Match Report

Ramblers Primus vs. Springfield, MO
October 24th, 2009

Ramblers Spring Back from Sluggish Start to Remain Unbeaten

Primus vs Springfield, MO

The St. Louis Ramblers Primus side travelled to Springfield, MO for their second Western Union Div II game of the season.  The Ramblers had convincingly won their first league game against the Blues were expecting a much tougher test from Springfield, who recently lost a tough game against the St Louis Bombers. The Ramblers travelled strong and appeared ready at the commencement of the game, however things did not start well.  The Ramblers lack of discipline at the breakdown resulted in repeating penalties for offside that saw the Ramblers marched back deep into their 22.  The deeper we went the stronger the frustrations at players and our Australian referee grew, which resulted in Springfield scoring an unconverted try within 5 minutes.  Some heated words under the posts from Captain Colin Heath tried to get the discipline issues resolved quickly, however from the restart the Ramblers were again penalized back deep into their half and flanker Patrick “Nasty” Conaty paid the price for the teams repeated infringement with a yellow card after only 7 minutes of play.  Nasty’s comment on the issue was “Yeah right, we’ll talk about that one later!” Springfield took advantage of the man down, their complete dominance of possession and the Rambler’s being penalized out of the game to score a converted try 9 minutes into the game.  It looked like a long afternoon. A less heated discussion under the posts seemed to get the players back on track as we knew that if we got the ball and played our game the Springfield players would soon feel the wrath of the referee’s whistle.  We knew from the start that discipline would be a key factor for the day, something both sides have struggled with in past games.
Pressure from the restart saw the Ramblers final get ball possession and strong scrums, rucking and running allowed the Rambler’s to advance deep into the Springfield half.  Soon the ref’s whistle aided our advance down the field and the Ramblers opted for a shot a goal, which Justin Vogt unluckily hit the post. The game proceeded with a lot of back and forth, with both sides making strong runs that were quickly stopped by some excellent tackling on both sides.  The break down area was still being tightly controlled by the referee, however the Ramblers were winning the breakdowns with some strong counter rucking and policing of their own.  The control of the breakdowns allowed wing Tommy Flynn to grab a lose ball on the 10 meter line and a clever kick on resulted in a try in the corner by Tommy winning the foot race against three Springfield players.  Justin Vogt converted from the touchline (12-7}. The restart was recovered by the Ramblers and strong work at the breakdown and swift passing saw the Ramblers again advance up the field, that resulted in more indiscipline from the Springfield players. This resulted in one yellow card for repeat infringements and this was immediately followed by another player sin binned for a disagreement with the ref. The Ramblers were awarded a penalty 5 meters out and the Ramblers opted for the scrum, an area the Ramblers had excelled out all day.  A designed back row play resulted in a score, with #8 Colin Heath picking up, passing the ball to the dirt for flanker Brian Haley to scoop up and spin to suck in several Springfield players, then a little basketball lob back to #8 Colin Heath to force his way over for the try.  Scrum Half Kai Ruggeri commented “Ah, I was meant to come round for that play, wasn’t I”. Justin converted on the stroke of half time for the Ramblers to go into the half with a 2 point lead (14-12).

The second half started strongly for the Ramblers and then quickly advanced down the field and again were awarded a penalty 5 meters from the Springfield line close to the corner flag.  The Ramblers opted for a scrum, which looked to be an easy push over until Springfield’s #8 collapsed it from the back and #8 Colin Heath had a go for the line, but was held up short.  Another scrum, and much lecturing from the backs, saw the Ramblers win a strong scrum and the ball shipped to Fly half Just Vogt who switched with crashing center Adam Schmitt to score under the posts after 10 minutes. 19-12. With both sides a full strength and a single score separating the teams the physicality of the game seemed to increase and both sides saw great opportunities denied by strong tackling and defense at every asset of the field.  Neither side was giving up territory.
The Ramblers were awarded a penalty on the Springfield 22, but the 3 points went missing as the ball skimmed the outside of the upright.  Springfield were throwing everything they had at the Ramblers, but the Ramblers held them deep in their half for much of the game, however a missed tackle and strong running saw them break out of their 22 to run deep into our 22, but last ditch tackles and coverage by the back three, particularly substitute winger Kamron Ahmad, held Springfield at bay. The tension in the game was mounting with the Ramblers knowing a simple mistake would see Springfield back into the game.  On the 35 minute a strong forward hit up allowed quick ball to Justin Vogt who made a good pass to Adam Schmitt that forced Springfield to over commit to the outside and a hole opened for Adam to run in from 10 meters out for a pressure relieving try and the bonus point.  26-12

The final play of the game saw the ball spun wide and full back Leo Polson joining on the outside to take a well timed pass to score an unconverted try on the 40th minute.
Final score: 31-12
Man of the Match went to Adam Schmitt for his two tries and great leadership and defense in the back line.
Discipline was definitely a key factor on the day and early on looked to have cost the Ramblers the game, however the spirit shown to overcome the initial onslaught from Springfield and Penalties showed how the team and club has matured this season and optimisim and belief is high in the team.

Hrdina, Reckamp, Iffrig, Wiggins, Keeven, Coanty, Haley, Heath (c), Ruggieri, J. Vogt, Flynn, Schmidt, McDowell, A. Vogt, Polson.
Subs: Lane for Flynn, Kilmartin for Conaty, Ahmad for A. Vogt.

Other Games
The Bombers were defeated by top of the table Omaha 40-24, with both sides getting a bonus point for 4 tries. 
Upnext
The St. Louis Ramblers face cross town rivals, The Bombers, at Forest park at 1pm on Saturday October 31.

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