Week IV: Norfolk Harvesters away

Grimsby Gentlemen 10: Norfolk Harvesters 32

Venue: Hellyer Memorial Park in Waterford (Dean found Cockshutt Road funny: As if they don't have a place in New Zealand called Whakarewarewa - and the Wha is is pronounced fhu)

Referee: Richard Cook** (had a real English accent ((or a good fake)) so must have been good

Weather: Warmish with humidity (about 30 degrees)

Attendance:  Few supporters - probably could not find Cockshutt Road

Team:

1. Jeremy Young, (70 min) 2. Brendan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington (70 min) 4. Dirk Reichow (55 min) , 5. Bob Mavro, 6. Adam Godfrey, 7. Dean Crozier, 8.  Kyle Wilson 9. Derrick Weber(C) (40 min) 10. Martin Colyn,  11. Iamie Farrell (first game for Grimsby- 60 min) 12. Vic Blaney, 13.Nick Limeaux 14. James Vinneau 15. Pat Brown 16. Nick Lord  (20 min) 17. Martin Van Den Hurk : it was a homecoming for Martin (15  min) 17. Adam Amirault (20 min at lock), 19 Drew Rebed (first game ever - 15 min)

Jamie - first Grimsby game (played for Grimsby High School this year) and first rugby upper body injury but played really well for 60 min

Drew: first rugby game ever - well done

                     Adam: second game ever but I didn't have this camera last week                               Good luck on your 10 k  Peach Bud run this week. 

We would also like to welcome back Pat for his first game this year (last year's rookie of the year) as he was on an adventure to Baniff and Canmore where he got out just before the floods. 

Norfolk managed to break our line and with weak tackling they scored tries at 5 min., 20 min., and 38 min (although none were converted).  In between their scoring tries we seemed to spend a lot of time in their half  but could not score.  At one point a hockey game broke out but saner heads prevailed and no one was sent off and the game calmed down.  Unfortunately we lost our captain, Derrick with an upper body injury (4 stitches) and a lower body injury.  Right at half time, Martin ran over for a try in the corner.

Half time score: Grimsby Gentlemen 5: Norfolk Harvesters 15

Second half, first blood went to the Harvesters with a try at 5 min but we came back with Vic scoring at about 10 min however with a lower body injury to Dirk and an upper body injury to Jamie and a whole body injury to Milli we had difficulty sustaining an attack.  Norfolk scored twice more in the half.

Final Score Grimsby Gentlemen 10: Norfolk Harvesters 32

We seemed a bit sluggish and had difficulty in the scrums (especially the first half) and lineouts but generally played well in defense (if six tries against is playing well).  

Good games by Nick to fill in at scrum half and by our new player on the wing Jamie.  Pat kept annoying the opposition by running most of the kicks back and being difficult to take down.  Next time. 

The sign of a good photographer is making sure he has enough space on his card to hold more pictures or have another card with him, which is why I don't have many pictures.

Sorry to the Harvesters that a lot of players did not go back, I had to take a car full back to Grimsby and another car went to Hagersville Hospital to get stitches.  The were relatively quick (a little over an hour) but don't try (to get in quickly) the concussed rugby player from Grimsby at Hagersville any more (it only works once).

I thought it would take us six people to lift the scrum sled into the back of the truck but these three did it (Nick, Ryan and Martin) by themselves - I held the camera. 

Vic took it off himself.

Flag tournament June 15

This is the one hundredth post in the series about events taking place at the Grimsby Gentlemen Rugby Football Club and we have had 13 220 pageviews since Dec 2008.

Caleb Smith : President of Niagara Flag Rugby and faithful reader of this blog.
Thanks for all the hard work, Caleb

100's (my estimate) of parents learning flag rugby "laws"

                                     
Saturday, June 15th was the first flag tournament of the season and it took place at our home field, Alway.
Considering the rest of the week was quite rainy, it was a great day for rugby.  The field was still a little wet and the grass a little long but everyone seem to have a good time.  Most of the other teams are more experienced as they play in elementary schools in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, so it was a bit of a learning process and we did very well.

