Burlington III Away: Week Ten

Grimsby Gentlemen 19: Burlington Centaurs 41

(picture taken at the end of the game when everyone was there)

Venue:  Sherwood Forest Park

Referee:  Not sure - did not catch the name

Weather:  Very nice day - 26 degrees, probably a little hot for playing - slight wind

Attendance: Hoards of supporters were prevented from attending due to parking issues but Adam and Ben, Marie, Wally and his son, Nick managed to get there on time (even though players did not).

President's Report:  Due to all sorts of things we were short at kickoff and managed to get a couple of NOB players (Niagara Old Boys) who had just played to help out.  We still only had 13 and despite a lot of effort we were down 12 to 0 by the time we got two players on.  We were down 15 to 0 by the time we got all our players on the field and sorted out into the selected positions. Not a good start, but we had a good ending to the first half. with 10 minutes to go Andy sent a probing kick into their corner, good coverage by Chris and Vic allowed us to get the ball back and send Martin C into the corner of the end zone.  Chris made an amazing conversion in which the ball flew all over the place before splitting the uprights. A few minutes later, we put together a string of passes including Nathan, Vic, Kyle  and a few others to send Chris to score his first try under the posts, which he also converted.

Half time score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 14: Burlington Centaurs 15

Unfortunately that was a close as we would get.  Burlington who had bulked up for the game had the advantage in the scrums and managed to get a lot more ball which allowed them to score often.  They picked on our mistakes and came up with points.  Near the end Vic made one of his runs and could not be brought down until he hit the try line.

Final Score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 19: Burlington Centaurs 41

Team:  1. Nathan Rowbottom (eventually), 2. Brendan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington, 4. Jeremy Young, 5. Bob Mavro, 6. Philip Sullivan (40 min - first game this year), 7. Kyle Wilson, 8. Vic Blaney 9. Nick Limeaux (had to run from the Go station), 10. Derrick Spencer, 11. Trevor Trotman (eventually), 12. Martin Colyn, 13. Andy Breuls, 14. Chris Short (eventually), 15. Alex Millar.  16. Martin Van Den Herk (40 min)
and two NOBs.(thank you) Pabelo is soon moving to Grimsby.

Scoring:

Martin Colyn 1 T  (makes 4 tries this year)
Vic Blaney 1T (Third game in a row)
Chris Short 1 T, 2 C (27 points in his last three games - remember the team only scored 3 points in its first three games)

Martin's Try

Chris's Try

Vic's Try

Coaches' Report:  We had an outside chance to move up the table into a playoff position but Burlington had other ideas and put some weight and some quickness into their team.  It did not help that were were down players for 20 minutes at the start.  The score jumped up near the end as they got some bounces, were less tired and more into the game.  Anyway at the start we played hard with the usual great games from Webs and Vic.  We had some good support for a while.  Alex who attended his first whole practice this week had a good game fielding the ball and counter attacking.  Coaches man of the match went to Chris Short for scoring his first try and hitting two conversions.  There was no pick of man of the match by the other team as we left fairly early and I don't think they did it for the other games.

This is the crew who put up the fence in Grimsby ( missing Philip Sullivan)

We even got a mention in The West Niagara News by  D.I.A. Manager, Leigh Jamkiv, who stated "Special thanks to the Grimsby Gentlemen's (sic: I have always wanted to do that) Rugby Club for their help in the setup and cleanup of the park for this event."  We put it up in a record 1 hour and took it down in 15 minutes. 

A traditional Greek - Dutch welcome or a demonstration of a Greek wrestling move only they are not naked.

An important group at the Canada game. 

Another important pair at the game. 

A History of My Rugby: The Early Years

There was a lot of interest in my shoulder resurfacing surgery, mainly by players wondering how long it would be before they will have to have it done. The short answer is I came late to rugby compared to present day players and imports and only started playing in the fall of 1967 at university. Trent University gets to claim me as an alumni only because they accepted me in 1965 after a not so stellar high school career.

One of the reasons my marks were not great is that in those days you had to write departmental exams in each course in Grade 13 for something like 75% of your final mark. Also to get into a university you needed two credits in English (Authors and Composition) and two credits in French (Authors and Composition). AND you needed two credits in mathematics to go to most universities. And if there was one subject I was poorer in than French it was Math, so in grade 13 deciding on Grade 13 courses, I heard the word most when in fact there was only one, namely Trent University in Peterborough. It got even a bit more complicated but basically that is how Trent won me over and eventually introduced me to rugby.

