Norfolk away

Grimsby Gentlemen 10: Norfolk Harvesters 48

Venue: Waterford High School, Waterford Ontario. This is our farthest fixture this year.  I was in Fort Erie for the flag tournament and drove through southern Niagara to get to Waterford (no direct route between them).  In case you are ever that way there are a lot of roads between us and Lake Erie. I should have taken down better directions.

Weather:  Great day for watching, a little hot for playing.

Referee: Luke Doehn: We have never had Luke before and he did not order any spectators off the pitch.

Attendance: Nick Lord's dad (who also came from Fort Erie) with little Dylan who was a bit overwhelmed at the flag tournament.  Kyle was there and myself.  The supporters bus must have gotten lost coming from  Fort Erie.

Team:  The team was skimpy with only 15 players.  We always have trouble getting players this particular weekend in June which always coincides with the Pride Parade (this year the World Pride Festival) in Toronto. Just sayin'.

1. Nick Lord, 2. Ross Matheson (C) 3. Jon Millington, 4. Jeremy Young, 5.Martin Van Der Hurk, 6. Dirk Reichow, 7. Brendon Sculland, 8. Mark Woodgate, 9. Dillon Trimble, 10, Martin Colyn, 11. Will George, 12. Vic Blaney, 13. Bob Mavro, 14. James Vienneau, 15. Jamie Farrell.

Game:  I arrived just before  half time and saw Norfolk score off a kickoff. Then the last 10 minutes of the half we controlled the ball in their end and Ross spotted the ball down at the half.  Everyone but the referee thought the extra points kick by Dillon was good.  Although I missed the first half, it seems like we were comparable in the scrums and were doing well in the scrums.

Half time score Grimsby Gentlemen 5: Norfolk Harvesters 24

In the second half, lack of reserves and the heat wore us down but we kept in there.  Probably we should have been kicking more and trying to disrupt their lineouts.  As usual Norfolk played a very physical game and knocked us around a bit.  Jamie did score a try in the second half but Norfolk scored more often.

Final Score: Grimsby Gentlemen 10: Norfolk Harvesters 48.

I have no pictures as the camera was not working.

Man of the match as picked by Norfolk was Dillon Trimble who has only played scrum half twice before in games but has helped us out because of injuries. Dillon requests when we choose man of the match from the other team he is not drinking against someone so large.

Thanks to Ross Matheson who stepped up to act a Captain the last two games due to injury to our regular Captain.  The following is his message to the team.

Hello Gents,

I want to thank everyone who played Saturday for the effort they put in. Due to injury and other commitments we travelled with 15 players but we all knew that would happen on some occasions this year. The effort everyone put in yesterday was great and won't be reflected in the score. There was some great back play and we dominated the line outs and were very competitive in the scrums. It was a very physical game and I'm sure there are some sore bodies today. Everyone took the hits and kept going. Thanks to the guys that played out of position as well. Let's get out to practice this week and build on the things we did well and work on the things we need to improve on. We have the talent we just need to put it together.

Ross

Third in the series:  Tats of the Team

News of the Rugby World: 

Mongolia defeated Cambodia 49 to 5 in Brunei (a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo - Wikipedia - i had to look it up) to easily win Asian Nations Division 4. 

Greece is now 102nd in world rankings because three new teams were added above them. 

Also,  Canada loses to the U.S for the first time since 2009 by 38 to 35 in Sacramento, California despite being up 10 points at the half. 

1. 
   

A

Waterloo IV? at home

Thursday June 12th: k.o. 7:15

Grimsby Gentlemen 7: Waterloo IV 23* (not sure -no game sheet)

Venue: Alway Field - freshly cut - never looked better

Sponsors: Steamwhistle, JJ Cores, Pro-Fast, Your Electrician, Rickochez Tavern

Weather: mid twenties a little humid at game time, clear skies (there might have been a full moon or it seemed like there could have been)

Referee:  Mike Hargrave: first time in Grimsby for Mike (who was immune but not unaware of helpful ((they claim))sideline criticism)

Attendance:   Not our usual hundreds (many out voting) but a few prospective high school players and parents and a few, but loud followers.

Team: 1. Nick Lord (60 min), 2. Brendon Sculland (60 min) 3. Ross Matheson, 4. Dirk Reichow (25 min), 5. Jeremy Young, 6. James Vienneau, 7. Mark Woodgate, 8. Adam Meehan (50 min), 9. Dillon Trimble (75 min), 10. Martin Colyn, 11 Will George, 12. Vic Blaney, 13. Pat Brown, 14. Jake D'Achille, 15. Jamie Farrell, 16. Jon Millington, 17. Martin Van Der Hurk (60 min), 18. Sam Berg, 19. Alex Millar

We unfortunately have four injured (one falling off a tractor) and two missing (no doubt helping to get the vote out so Burlington can go red).

Game:  Waterloo controlled the ball and territory for the first minutes but we did well keeping them out of the try area and they could not finish until about 15 minutes into the game.  Comments from the gallery led to several penalties against us - one of which was kickable.  We kind of limped into half time 10 points down but with some encouraging plays.