Our JK to Grade 2 team (a learning experience)

Our Grade 3 to 5 team (still a little young compared to the other teams)

Our senior team who did very well for their first tournament for most.

Next tournament is July 6th in Fort Erie at Bertie Centennial Park. (about 45 min away from Grimsby)

Week II Grimsby Gentlemen 34: Burlington Centaurs 5

June 8.2013 k.o. 12:30

Venue: Alway Field

Weather:  Another great day for rugby

Attendance:  I have been told I am not good at estimating (I probably have been told that around a million times), so I guess there were hundreds of fans there and Andy who came late as no one told him the time change. 

Sonosor: Steamwhistle Brewery

Team:   1. Jeremy Young, 2. Brendan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington 4. Dirk Reichow, 5. Colin Comfort (40 min -injured), 6. Brendan Nytschyk, 7. Bob Mavro (1 min- no that is not a mistake- injured), 8.  Kyle Wilson 9. Nick Limeaux 10. Derrick Weber,  11. James Vinneau 12. Vic Blaney, 13.Jake D'Achille 14. Ryan Llwellyn  15. Alex Millar  16. Martin Van Den Hurk (70 min at flanker) 17. Adam Amirault (40 min at lock)

We were a little worried that Burlington would stack their team (as they have done in the past) but basically sent a third fifteen which we usually can defeat.  

Congratulations to Jake D'Achille our 17 year old high school player who scored a try in his first game with the men today.  Ryan Llwellyn scored his first try with the Gentlemen. Also to Adam Amirault who is not a high school student but played his first game ever at lock. I will get pictures later.

For the  second game in a row, our backs have been able to find gaps and run through the opposition.  Martin was losing his molars and could not play so Webs went to fly half and Nick played a blinder at scrum half, attacking forward and finding space.  Martin Van Den Hurk who came late and expected the last 20 minutes went on for Bob who put a tooth through his lip in the kickoff. Martin did a great job at lock and jumper (first time in a long time)

Martin jumping in a lineout. 

Vic scored an early try, Jake scored his fairly quickly after with Ryan following.  

Vic scoring

Jake on his way to touching down under the posts

Ryan in the endzone

The tackling in the backs was also good and we forced turnovers one of which Vic returned into the endzone only to knock it on while grounding it.  Actually it looks like he knocked it backwards but unfortunately the referee did not go to the TMO (which is me) to ask for advice - but no try given- and a 22 awarded to the other team not our 5m scrum.

This is Vic showing how not to place a ball. between the posts.

Vic made up for it soon after with a great run and an off load to Kyle who scored under the posts. 

The first half ended with a lot of pressure by Burlington on our line but we managed to hold them out with strong defensive skills (and luck). 

Halftime score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 24: Burlington Centaurs 0

The second half was slower with our forwards losing a little and Burlington doing better.  Against the run of play though a kick by Burlington was not covered (we were down a winger) and a couple of fly hacks allowed them to score.  After that we continued to keep the ball in their end mainly and Vic made up for his botched score by ending up in the end  zone with the ball twice more. 

Final:  Grimsby Gentlemen 34: Burlington Centaurs 5

Scoring:  Vic Blaney 3 T. Jake D'Achille 1 T, Ryan Llewellyn 1 T, Kyle Wilson 1 T, Derrick Weber 2 C.

Not enough Burlinton stayed to have a man of the match rite but Jake D'Achille got the ca\ptain"s award for his rookie try.

Come back later as I should be able to add some of Jennifer's pictures (have not got them yet)

Next game June 22 away to Norfolk Harvesters who play at Hellyer Memorial Park in Waterford.

Ran into Bob Hepburn at the Ireland game.  Bob was Grimsby's first ever president and one of its first players when the club started as a junior team in 1977 (he confirms) which began in the basement of Derrick Harries.  Bob became president when the club became a senior men's team a few years later. He was only in his early twenties then.

Stay

Calm

and

be 

a

Gentlemen

Grimsby Gentlemen 36 : Northeast Philadelphia Irish 7

May 24.2013. 7:00 k.o.