Trent was only in its second year of existence and was smaller than most high schools with an enrollment of about 350. I played football at high school and a couple of partial years of junior with the Hurricanes and Braves. So of course at Trent I had to play on the niversity soccer team who played the local Bible College and Normal (Teacher's) College. We might play some colleges from other universities.

Then in the summer of 1967, Paul Wilson came to Trent as athletic director and he was an English rugby player. Paul started the rugby team at Trent that year, I joined and played two years with Trent as a prop. However, this was not to be a story about me: this was to be a story about what the laws of rugby were back in 1967 when I started. The idea came from Scot Harland who sends out an information page from the North American Caribbean Rugby Association each week with worse pictures than mine. He has been asking specific questions about the laws in various years. These questions if you wish to try them are about the laws as I learned them (or didn't) in 1967. Answers will appear in a near future blog (as soon as I make them up): hey if you want real history; read a book.

1. The object of the game then was to win as it is now. Correct?

2. In 1967, a try was worth 3 points; a goal from a free kick or penalty kick was 3 points and a dropped goal was 3 points. So how much was a goal from a try?

3. The ball, at commencement of play, should be inflated to which of the following?

a) 9 1/2 - 10 lb per square inch

b) 0.6697 - 9.7031 kilograms per square centimeter

c) 65.71 - 66.75 kilopascals

4. What could the referee not do before a match?

5. According to the present laws, a knock on occurs when a player loses possession of the ball and it goes forward or when a player hits the ball forward or when the ball hits a hand or arm and goes forward and the ball touches the ground or another player before the original player can catch it. How was this different in 1967?

6. A referee would move a scrummage only in which circumstances?

7. Who got the scrummage if a forward moving maul was stopped?

8. What was the scrum engage sequence in 1967?

9. A player putting in the ball had to put the ball straight along the middle line of the scrum in a single forward movement so that it first touches the ground immediately beyond the nearer first player. How was this different in 1967?

10. How far did the laws allow a scrum to wheel in 1967?

11. How long did the loose forwards have to stay bound to a scrum at this time?

12. In 1967, what determined the maximum length of the lineout?

13. If a team was awarded a penalty kick on the 50 yard line and a player kicked the ball directly into touch at the other teams 20 yard line, what would happen?

14. If a player in general play at the 50 yard line kicked the ball directly into touch at the other teams 20 yard line, what would happen?

15. Back then a place kick would be used to start the match and on the resumption of play after half time (we use a drop kick now).  A place kick would also be used for penalties and when else?

16. What were kicking tees made of in 1967?

17. It is not a law, but who threw the ball into a lineout at this time?          

New Club Crest

Lately there has been a lot of support in modifying the club crest to include things that are happening right now. We would just like to add two supports to both sides of the escutcheon that is the present shield. We simply need the OK of 75% of the members and Paul Rohner's willingness to add to his tattoo. The new coat of arms would look something like this.





The fly swatters could of course be orientated upwards.

Gentlemen and Aliens: A Friendly

Grimsby Gentlemen 30: Hamilton Hornets II 19

Venue: Alway Field

Thanks to Philip who painted the numbers on the lines for those players who get lost on the field but it must have tired him out as he did not play.

Referee: Paul Whaling*** an "international" referee from Rochester. Paul did a very good job; he knew what he wanted and was decisive about it. He might not come back again because of the following picture. There is something defective about this camera and I need a more expensive one.



Weather: A nice sunny evening (7:00 start) mid twenties.

Attendance: A nice evening and relatively well attended although there are a lot of other distractions this time of year. Martin Wolfe was not there and for the first time this year we won without him. Perhaps it was because of Frank Shulte (courageously coming to the game on his 10th wedding anniversary) who encouraged the boys but did not get on the field. Injured players Nick, Dean and Wally came out to support the side along with Elizabeth and some friends.

Thanks to Frank who did the BBQ and Dean who worked the bar.

And below is [insert name here] showing her Dad, Alex Millar, how you are supposed to run with the ball.

Team: 1. Nathan Rowbottom, 2. Brandan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington, 4. S.T. Cath, 5 Bob Mavro, 6. Martin Van Den Hurk, 7. Alex Millar (60), 8. Vic Blaney, 9. Derrick Weber, 10. Andy Breuls (60), 11. Trevor Trotman(40), 12. James Vinneau (40), 13. Martin Colyn, 14. Chris Short, 15. Nick Limeaux and thanks to three players pulled up from the farm club who played in the second half.