Unfortunately, Waterloo started the second half hard and scored within a couple of minutes of the kickoff.  We started to play better and got a few runs in the backs ( Jake was re-positioning the ball when he knocked it on) but ultimately got chased down.   Waterloo scored again with about 10 minutes in the game but Grimsby put Waterloo under a great deal of pressure in the final few minutes to enable Nick Lord to touch down near the sideline.  The last play of the game was Vics long kick from the edge to add two points.

Final Score: Grimsby Gentlemen 7: Waterloo IV 23

First game for Sam Berg for The Gentlemen (Sam had his first season with Beamsville this year) and played very well in the backs.  Sorry about the picture Same - I will get one that is in focus.
Interestingly the last 30 minutes (until Alex Millar got on) we played with a back line of under 21 years except for one of 25 years.  The median age was 19.

Nick Lord scoring in the last minute of the game after our most competitive 10 minutes of the game.
Vic got the long conversion from this spot.

We got our first yellow card of the season to James near the end of the game - the first in quite a while. However in James' defense the other player was being a jerk and came afterward, apologized and brought James a beer. Classy. We scored with 14 players. We also got our very first "get out of the park" call.

Canada's game against Scotland (a 19 - 17 loss) was a good time and probably a good game, to bad I was there.  (I missed all the ending stuff for some reason).  I was speaking with a Welshman who is was the video annalist for the game.  They have expensive GPS instruments in the back of each jersey and can tell how far and how fast a player runs.  They can determine how many sprints a player makes at what speed.  They can also tell how hard you hit in a scrum and a tackle.  He also said they had a drone hovering over the field taking action pictures.  Brave new world.

Next fixture is in Norfolk on Saturday June 21 but our drone is unavailable.  

New Zealand Nude Blacks 24: England 19

The annual nude rugby fixture between the New Zealand Nude Blacks and the touring team, in this case the England Invitational team finished with the Nude Blacks winning 24-19.  The cold weather 
was a great leveler!  No comment.

From Super Rugby Tips

football vs rugby

Flag tournament June 7, 2014

The first flag tournament for the Niagara Flag Rugby Club took place in Grimsby and was hosted by the Grimsby Grubbers.  Probably a hundred players and parents enjoyed the sunshine or got burns (weather brought to you by the Grimsby Gentlemen RFC.  Since it was the first there were no scores kept (officially) and hopefully everyone learned how to play a bit better that day.

It was a good day to:

hang with friends

throw grass in each other`s hair

hug the goal post

plan strategy

and use it

Get a dirty face with older sister

even run with the ball

and score tries

Well Done Grimsby Grubbers

Oakville Crusaders IV away

Grimsby Gentlemen 15: Oakville Crusaders 44

Venue:  Oakville Rugby Park (the top field - you need to climb wooden steps to get to it - the one that is very hard with little grass)

Weather:  mid twenties with lots of sun

Referee: Dave Nelson - for the third time in a row - although he is not the president of Oakville (he was last year), he is the president of the ORU.

Travelling attendance:  Sam was checking us out to play next week and Dillon's little sister was there. Brendans fiancee, Melissa and dog were engrossed in the game (the dog wanted the ball).

Team:  1 Nick Lord, 2. Brendan Sculland, 3. Ross Matheson, 4. Jeremy Young, 5. Alex Easton, 6. Bob Mavro, 7. Kyle Wilson, 8. Adam Meahan, 9. Derrick Weber, 10. Martin Colyn, 11. Will George, 12. Vic Blaney, 13. Dillon Trimble, 14. James Vienneau, 15. Pat Brown, 16. Jon Millington, 17. Martin Van Der Hurk, 18. Dirk Reichow, 19. Jake DAchille.

Game: Missed most of the game due to Flag tournament back in Grimsby but what I saw was a physical set to with lots of bumps and bruises on both sides. A few sore players (but its a good sore) afterwards. In the second half I did see Cru score often.  Dillon and Alex scored in the first half.

Half time score Grimsby Gentlemen 10: Oakville Crusaders 24

The fourth team for the Cru is always a tough team as it is the "fun" team that players who are skilled and have played much higher rugby go to when they do not attend practice very much and are not aspiring to play in the first team.  It is a good measure for us.

In the second half Dillon moved to scrum half and scored again. Dillion has scored two tries in each of the two games. However, with the exception of some good individual runs which should have led to trys but we could not finish - the Crusaders dominated the second half in territory and scoring.

Final score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 15: Oakville Crusaders 44

Dillon at work at the back of the scrum

Milli placing the ball after a long run (for him)

Some observations were that we need to work on the scrum to control the push and work on kick off returns to catch the ball. With players like that we need to set the posts faster to control the pick and go. We were also missing ball at the back of the lineout.

Above is Alex (on the right) who was chosen man of the match with their man of the match on the left.  Just try to forget anything else you might see in the photo (like Alex with a cape on).  Below is a picture of our man in flight.

You might have noticed out team picture in the Grimsby Lincoln News for winning the Brooker Cup last week (thank Ross for the promotion).  It will not be in the paper this week.

