The new Swiss 15’s championship kicked-off in style for the Luzern Dangels last Saturday. Grave the armageddon-like rain and only 15 players signed-up, we were happy just to play. Monthly and Nyon have joined together to play this season and they came with 21 enthusiastic players and a lot of noisy support!
We put out some markings on the artificial pitch and happily welcome a 16th player to our match-day squad; Karen who had been in e-mail contact with Chris before the game but hadn’t met any of us before; five minutes into the game due to a nasty injury to Nadja (get well soon Mrs. McNamara-Burri!) she was playing on the wing. Things like this are one of the many reasons I love rugby.
The opposition were fielding many brand new and very young players. Their tackling was excellent but, as expected under this circumstances, they were lacking in organization. We took advantage of this with some bruising runs from the forward pack sucking in their defense, to give ‘us’ backs (feels strange to write that :)) some easy run-ins on the outside. Things got a little manic in places as we tried to push passes that weren’t really on and started to creep a bit side wards with our running. Highlight of the first half was a try in the corner for our new left wing Karen after Carole gave her a perfect pass.
The second half was a bit more structured than the first and our forwards ran rampant for parts of it; it was a strangely relaxing and satisfying sight 🙂 Highlight of this half (which I admired from afar) was Isa’s try following a storming run by Wespi through half of their pack.
Nyon/Monthey never stopped fighting and continued to tackle hard right until the last minute. They are a great addition to the league with some good skills and the right rugby spirit.
Final score: Luzern 99-0 Nyon/Monthey Tries: not sure of the number, let alone the scorers (!) could be 17 or 15. TazMac (a handful?), El Capitano (a couple or more?), Manu (2), Karen, Isa, Esti, Petra … … … Conversions: either 7 or 12; all by Lolli
Angel: could have been given to any of the forwards, but the outstanding performance of the day was clearly Isa; so often first to the breakdown, carried well, tackled well and great try!
Thanks to everyone who helped ensure the game could go ahead, to our wonderful coaches and to everyone who came to watch. Gute Besserung Nadja and Julia.
Team: Angi, Wespi, Iris, Nadja, Hildi, Julia, Lala, Cynthia, Petra, El Capitano, Esti, TazMac, Manu, Karen, Lolli
written by TazMac