Venue: Alway Field

Weather:  nice evening but a little cool, just made for rugby

Referee: Paul Byrne (abandoning his rugby league leanings)

Attendnce:  With lots of interest it was way above the average

Sponsor: Steamwhistle Brewery

Sorry, I am a little late with this but I had a computer virus, more high school rugby, saw Canada play Fiji and actually have a life. 

The Northeast Philadelphia Irish came to us in the second half of a home and home series (we went there last Easter).  Fifty-four of them including a women's team arrived in Niagara Falls around 4:00 in the morning, caused havoc in the hotel, saw the falls (they think) and came to Grimsby.  They were all kitted out in their new tour shirts.  A t-shirt had "Where's the bus?' on the back.  (You had to be there - in Philadelphia - at Easter)

Alex Millar piping on the ball (and running out of breath - he couldn't play rugby until the second half.

Grimsby respecfully waiting for Alex to collapse

Team:  1. Jeremy Young, 2. Brendan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington (40 min) 4. Dirk Reichow, 5. Martin Van Den Hurk, 6. Kyle Wilson, 7. Bob Mavro, 8. Adam Godfrey(10 min) 9. Derrick Weber, 10. Martin Colyn, 11. Brenden Nytschyk (40 min)12. Vic Blaney, 13. T.J. (Hamilton), 14. Ryan Llwellyn (40 min) 15. Nick Limeaux, 16. Colin Comfort (70 min at flank), 17. Alex Millar (40 min at wing)18. Sian Moms (Wilmot- 40 min at prop), 19. James Vinneau (40 min at wing)

A prop was injured (Nick) playing Wilmot so we made them give us one of theirs (Sian), seemed fair.

The warm up game was played by the Northeast Philadelphia Irish and St. Catharines Tigers Women (we had to borrow a team) .  The St. Catharines girls set the example by convincingly defeating the Irish with only 14 players.

I missed a lot of our game or wasn't paying attention but we seemed to handle the visitors easily (unlike two months ago at Easter).  Adam scored first and then went off with a cut head, Derrick converted.  Philadelphia came back with a converted try but soon Grimsby backs established dominance and Martin C. and Vic scored in the first half and Derrick struck for a penalty in there some time.

Half time score  Grimsby Gentlemen 22: Northeast Philadelphia Irish 7

Second half was more of the same with our backs showing dominance nay brilliance with Martin and Vic again scoring and Derrick kicking enough to bring the score to 36 points for us.

Final:  Grimsby Gentlemen 36: Northeast Philadelphia Irish 7.

It was a good game for us with lots of opportunity to run with the ball, the Irish were missing a number of players who could not make the tour and we weren't.

Vic and Martin had a great day together.

Vic on the run with support from Alex (he recovered) and Martin

Martin scoring his second

However sometimes Milli would get between them (must be in the first half).

from Vic

to Milli

to Martin

The beer up was exciting, nay thrilling, with flying syrup bottles and three kegs of beer consumed (a new record for kegs and syrup at the clubhouse).

A few more pictures (thanks to Jennifer Reichow I have had about three hundred to sort through - which also accounts for the delay in getting this published)

Adam getting groped by the Irish (must be the fetching head band)

Vic practicing air guitar

Nick taking some time to read the writing on the ball

Also thanks to Jennifer for making many salads along with Nick Lord's mother.  Also thanks to Craig Lord (Nick's father) for manning the barbecue all night. Thanks to Kaley Stuart for sharing her expertise in dealing with our antiquated and unsanitary beer serving system. Congratulations to Vic on the social and to Brendan for fixing and cleaning the clubhouse.

There were four cars left at the clubhouse overnight (also a new record).

A tidbit of Grimsby gossip:

Who was that gentleman climbing Wolverton Mountain at noon on Saturday after a night of debauchery in the flesh pots of down town Grimsby?