President's Report : Overall it was a good game played in good spirit which does not always happen between Hamilton and Grimsby. We have not played them for a couple of years and they obliged by coming to us. They had some fairly large players and we did not play the same level of aggressive defense we had last Tuesday against Niagara. The scoring was back and forth in the first half. Hamilton scored first after about 15 minutes of 10 man rugby. At about 20 min we caught a lineout in their end (not a sure thing this year) and drove the lineout until Nathan grounded the ball. Chris converted. Shortly afterward, Derrick picked up a ball from a ruck and found a gap (I missed it as I was chasing a ball in the bush). Again though we sat back and let the heavy runners from Hamilton do their work and they scored twice, converting one. Five minutes to the end of the half, Chris hit a penalty goal and we reduced the lead to four.

This is Nathan's try off a drive from a lineout.

Half time score: Grimsby 15: Hamilton 19.

In the second half, Hamilton introduced some younger subs and we got away with some runs in the center. Vic took a crash ball through the centers at our fourty and out ran everyone to score. Chris Hladrick ? later crashed center to score . One of these was converted. Hamilton seemed to less offence in the second half and at 80 minutes, Chris got a chance to hit a 40 meter penalty goal, which he slotted.

This is Vic's run through the centers in the first picture to score in the second. The rest of our team was sensibly conserving energy for the restart.

Final Score: Grimsby Gentlemen 30: Hamilton Hornets II 19

Scorers:
Nathan Rowbottom 1 T (second game in a row) ; Derrick Weber 1 T; Vic Blaney 1 T (second game in a row); Chris Hadrick? 1 T
Chris Short 2 C, 2 P

Coaches' Report: Well done Gentlemen. I suspect they thought it was going to be easier. Pictured is a dejected Hamilton side line. We did well on the scrums again and better in the lineouts. Some good kicking often got us out of trouble in the first half. Hamilton seemed to play a lot of 10 man rugby running with the ball into a ruck at every opportunity. We were slow covering the rucks, ball watching, not communicating and not attacking (taking away time and space). We put together better runs in the second half but I think Hamilton was weaker.

Coaches Man of the Match: A lot of honourable mentions, Webs, Vic and Chris. Chris's record in two games of kicking is 18 points (6/8 conversion goals and 2/3 penalty goals - he has both made and missed a 40 m penalty). The man of the match (consensus on the sideline) went to Nathan Rowbottom for his scrum work, and play around the field (hard tackles).

Hamilton's Man of the Match: Derrick Weber

Some Hamilton players felt we should be higher in our table than we are but I think the A1 teams are not as good as the B.

There is some question if I am a life member in Hamilton since I am on their web site as being one but no one has ever actually officially told me. Tom Edwards, Hamilton president, said he thought that if it was on the website then it must be true but he also thought I had played for Canada. So who knows.

Bored of the Flies

Niagara III (?) at home: Week Nine

Grimsby Gentlemen 28: Niagara Wasps III 21

Venue: Alway School: the field was good considering the heat and lack of rainfall for the last month.

Referee: Nick Carbone ** He did alright but took a lot of flack from Niagara supporters, his own club. We need to get used to his not release call but the fact we were right there taking the ball away meant that they were not and the player was isolated. It does show that there are not a lot of refs in the area.

Weather: The weather at 6:45 on Tuesday evening was much nicer than 1:30 on Saturday (mid twenties instead of mid thirties, thanks Scotty. However, the sun was lower in the sky and shadows were longer. It took a bit of time to get used to.

Attendance: Not capacity but a good turnout for a Tuesday. Eddie, Bill , Steve, and below is life member Paul who had not seen any other games this year (kids) and Martin our fixture secretary who has been at every game we won this year and only one that we did not. Martin also did the cooking and set up for the meal afterward. He also closed the bar. Great job Martin.

Eddy paid his social dues this night and became our only paid up social member this year.

