Beautiful cloudless day in Colorado. The temperatures in the 60s. Great weather for a game of “footie”. The grass field at Jacobs Park was in great shape and ready for an epic battle between the two undefeated clubs in Rocky Mountain Rugby Division 3. The visiting Northern Colorado Flamingos had come out on top in the last couple of contests between these two clubs. The Men in Orange and Black were bound and determined to remain undefeated in the Division and to erase the terrible taste from the humility loss to Boulder the previous week. A good week of preparation was had by City leading up to this contest. The supporters and Olde Boys were well represented to see this contest. The team decked out in their Orange and Black jumpers was led out by Captain Hayden Kinnear. The Captain won the toss and elected to receive going up hill defending the west in-goal.

The match started out well for City. Taking the opening kick-off, the team moved up the field executing their game plan. A mishandling error and a couple of questionable calls by Referee Frank Palumbo allowed the Flamingos to probe back into City’s territory. A stout defense kept the “Men in White” out of the in-goal until an injury to Winger Mike Anderson provide the visitors an opportunity to go wide and score. The conversion sail wide; but, NorCo had the lead at 0 – 5 at the 4th minute of the match.

Next several minutes saw mishandling on both sides. Finally, Referee Palumbo dinged NorCo for a ruck infraction. Flyhalf Lewis McKissick placed the ball deep into the Flamingos territory. The lineout was won and delivered to the backline. A good movement in the backline was thwarted by a knock-on. The scrum was award to NorCo. Pressure was put on the City’s forwards and the pill squirted out the side where Scrumhalf Tim Flynn alertly picked up the ball and raced to pay dirt untouched. The conversion was missed; but, the “Men in Orange and Black” knotted the score 5 -5 at the 17th minute.

The ensuing kick-off was fielded well by No. 8 Bryan Gustafson who rambled up the field. Bryan offloaded to a hard charging Flanker Hayden Kinnear. The ball was delivered to the backs who preceded to move the ball up the field with some nifty running and good offloads by Flyhalf McKissick, Center Tom Pearce, Center Kaine Dimech to keep the play alive. The play eventually came back to the forwards and into the hands of Mr. Gustafson. Bryan broke free to dot down for the 5-pointer. Flyhalf McKissick added the extras and City extended their lead to 12 – 5 at minute 21.

The “Men in Orange and Black” kept the offensive pressure going. Recycled good phase ball as the City Forwards dominated the breakdown. Referee Palumbo spotted another infringement on the visitors. Flyhalf McKissick placed the ball inside the attacking 22m. The lineout was won

and distributed off the top to Scrumhalf Flynn. Mr. Flynn dummy the hard charging Flamingo flanker and waltzed into the in-goal for his second 5-pointer. McKissick split the sticks for the extras and the score line went to 19 – 5 at the 30th minute mark of the first half.

The ensuing kick-off was cleanly taken by replacement Flanker John Vivirski who replaced an injured Bryan Gustafson. John make the break up the field. The Forwards once again maintained good secure ball. After four phases of recycle ball, Mr. Vivirski found the seam to cross the chalk for the try. Lewis once again converted to up the lead to 26 – 5 at the 33rd minute of the match.

Maintaining their dominance in every phase of play, the City Forwards were winning good possession for their talented backline. Flyhalf McKissick spotted a huge amount of green behind the Flamingos defense. He popped-over for Flanker Kinnear to chase down. Hayden off-loaded to Outside Center Kaine Dimech who powered his way to the goal line. McKissick added the extras as Referee Palumbo blew up the first half and a City half-time lead of 33 – 5.

The coaching staff warn the team not to let up as there was still plenty of fight left in the Northern Colorado Flamingos. The Flamingos did come with some more gusto in the second half. They were able to get on the front foot and put pressure on the City defense. However, a well-organized defensive line kept the Flamingos as bay. The “Men in Orange and Black” were determined not to allow NorCo to cross and they did not.

A penalty was called against the Flamingos to finally put City on the front foot. A clearing kick put the line-out at mid field. A quick throw was alertly taken to put the pill in Flyhalf McKissick hands. The Gloucester lad went on one of his patented jaunts to bob and weave his way through the spotty Flamingo defense to dot down for the 5-pointer. Lewis converted his own try and to bring the score line to 40 – 5 at the 61st minute.

Smelling blood, the City Forwards won the ensuing kick-off and immediately went to work. Working phase after phase of good secure ball. The ball was finally spun wide to the speedy Winger Bobby Haynes. Haynes burst free and raced down the north touchline to score just as the cover defense came across. The conversion kick sailed wide; but, City extended the lead to 45 – 5 at the 65th minute of the match.

