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Daytona Beach Vs. Ft. Lauderdale
9/17/05 @ Ft. Lauderdale
Daytona
Opens Season 1-0
Daytona Beach Rugby has opened up its fall season 1-0. With the official end
of a long summer 7's season and the re-opening of the local colleges in the
area the 15's season is off to a strong start.
There was some disappointment after a long year where the team missed out on
National Championship berths by one game in 7's and 15's. Despite these let
downs, the coconuts were ready to jump the next hurdle of moving up to Division
II. This was a welcome hurdle, despite the new difficulties it would present.
We graduated 3 starters from Embry Riddle and lost 2 starters to new jobs/schools.
However the team started last year with a stronger emphasis on recruiting and
as a result of this new emphasis DBRFC was able to secure interest from 20 students
at the local Daytona Beach Community College and then another 30 from Embry
Riddle where the team currently plays and practices. This along with the new
branch campus of Palmer Chiropractic, which has also been trying to start a
team has player numbers at an all time high. New officers were elected, new
positions created, as well as the reemergence of the womens team. The plan for
the past year was to be able to field 2 full sides, and now we have numbers
for 3 full sides. The coaching staff has one of those difficult yet welcome
jobs of how to keep numbers out and players happy.
Three of the more powerful clubs in the state were moved to Division 1 this
Year. Three time National Championship Final Four participant Boca Raton, Miami
Tridents, and Ft. Lauderdale. So with limited practice time, the large numbers
at training, and finding new players for the vacated positions we were now faced
with the daunting task of taking on Ft. Lauderdale away.
George Allen, a relatively new player was plugged in at tight-head prop. Two
veterans, Dan Vandellen and Scott Sivak, were asked to split time at lock and
8 man. Carlos Sanchez returned to Flanker after a year off due to injury. A
new inside center from our summer 7's Anthony Muniz was added to the roster.
Abe Kirunga returned to one wing, and Frank Radosta won the last wing spot.
The 7 Sub spots were filled with less experience, but plenty of heart. Confidence
was high, and the continuity of the core of starters was strong. We knew we
were giving up a lot of size and experience in the pack, but were hoping to
make up for it in open play, as we felt still fresh from our summer 7's.
The game started off a little rocky and a mishandled kick that had us pinned
fairly deep in our own end. We were able to hold and clear after a few minutes
of play. Daytona was able to win possession and start attacking around mid field
when Scott Sivak broke thru the line of defense, with only the full back to
beat he was able to spot support and make a sharp clean pass to Brian Richardson
who slid in next to the posts, Daytona was up 7-0 less than 5 minutes in. Then
things got a little scary, star center/winger Alex Wanyama went down with a
knee sprain. After checking out possible subs we decided to bring in Jason Muller,
who would be playing in his first game ever. Jason came in at lock, Dan VanDellen
was moved to wing and Abe Kirunga moved to center.
Ft. Lauderdale kept coming and coming and 20 minutes in were able to use their
larger pack in the scrum to gain a penalty and then from a 5 meter scrum execute
a neat little play for an unconverted score Daytona 7-5. Starting hooker Abi
Cherian went off with a neck sprain and new Palmer player Mark Avvento came
on. Daytona kept attacking and Brian was later able to pass behind a defender
to Scott who finished with a strong run against the broken defense for a converted
try with less than 10 minutes in the half Daytona 14-5. With our confidence
bolstered Lexi Bairstow was later able to take a quick tap off a penalty and
weave thru the opposition for a converted score with less than five minutes
in the half Daytona 21-5. Daytona kept the pressure on and received a penalty
with time running out. Alexi made the long penalty kick bringing the score to
24-5 Daytona.
Ft. Lauderdale came out tough to start the new half but Daytona was able time
and time again to force enough phases to cause the turnover. Daytona was also
repulsed on two long breaks by big men Jeremiah Gibbs and Craig Howitt and was
also not able to take advantage of Ft. Lauderdale being a man down for a late
tackle. First time player Henry Dreier was also asked to sub for George Allen
who played his heart out for 60 minutes. Our two first time players played aggressively
and relatively mistake free and really helped out the best way they could with
size, hustle, and tackling. The game finished 24-5 for a GREAT win to start
off the Fall campaign, and my sore body was glad there was little injury time
tacked on at the end.
A true Daytona B team was fielded against a Ft. Lauderdale team that needed
to field multiple A side starters to make a side of 15. This was an even taller
task for the B side, because I think there was only one player with more than
a years experience to start the game. The B side kept coming until the end,
there was a lot of strong tackling, which is all I can ask of inexperienced
players. Experience and practice can help with the other skills. Issac Coudrier
showed off some moves at Fly half and Marshall Newell's pressure D took a bad
pass the other way for the B sides only score. There were a few bumps and bruises
given out by Ft. Lauderdale, but I was very impressed with how the team regrouped
at half and put in some strong effort until the end of the game. 19 year old
prop Pat Welsh may have lead the team in tackles, but Sebastian Tomaszewski
and Andy Kennedy might have something to say about that.
Next week the college guys take on Orlando B and since they are the only game
will get a lot of game prep.
Brian Richardson
Head Coach Daytona Beach Rugby
2005
Florida Cup Champions
2005 National Championship Final Four
2005
South Territorial Champions
2005
Florida State Champions
2003 Florida Cup Champions
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