Team: 1 Jon Millington, 2 Brendan Sculand, 3 Nick Howe, 4 Jeremy Young, 5 Dean Gibson, 6 Martin Van Den Hurk, 7 Vic Blaney, 8 Kyle Wilson, 9 Nick Lemieux, 10 Derick Weber, 11 Chris Short, 12 Levi Rowbottom (guest player) (40 min) , 13 Martin Colyn, 14 Trevor Trotman, 15 Alex Millar, 16 Nathan Rowbottom, (60 min) 17 James Vinneau (40 min)

(plus assorted guest players)

Dean Gibson (20 min injured) - Nathan Rowbottom

Nick Howe (30 min injured) - guest player Jason Haynes

Casualty Ward

I should be in the causality ward as I now have gout in my big toe as well as a resurfaced humerus.

Presidents Report: Expecting Niagara to bolster their team, we arranged for a little more strength than usual. Thank you to those extra players. It was an exciting game, played hard with lots of straight ahead running. A nice game to win but their team was a lot different than the team we played and beat handily the last time. As happened last time, they controlled things for the first twenty minutes and we had to defend mightily (or whatever). At about twenty minutes a bit of confusion from a lineout on our five led to a pass being delivered to the wrong person who tried to run it out of the endzone and was stripped of the ball. But quickly we came back and after a saving dive by Nick we scored (I missed it), I think by Nathan Rowbottom. * (need reference) A few minutes later, Martin V picked up a ball at a ruck about 20 meters out, made a quick dash the ruck, avoiding all contact, and scored under the posts. Then after a lot of grity rugby by the gentlemen to get the ball into Niagara territory, Vic charged under the posts for our third try. Near the end of the half however, we relaxed and Niagara came back with their own crashing try.

Half time score: Grimsby Gentlemen 21: Niagara Wasps 14

At the start of the second, Niagara came out running hard with their big boys and a new and shifty #10. They won the territory battle and we had to defend mightily (again) to keep them out of our try zone. Webs made several good kicks to get us out of trouble. The other team said from the side line that kicking was all he could do. Then at about 20 min Webs did the other thing he is good at and took a quick ball to the blind side of a ruck, found a seam and headed for their fullback. Freezing the fullback he fed to our fullback (a guest player but we will give it to Nick who usually plays fullback) who scored. Niagara came on and with about 7 minutes to go managed a final try.

Final Score: Grimsby Gentlemen 28: Niagara Wasps 21

A final note was the extraordinary kicking of Chris Short. Chris, playing in only his third game of rugby ever and first as a kicker, kicked all four conversions and missed on a fourty meter penalty by only a bit wide left.

Scoring

Nathan Rowbottom? 1 T

Martin Van Den Hurk 1 T

Vic Blaney 1 T

Nick Lemieux (although the other guy got his ass burned) 1 T

Chris Short 4 C (8 points)

The following is me trying to photoshop a rugby ball for Martin's head just after he scored and Chris is coming in to kick the conversion.

The following is Vic scoring his try through a slew of Niagara players and our players cheering him on (barely in picture) but not supporting well.
Coaches Report: It was a nice bonus point win which could have gone the other way if we had not held fairly firm on defense. It was nice to see a team poorer at lineouts than us. Due to a couple of brain cramps, I played a couple of guest players before our players and I do apologize (thanks to Dylan to point it out). At times we had some continuity in moving the ball but we still need work in that area . Scrums were again excellent and a problem for the other team. The referee seemed to be calling the not release law different than the other refs and we had trouble with it an got penalized several times. Speaking to him afterward, he seemed to know what he wanted and we will have to play to the referee (a lot of refs are calling or not calling it differently). Thanks to all for being respectful and not like the visitors who were on his case almost every call. They must not have read the missive from HQ this week.

Although we will not make the playoff, but we still have a bit more rugby to play, starting with a friendly game against Hamilton on Thursday August 4 and a return game in Hamilton August 27. Thanks to your captain, Derrick, who raised $110 for the social committee with his keg party at his house after St. Catharines.

Note: Think of some witty and/or unexpected statement that summaries the whole blog.

St. Catharines away (Brooker Cup V): Week eight

FIFTH PLAYING OF THE BROOKER CUP

Grimsby Gentlemen 5: St Catharines Tigers 13

Brooker Cup Results over 5 years

Grimsby Gentlemen 1 : St Catharines Tigers 2: Tied 2

Venu: Ridley College a hot, hard field

Referee: Gareth Jones ****

Weather: about 30 degrees but felt like 40: a day that was probably too hot to sit by the lake and drink cold beer - so we played rugby

Attendance: The Wolfs showed up - Martin Wolff and Dan Wolfrack - Jeremy's uncle, and Laura and Marie and the ref's daughter who was cheering for us. Beth was there only to drive me and she took the pictures.

