The hardest fought game in years for High Country brought victory Saturday afternoon in Huntsville. High Country hung the 1st matrix loss ever on the Huntsville rugby club this past Saturday according to long time players Billy and Ronnie. “ You’ve been playing us close for years and really earned it today”, said Ronnie after the game.
We played a large, mobile, and determined pack today, and used the bend but don’t break strategy. Huntsville came with one wave after another throughout the game, and made the 37-21 score seem much closer.
Their game plan was simply crashing their forwards off the rucks at our backs and our back row. Their #8, #7, and Prop punished us all game. But our forwards and backs withstood barrage. There were numerous goal line stands, with their ball inside our 22 for a good part of the match.
Kurt Alexander had another stellar game and has the knot on his head to prove it. He was a tackling machine. I counted about 10 tackles he made on their big 3. Spence was his usual menacing self and had a few good offensive looks; we’ll work on his foot in practice. Hix’s was solid in turned in some of his patented 10-meter burst we’re all so use to now.
Mitch, Paul, Alex, and Perkins were solid on the front row and played well in the loose again. Bad Mitch had his usual 3 steals on their put in’s, which really saved us on defense more than once. Cheese and Peterson were solid in the set play and our pack actually pushed them around in the scrums. Good job tight 5 you played well!
Nice job on defense today forwards!!
Led in the backs by our emotional flyhalf Mitch Jaffe, our backs had their best game so far. Excellent tackling, good kicking, and some pretty runs highlighted the game.
Huntsville shut down our inside game, sealing off the inside on switches and crashes. But when the ball got outside, we showed what we could do in space. Excellent spacing and decision making led to scores by our fullback, and outside center, and some nice runs by our wings. Rich Ferry’s tackle/steal and clearing kick was a pretty play to watch.
David Crofts had 2 scores late in the second half that took some of the fight out of the Huntsville club. The pop kick and dive for a try was a pretty play by David. Matt Hernandez was huge converting all four trys, and hitting 3 penalties. He was the games high scorer with 17 points. Great job Matt!!!
The highlight of the backs for me was the great defense played by our back line. Great job tackling those big forwards time and time again, especially Mitch and Tommy.
See you Tuesday!!!
Paco
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