Wilmot at home (Week I of X)

Grimsby Gentlemen 0: Wilmot Warthogs 26

Venue: Alway Field

Referee: Ian Stewart **

Weather:  Spring weather:,about 15 degrees at the start but cooled with with wind by the end of a long game. Great day for rugby

Attendance:  My best estimate is around 500 (could be wrong)

Team:  First game of the new season and are missing a few from last year but they have been ably replaced:

1: Nick Lord (20 min - injured), 2: Brendan Sculland, 3: Jon Millington, 4: Dirk Reichow, 5: Colin Confort (new position) 6: Bob Mavro, 7: Dean Crozier, 8: Adam Godfrey (first season game with Grimsby), 9: Drrrick Weber, 10: Martin Colyn, 11: Brandon Nytschyk, 12: Vic blaney, 13: Ryan Llwellyn (first game since 1987), 14: James Vinneau (wearing 22), 15: Alex Millar (65 min), 16. Jeremy Young (60 min), 17: Martin Van Der Hurk (skipped a year- 15 min)

Game:

Our opening charge to the 2013 season

The last time Wilmot was in our league (2010) they beat us 43-3 at home and 36 - 0 away and since that time they have been playing in the A division and it showed in that they had a few bigger bodies and a bit more urgency in their play.  We had trouble with their scrum and are still inconsistent with our lineouts. However we had the play in their end often and for long periods and close to the line but could not finish.  They scored on two longish runs and managed to outflank us a few times.  The unfortunate injury to our young prop Nick took some wind out of our sails and they scored fairly quickly after by their eight who ran through our defence at about 25 min and another score before half gave them a lead at half time.  Delay of the game for about 45 minutes.

Half time score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 0: Wilmot Warthogs 12

We continued to play strongly and got close a few times but failed to cross the line. and Wilmot scored twice mainly due to poor coverage and tackling.

Man of the Match goes to Nick Lord and we hope is knee is not too badly twisted.  I really thought that the first ambulance that came to the clubhouse would be for me.

Their man of the match went to Vic who beat their guy in a drink off so we won something.  Also a great job with the BBQ and thanks to Jen for the salads.

Congratulations to one player who played his first league game with the Gentlemen and his first at Alway field.  Meet Adam Godfrey (formerly of Cobourg)

 Welcome back to Ryan  who took several years off to hone his rugby skills.

 And to Martin who took a year off to learn to tie his shoes.

Thanks to Brennan, Nick and Ryan for coming early and cleaning out the clubhouse.
Thanks to the players for arriving fairly early for a good warm up.

In case you were worried, the Wilmot player who lost his keys and phone suddenly remembered he had worn a jacket and when he found the jacket, he found his keys and phone.

Be warned the IRB will change the cadence again to Crouch, Bind and Set next year because that is what they do (change cadences).

The one post that has been looked at the most is the Sept 12 2010 when we played Wilmot Away. It has been looked at 346 times which almost twice as many as the next post (183).

Korea defeated the Philippines 62 to 19 on the weekend and is number 26 in wold rankings only 73 ahead of Greece.

A few more pictures

Dean on his way up

Dirk on his way down

Almost

two 9s trying to ignore each other

Next game Philadelphia

From some admirers

To, Mr. Stewart (sic)

     I am greatly sorry for being disrespectful and disrupting the science class, I promise that next time you teach Science class I will be way more respectful   I am deeply sorry for being disrespectful to you and the class and thank you for being a great supply teacher.

                                                                                                     From, Nathan

To Mr. Stewart (sic)

      I am truely sorry for being disrespectful while you supplied.  If you supply again, I hope I will not waste your teaching time and will do my work.

                                                                                                        From Eric

Dear Sub -teacher

     I am very sorry for my actions and it wont happen ever again to you or anyone else.  I shouldn't of sat with my friend or my other friend.  Should of sat alone.  Sorry again.