Team: Jon Millington, Dylan Kinch, Nick Howe, Jeremy Young, Bob Mavro, Martin Van Den Hurk, Brendan Sculland, Kyle Wilson, Derrick Weber, Andy Breuls, Trevor Trotman, Vic Blaney, Martin Colyn, Chris Short (first game ever), Jamie Scully, Nathan Rowbottom and Dean Gibson (injured but ran touch)

President's Report

It was a hot one which perhaps kept tempers down and it was one of the better games between the two teams (the only better time is when we win). We started slowly and the Tigers controlled a lot of the play in our end. After a turnover at a lineout they attacked quickly in the backs and scored after about 12 minutes. We gradually started to gain more confidence and put on some pressure. At about 30 min, Derrick took a quick tap penalty and a quick pass to Martin C. opened the scoring for us. At about 37 min, we again lost a lineout and a similar try was scored by the same Tiger as before.

Half Time Score: Grimsby Gentlemen 5: St Catharines Tigers 10

After giving up a penalty in the first minute of the second half, we played much of the half in their end but could not score. Strong effort.

Final score: Grimsby Gentlemen 5: St Catharines Tigers 13

Coach's Report:

A good effort, it was hot and we only had one replacement (they had a number). Again we damaged them in the scrum, but did poorly in the lineout. We caught them a few times in kick coverage, but missed a couple of times. We do alright with the initial play but do not move the ball on quickly - too many slow rucks. One of the cleaner games we have played with our local rival and I think we play better when we concentrate on the game.

Congratulations to Chris Short for playing in his very first rugby game, he played the whole game and played well.

My pick of man of the match was Kyle Wilson for his leadership during the game. Their pick was our youngest (under age)and our lone try scorer, Martin Colyn

A couple of pictures of our forwards and backs in Brooker Cup action.





The older guy is Rick? the father of Jeff Innis, their scrum half, who is getting a couple of knees replaced and wanted to play one last ceremonial scrum with his son. The dad did not want to leave as he thought he had made the team (they are pulling him off).



I am glad you didn't make me play with Mike before they replaced my shoulder. Everybody says this oxycodon is dangerous but I find if you are careful and take two every four hours, there are no side effects. Except, as Mike recommended, you should take a stool softener or you may not take a dump for longer than the six days it took me. It is very boring as you cannot do much with a bad shoulder, thank God for women's soccer. It also takes a long time typing all this with a left hand. Also, while I think of it, wiping yourself with your wrong hand should be an Olympic sport.

Norfolk at home Week Seven

Grimsby Gentlemen 0: Norfolk Harvesters 39

Referee: Nick Carbone (a little late due to traffic: start 1:40)

Weather: Warmish 25 degrees, clear, so clear you could see the individual blades of grass or that might have been from the oxycodon I was on

Attendance: not as many as the blades of grass

Team: Jon Millington, Brendan Sculland, Nick Howe, Jeremy Young, Dean Gibson, Bob Mavro, Martin Van Der Hurk, Kyle Wilson, Derrick Weber, Trevor Trotman,

Vic Blaney, Martin Colyn, James Vinneau, Jamie Scully, Alex Millar, Nathan Rowbottom (we now have 27 registered players - about 7 more than last year at this time-

but we only have sixteen today

Some of the Causualties

Unfortunately, we had to go well down in our depth chart for our 10 today. I only saw the first half which did not look that bad and Vic played very well in the loss for his first time leading the offence especially since he is naturally a back row.

It took over twenty minutes for Norfolk to score first and even though they generally controlled possession did not look that impressive. They started to chip kick which put some pressure on our backs and scored again with a couple of minutes left in the half and again on the half.

Half time score; Grimsby Gentlemen 0: Norfolk Harvesters 17

Missed the second half as my drugs were wearing off - if anyone remembers anything interesting tell me and I will add it

Last year we played Norfolk in Norfolk in week six and lost a close one in the last minute 7-0 and again we only had sixteen players at that game. However 5 of those players are not with the club for various reasons (Frank Della Fortuna, Alex Stevenson, James Tulloch, Scotty Walker, and Jon Jeske) So we have made those numbers up and had several serious injuries (4)to cover for. Also 5 of the new players are 21 or under. Norfolk is better this year and is leading the Niagara B league. We are coming along.