A Hooligan's Game: Knaves away (in Brantford) Week X of X

Grimsby Gentlemen 36: Waterloo Knaves 34

(Two in a row and the last time we did that was June 11 and June 19 of last year against Niagara and Burlington and the game against Burlington was the last time we scored 6 tries)

Venue: Grorge Jones Park in Brantford because Waterloo's first and seconds were playing there and the thirds and fourths were having and end of season party in Paris so Waterloo wanted to play in Brantford. (Or something like that)

Referee: Eric Cizar *** actually one of their coaches but kept the game going long enough for us to win in the last minute or two.

Weather: Nice day at about twenty five degrees with no wind but a high UV index. So it turns out we can also win in sunny weather.

Attendance: These were the supporters on one side of the field and many more in the shade on the north side (I think).

I don't think the kid is actually one of ours.

Team: We were short players for the first time this year. So The Knaves graciously lent us a couple of theirs. These players did not seem to be slugs and played well.

1. Nick Lord, 2. Brandon Pytschyl (came back again with black socks), 3. Jon Millington, 4. Dan Wolfrath, 5. Jeremy Young, 6. Dean Crozier, 7. Jamie Scully 8. Kyle Wilson, 9. Derrick Weber, 10. Martin Colyn, 11. A. Nother, 12. Vic Blaney, 13. Colin Comfort, 14. Also A. Nother ,15. Pat Brown

We had two injured, two working and three on holidays and the game's afoot for Alex.

Coach's Report:

The coach was in Niagara On the Lake in the morning with the flag kids and was passing through St. Catharines on the QEW when the kick off took place. So I only got to the game with about twenty minutes to go and it is a good thing because my heart might not have taken it. I saw 6 tries altogether in the final 20 min with the lead changing four times and us coming out ahead with a last minute try. The following were the try scorers in the game with four scoring their first try for Grimsby. (It's a good thing we banned Zulus because we would have used up all their toilet paper).

Colin, Pat, Nick, Jamie, Dan with Martin on the ground. were the try scorers
You can't take a picture anywhere without getting Vic in it half naked.

Colin, Dan and Nick scored before I got there but as I arrived the oppositiojn scored to tie it, then scored again to go ahead and again to go aheader (up 10). However Jamie ran under a weakly kicked penalty that did not find touch and out jumped the opposition in goal and fell on the ball. Then Martin on the burst slipped a tackle, went around the fullback with a side step and managed to get the ball down on the line while being tackled. Webs converted to put us up by 2. However A bad lineout on our 22 gave the ball to their 8 who scored in the corner to put them 3 up with 4 minutes to go (injury and water break time).

The winning try should go down in history (or as long as we can remember) because it was a classic All Black like series of plays that lasted 56 sec and had 10 players handle the ball, with Webs touching the ball 4 times, Dean twice, and Martin twice. Even one of the players loaned to us took the ball into a ruck and set it up. Also during this series Jamie made a dummy run allowing Kyle to get the ball and Milli took on three of their tacklers. At the start, the ball was thrown to the same place in the lineout that was disastrous the last time when Waterloo scored off the bad throw in. Dean was lifted well by Jeremy and Nick and the ball was then given back to the thrower, Brendan, who took on the eight and got it to Webs (we practiced this on Thursday). Most of the team was involved in the five rucks that took place until finally Pat picked up and ran 10 m to score and put us ahead for good. The only person not involved was the right winger (a player loaned to use from Waterloo).

We still have defensive problems, and it should not have come down to a last minute try like that. We have let the other team score at least 5 tries in every game this year but one. Better tackling and keeping our shape in defence is required to make sure we win.

President's Report

Well done Gentlemen, it is unfortunate we had to borrow players and it was the first time in a couple of years we did not have a full team. Thanks to Brendan who hooked again this week for us. Thanks to Waterloo for lending us a few, they could have played with us down two until the score was run up or they could have given us players who did not try. It shows we need more numbers on the roster, even if some people get less playing time. Waterloo also took care of us with a beer and food so thanks to them. Waterloo lost the Marshall game 29 to 28 and now the Creek are on the bottom since they lost. However Creek have the easier schedule in September and should manage to stay up with either Brantford or Waterloo (who just came up this year) being relegated (or Markam Irish).

Man of the Match

I did not see much of the game but Pat scored the winning try and played very well in the full back position. Vic's imitation of a soccer player gets an honourable mention.

Here is a picture of Webs in action.