                                                                                                       Brady
                                                                                                       Brady's mom

2 Steamers

~How's your pint?
~I'll have a Steamwhistle, best brew created.
~Just got back from our Easter tour to Philadelphia.
~Nothin' says religious holiday like a rugby tour.
~Easter Saturday is a Rugby Day.
~I stayed at home and ate chocolates shaped like rugby balls and drank Steamwhistle.  Can you get Steamwhistle in Philadelphia?
~I didn't see any.
~Pity. How did the game go?
~It was exhibition so we didn't keep score.
~That bad eh. Americans really shouldn't play rugby
~Why not? They're good at it. Big boys. They say if America took rugby seriously, they would be the best in the world.
~And they would add commercials, time outs and coach's challenges and the games would last forever.They should stick to football, baseball and basketball  Leave rugby alone, you don't have to concentrate for so long.
~We had a few guest players from Coborg, Oshawa and Stoney Creek and a bunch of younger players from Grimsby and brought everyone back. The Northeast Philadelphia Irish just kinda out-muscled us and were a lot more aggressive.  Martin Colyn, one of our younger players, got man of the match for his hard running.    
~I wonder if that big shot Irishman ever drop kicked a rugby ball?
~Who?  O'bama
~Ah! Ya heard it before.
~ Ya well its old, besides I heard he was Kenyian.
~ Well they're good rugby players, especially at Sevens.  Did you see anything of Philadelphia?
~We stayed in a suburb but were surrounded by fast moving highways. The Irish put us on a bus to go to some pubs in downtown Philadelphia.
~That was nice of them.
~Ya, It was actually the wildest ride I have ever been on starting a pub crawl..  I lost the bus eventually and had a long taxi ride back.
~Did you have a Philly Cheesesteak?
~No missed that but I devoured a piece of mac and cheese pizza which was amazing and very filling.
~If you say so.
~The Irish were great hosts and even gave us tee shirts even though we are now a footall club.
~How long was the trip?
~It took about 9 hours from Niagara Falls because we ran into a traffic accident in New York State.  Went 20 miles in about two hours.  The guys from Oshawa and Coborg had an even longer trip as they left a couple of hours earlier.  The best play of the whole weekend was Bob's outmaneuvering hundreds of cars at the border by slipping through a duty free and onto the Rainbow Bridge access. 
~Smooth move, need another smooth beer?
~ You bet, a Steamwhistle.  Hey, I did notice that Greece lost 13 to 11 to Finland in Athens which dropped them three positions from 96 to 99 on the IRB World Rankings.  In spite of the loss, Greece is still a little ahead in of Finland in rating points. Finland is the last country ranked..
~That's why democracy and not rugby was invented in Greece, they're talkers. Here's your Steamer.
~Thanks, I have a quote from Victor Cahn about American Rugby:

“In our country, true teams rarely exist…social barriers and personal ambitions have reduced athletes to dissolute cliques or individuals thrown together for mutual profit…Yet these rugby players, with their muddied, cracked bodies, are struggling to hold onto a sense of humanity that we in America have lost and are unlikely to regain.

The game may only be to move a ball forward on a dirt field, but the task can be accomplished with an unshackled joy and its memories will be a permanent delight. The women and men who play on that rugby field are more alive than too many of us will ever be. The foolish emptiness we think we perceive in their existence is only our own.”

Cahn originally wrote this as part of a larger article called The Joy of Being Part of a Team which appeared in The New York Times in June 1973. Cahn was writing about the play The Changing Room by English novelist and playright David Storey.

Also from the actor Richard Harris:

“It belongs to the heart, not the head. Something to be embraced, or spurned – there can be no middle ground. There are those who stare blank-faced when I talk of rugby but others instantly understand my breathless enthusiasm and stomach-churning anxiety. We are the lucky ones.” 

"Lucky Ones" Tour Team:

1. Nick Lord; 2. Brendan Sculland (40 min); 3. Tim Millar; 4. Jeremy Young; 5. Bob Mavro; 6 Dan McIssac (Oshawa); 7. Dean Crozier; 8. Adam Godfrey; 9. Derrick Weber; 10. Jason Haynes (Creek)11. Brandon Nytuschuk; 12. Alex Roy (Cobourg)  13. Martin Colyn; 14. Randy Jordan (Creek); 15. Gord Lee (Cobourg); 16 Brad Vorstenbosch(40 min); 17 Simon Vanellis (touch judge)

Scorers:  Derrick Weber 1 T +2 C

                  some one else   1 T