Tats of the team (second of the series)

Good time was had at Nick and Mary`s Stag and Doe Saturday evening.  Congratulations.

Next game is a rare Thursday evening game at Alway against Waterloo IV starting around 7:15 (or when ever they get there).

Brooker Cup VIII

Grimsby Gentlemen 54: St. Catharines Tigers 10

Venue: Alway Field

Sponsors:  JJ Cores, ProFast and maybe Steamwhistle.

Referee : Jeff Dahl (well done Jeff)

Weather:  Sunny, warm day (mid twenties with enough breeze to make you not want to be bothered putting on sun block - but it was explained to me that it was not the sixties anymore - thanks Vanessa)
Congratulations "Grimsby roofers", the roof did not leak today.

Attendance: quick estimate would be in the hundreds

The first home game of the season and the great day brought out some former famous alumni.
Below is Martin Wolff (former long time fixtures) in the middle flanked by Dean Nasby (former president) on the left and Andy Breuls (former president).  Frank was around but came late.

Team: By Saturday morning we had 24 registered (Friday afternoon we had 17) with two unavailable: Jake D'Achille (away checking out the rugby team of which I was a founding member at Trent University) and Nick Lemieux (broken thumb: forgot the Frank Schilte first principle of rugby -" get someone else to tackle forwards")

1. Nick Lord, 2. Brendan Sculland (45 min), 3. Ross Matheson (first league game as a member of the club in 15 years) (75 min) , 4. Jeremy Young (40 min) , 5. Mark Woodgate (40 min) (first game with Grimsby), 6. Kyle Wilson(60 min), 7. Bob Mavro (40 min), 8. Adam Meehan(40 min) (first league game with Grimsby), 9. Derrick Weber, 10. Martin Colyn, 11. Will George(40 min) (high school student and first men's game), 12. Vic Blaney, 13. Dillon Trimble (first game with Grimsby), 14. Pat Brown, 15. Jamie Farrell,  16. Jon Millington (40 min), 17. Colin Comfort (40 min), 18. Martin Van Der Hurk(40 min), 19. Alex Easton(40 min)(back playing after 6 years retired), 20. Dirk Reichow (20 min), 21. James Vienneau (40 min), 22. Alex Millar(40 min). 

Game: 

A rather ambitious (for us) pre-season meant that some people played in Buffalo and in Niagara (but not full teams). We cried off Rochester without enough players registered.  Out first game against Stoney Creek was not played last week, so this was the first actual full game the club put together this year.  And despite the fact that the opposition is in rebuilding mode and was not strong, we had a good afternoon.  Martin made a nice breaking run and Vic scored at 10 min with Derrick converting.  Six minutes later Pat broke open and got the ball to Dillon to score.  At 20 min Vic hit with a penalty kick and scored a try about 5 minutes later with Martin assisting. A blocked kick led to a long run and score by the Tigers. Then Derrick did the same thing as Vic a few minutes later (penalty then try).  Dillon scored his second try at the end of the half.

Half time score:   Grimsby Gentlemen 35: St Catharines Tigers 5

A lot of changes were made (subs came on - Dillon went to 9, Derrick to 10, Martin to 12 ,Vic to 8, Ross to 2 and it took a long time to get comfortable again.  The Tigers scored first with a long run and it was not until about 20 min in that Martin played for an interception and ran about 60 m for the score and conversion. 

Milli took advantage of playing only a half and burnt up the field. Martin scored his second a few minutes later.  The final score was a nice phase from the lineout inside the opposition 22, through  hands to Jamie coming from fullback. This try was converted by a drop kick by Dillon. 

Scoring (I think- there will be changes)

Derrick  1 T, 4 C, 1 P  (16 pts)

Dillon     2 T, 1 C         (12 pts)

Vic        2 T, 1 P          (13 pts)

Martin    2 T                 (10 pts)

Jamie      1 T                 (5 pts)

New players: Welcome to the new and long time missing players.  

Will (high school player)

Dillon (Brock University)

Alex (another former club president and a former soccer player)

Adam (has played everywhere)

Mark (a former Kiwi and Creek player)

Ross (in red) from our farm team in Stoney Creek

Player of the game (as selected by the Tigers) was Martin Colyn

Friends after the game

A lot of Brooker Cup records were set this year.

Most number of total points in a game  (64)

Most number of total tries in a game (9)

Most number of tries for one team (7)

Largest point differential  (44)

First in a series: Tats of the Team
 

Congratulations to the Beamsville Senior boys team who defeated McNabb of Hamilton to play Stamford of Niagara Falls in the SOSSA final and came from 10 points down only to lose in overtime. 

Also congratulations to the Beamsville Girls team who are seeded second at OFSAA in Belleville starting Monday June 2nd.  Well done girls. 

No sure what is going on here, but thought you could use your imagination. 

Hi Dink, made you read the whole thing to find your picture.  Jeff Innis has played in all the Brooker Cups for St. Catharines although he only comes to watch. He kicked the ball right at me after I took this picture. 

Next game a little harder against Crusaders in Oakville.