A rare mishandling error gave the ball to Flamingo. The Flamingos forwards tried to drive the ball forward. But, the ball was stripped from the NorCo ball carrier by Center Dimech. The Londoner proceeded to break free and raced down the south touch line to out-run the NorCo cover defense to score under the post for a 55m try. McKissick split the uprights for the extras to bring the score line to 52 – 5 at the 68th minute.

Another ruck infraction was whistled against the Flamingos and the ball placed into touch. The lineout was won, and several “black” moves were ran. On the final move, the ball was placed into the hands of hard charging replacement Flanker Alex Friedman. Alex broke the line and raced 45m to score his first Queen City try. Flyhalf McKissick added the extras to run the score to 59 – 5 at the 75th minute.

NorCo was not going down without a fight. They were able to mount an attack to get deep into City’s territory. A knock-on gave City the scrum put on the 5m. The scrum was heeled by Hooker Luke Porter. Replacement Scrumhalf Charlie Keener was put under pressure; but, still able to deliver the ball. The clearing kick attempt was blocked in the in-goal; but, according to Referee Palumbo was touched down by City which should have resulted in a 5m scrum to NorCo. A 22-dropout was awarded and taken by City. The kick was well covered by City and the receiver was trundled into touch. The lineout was won and cleanly delivered to Flyhalf McKissick. Lewis grubber through and the race was on. Lewis recovered his kick and offloaded to Replacement Lock Forward Evan Mohagen who offloaded to Replacement Winger Matt Williams. Matt spotted the seam and broke free to score just left of the posts. Scrumhalf Charlie Keener added the extras to bring the final to 66 – 5 as Referee Palumbo whistled for final time. City had its convincing win and remain undefeated in the Rocky Mountain D3 Division.

Congratulations to City on the win, well deserved! Thank you to all the Olde Boys and supporters who turned out to cheer on the “Men in Orange and Black”. A good finish to the league season coming out with the massive victory and a 4 – 0 league record. Scrumhalf Tim Flynn garnered the Man-of-the-Match for his control around the field, his selfless efforts all around the field, and his two tries. John Vivirski took home the Forward Player-of-the-Game; whereas, Fullback Kaine Dimech collected the Back Player-of-the-Game. Congratulations to all the recipients. Next week is an ERRFU Cup match at home against the Denver Barbarians.

After match thoughts from the Coach and Captain:

Coach Barry Herbert: “I see great potential in this team. Were there mistakes in this game, yes. We ran high at times and we were late to the rucks on occasion; but, the forwards did a good job of maintaining good secure ball. Fix the mistakes which are fixable, keep this backline intact, and I see us going far.”

Captain Hayden Kinnear: “We accomplished our first team goal by staying undefeated in the league for the fall season. The journey is not done though as we must repeat the feat in the spring. We will need everyone to commit to their fitness and strength training over the winter months and come back strong in the spring. If we play next week like we did today; we just might surprise the Barbos.”

Teams:

Queen City (66): Andrew Yarbrough, Luke Porter, Chris Cummins, Matt Hurley, Ed Doka, James Jimenez, Hayden Kinnear, Brian Gustafson, Tim Flynn, Lewis McKissick, Mike Anderson, Tom Pearce, Kaine Dimech, Bobby Haynes, Sylver Romero; INTERCHANGE: Matt Williams (5), John Vivirski (26), Joe Kuka (40), Joe Olivetti (50), Christian Addis (60), Evan Mohagen (60), Alex Friedman (65), Charlie Keener (65).

Scorers:

Tries: Flynn 2 (17, 30), Gustafson (21), Vivirski (33), Dimech 2 (39, 68), McKissick (61), Haynes (65), Friedman (75), Williams (79)

Goals: McKissick 7 from 9, Keener 1 from 1

Northern Colorado (5): Joshua Douglas, Michael Donato, Stephan Payton, Grant Alexander, Adam Huey, Gabe McCabe, Jalon Morton, Logan Rutt, Robert Busbee, Chad Graepler, Garrett Daniel, Bryan

Schroeder, Chase Wheeler, Knowel Douglas, Matt Belasco; INTERCHANGE: Alexander Johnson, Donald Fuller.

Scorers:

Tries: Morton (4)

Goals: None

Man-of-the-Match: Tim Flynn

Scoring sequence: 0 – 5, 5 –5, 12 – 5, 19 – 5, 26 – 5, 33 – 5, 40 – 5, 45 – 5, 52 – 5, 59 – 5, 66 - 5

Penalty Count: 13 – 9

Yellow Card: None

Referee: Frank Palumbo; ARs: Rey Hernandez, Frank Fantauzzi; Referee Coach: Mike Swank

Match details

Match date

Sat 20 Oct 2018

Kickoff

13:00

Team overview