Match Report

Ramblers Primus vs. KU Men
November 14th, 2009

Ramblers Complete Perfect League Season

Primus vs KU

For our final game of the fall season the Ramblers traveled to Lawrence, KS to take on the Kansas Jayhawks. 

The Ramblers were soon on the score board after the Ramblers received the opening kick off and quickly advanced into the Jayhawks 22.  Flanker Patrick “Nasty” Conaty took advantage of some strong rucking and picked from the base to sneak over from 5 meters out with only 2 minutes played (0-7).

The next scoring drive saw the Ramblers continue to pressure the Jayhawks and after several strong runs from both forwards and backs the Ramblers were awarded a penalty in the Jayhawks 22 that was converted by Justin Vogt (0-10).

The Jayhawks, despite being down early, soon showed signs with some excellent counter attacks. Several times the Jayhawks turned over the Rambler ball at the breakdown and spun the ball wide for their excellent wings to make runs deep into the Rambler half. Fortunately for the Ramblers, it was a turnover of their own that saw the forwards combine for the second try of the game.  Strong counter-rucking saw the Jayhawks ball shoot out of the ruck and Captain Colin Heath broke down the blindside with second row Chris Wiggins and Nasty in support. Some quick passing from Heath to Wiggins to Nasty cumulated in Nasty resisting the urge to chip on and offloaded the ball back inside for Wiggins to sprint in for the try (0-15).

Despite the apparent dominance of the Ramblers, the Jayhawks continued to pressure the breakdown and as a result saw the Ramblers suffer repeat infringements at the breakdown.  This, combined with some lax tackling saw the Jayhawks score an unconverted try after 24 minutes of play (5-15).
The growing confidence of the Jayhawks seem to unnerve the Ramblers and the area of the breakdown again proved costly, with try scorer Chris Wiggins being sin-binned for the teams repeat infringements.

Fly half Justin Vogt, following Coach Eduardo’s zonal game plan, put the Ramblers deep into the Jayhawks half and from a line out on the 5 meter line the Ramblers spun the ball wide.  Some strong defensive tackling from the Jayhawks saw the attack stopped short, however Colin Heath and Brian Haley were quick to the breakdown and Haley’s quick pick and go sucked in the defense for Heath to take a second pick and go to spin in for a try in the corner. At the half the Ramblers were a man down but up by 15 points (5-20).

Half time changes saw the directionally challenged Leo Polson enter the game at full back.

Although the Ramblers had a good lead, the Jayhawks had routinely threatened our line using the excellent kicking of their fly half and the exceptional running of their back three. So more points were needed and a strong start required.

The Ramblers were a little slow in the restart and played a lot of the first 10 minutes in their own half, and unfortunately it was a strong case of cramp that saw flanker Nasty leave the field after an outstanding 50 minutes of rugby. Pat Keeven replaced Nasty.

Slowly the Ramblers started to gather themselves are started to play their game. This allowed the Ramblers to advance up the field and win a scrum on the Jayhawks 22.  A strong scrum, a consistent factor for the day, allowed Kai Ruggeri to get good ball to Justin Vogt, who switched with crashing center Adam Schmitt, who in turn, broke through the Jayhawks defense to score from 10 meters out.  (59 min: 5-25).

Again the Jayhawks for back and a lineout in the Rambler 22 saw some quick hands and powerful running for the Jayhawks to score. (61 min: 12-25).

The Ramblers scrum overturned a Jayhawks scrum in their own 22 and the resulting play saw Justin Vogt time a perfect pass to allow Leo Polson to ghost through a huge hole in the Jayhawks line (67 min: 12-32).

The Jayhawks just would not quit and within three minutes crossed for another converted try. 19-32.

The final try of the game was again the result of some strong scrimmaging by the Ramblers and a simple scrum half to fly half pass saw Justin Vogt elude the Jayhawks for a converted try to give the Ramblers the win and bonus point. Final score 19-39.

Ramblers:
J. Russo, D. Reckamp, N. Iffrig, C. Heath (c), C. Wiggins, P. Conaty, B. Haley, E. Livingston. K. Ruggeri, J. Vogt, A. Vogt, A. Schmitt, R. Lane, D. Gnade, K. Ahmad.
Subs: A. Whitaker, T. Lunowv, P. Keeven, J. Bosaw, L. Polson.

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