Scott, Pierre Izard, Greg Gomez, John Bogdanoff and Juan Ureta. Eric Baliruno kicked the extras on 4 of the 5 try’s. Great fun to watch!

The League deciding match for Queen City was played right after the Olde Boys match. The boys had it all to play for; the Rams only needed one bonus point to secure a spot in playoffs. However, the boys didn’t come to the pitch for bonus points, they came to crush our arch rivals and serve notice that Queen City is back and ready to compete for some hardware.

The match started with City receiving the kickoff. While the boys retained possession, the Quins were giving the orange and black a difficult time at the breakdowns and slowly pushed City back. The Quins were going to make City earn the title. The orange and black finally were able to break through, however the Quins were able to turnover at a ruck. From there the Quins went on the front foot and went down the pitch and were just outside the 22-meter line. The Quins flyhalf placed a cheeky grubber through that was placed perfectly in the corner. The Quins winger received the perfect bounce and was able to touch down just as Alex Knorr was tackling him. The conversion from the touch line was no good, 0-5 Quins after 5’.

The orange and black needed to respond and they did just that. Some hard running from the forwards, notable Chris Gustafson, Jeff Westbrook & Ed Doka, saw City get down inside the Quins 22-meter line. The pressure resulted in a penalty to the orange and black. City put the penalty kick into touch for a lineout. The forwards won the lineout and started a nice maul. The Quins were judged to have cheated during the maul. The resulting penalty was tapped to the forwards. A nice offload by Dan Herr to Chris Gustafson saw him bundle over the line for the try. Charlie Keener’s conversion was cruelly kept out by the post (5-5 C. Gustafson 14’).

The remainder of the half saw the Quins and City trade blows in a hard hitting match. The Quins missed a penalty attempt to keep the score deadlocked. This was turning into a big hitting match, but also one in which both teams were failing to capitalize on opportunities. However, neither team was backing down either. Halftime 5-5.

The second half started after the boys had a minute to regroup and sort some things out to take this game to the Quins. The orange and black marched down the field; however another turnover was created by the Quins after some hard running by the forwards. Jesse McKinley decided enough was enough and flew up the field in defense and absolutely destroyed the ball carrier. The sideline erupted and so did the referees whistle. Jesse was adjudged to not wrap in the tackle and was sent to the sin bin in the 44’. City knew they had to man up now. The boys did a great job and turned the Quins over. A Quin decided to take things into his own hands and got carried away with dirty play. The play resulted in sin bin for the accused and an injury to our scrumhalf Charlie Keener. While the teams were now even in the 48’, City had to make some changes. Johnny English came in from his position on the wing to play scrumhalf. The boys kept their composure and were able to march the ball down the field. Once again inside the 22-meter line, the Quins were penalized and City put the ball into touch. The resulting lineout was actually lost, but somehow Dan Herr ended up with the ball and was going for the line. The boys were in support and off the ruck the ball found Chris Gustafson who went over for try number two on the day. The extras by Alex Knorr were wide taking the score to 10-5 in the 52’. The orange and black had belief amongst the ranks at this time. The boys kept the pressure up and were starting to break the gain line regularly. The boys made a break and support was everywhere, the ball found it’s way to Derek Kerr who made two would be tacklers miss and was on his way to dot the ball down. The extras were sent over by Alex Knorr (17-5 D. Kerr 61’). During this passage another Quin was sin binned for cheating according to the sir.

City was back to full strength and the Quins were a man down. City didn’t wait long to punish them. Once again great ball running and line breaks put the Quins on the back foot. The orange and black were supporting each other and winning rucks. Angry Derek Kerr made another run and was able to set Jesse McKinley loose. The extras went amiss by Knorr (22-5 J. McKinley 65’). This try actually clinched the League Championship for Queen City. However, the boys weren’t quite done yet. More great support running this time by the forwards. The boys were breaking the gain line and winning quick ball. Finally one last break by Luke Porter from the 22-meter line saw him dash down the line and superman dive into the try zone. The extras went wide from Knorr but the orange and black had seized control of the match (27-5 L. Porter 72’).
The boys were trying to see off the match. To the Quins credit, they were still giving it a go. Once again a gnarly hit by the hard hitting City was deemed to be illegal by the sir. This time a Derek Kerr was given his marching papers in the 76’ for a high tackle. Not sure the sideline agreed with the call, but Angry Derek was given a nice round of applause as his day was over. The Quins kept going for it and some brave defending by Derek Ruel and Adam Kuhl kept the Quins out, as they both made try saving tackles in the late going. City saw off the match and were 2013-2014 Frontier Division 3 League Champions.

Great games by many fellas wearing the orange and black on Saturday, the entire team deserves a shout out for their defensive prowess on the day. Actually, the whole league season has been pretty remarkable. Queen City only gave up only 15 points over 6 league matches while scoring an amazing 317 points.
On Saturday, though Chris Gustafson was always working and making a nuisance of himself in defense and when he was running on offense. Chris was routinely breaking the gain line and putting in tackles on defense. The boys fed off Chris’s energy and eventually wore the Quins down. Congrats “Man of the Match”.

Next up for Queen City is a friendly with the Northside Marauders. This Saturday April 19th at 2pm at Glendale’s turf pitch. Come out and support the Rams for our last match before playoffs.
Playoffs will be at Glendale on May 3rd and 4th. Our opponent is the KC Islanders.

Match details

Match date

Sat 12 Apr 2014

Kickoff

16:00

Team overview