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RSL Recap (provided by Coach Bing Dawson) OMBAC D1a 37 - Las Vegas 7 The story of the match is "playing down to the opposition." We scored a penalty kick and a quick try in the first ten minutes and then sunk into mistake after mistake. Granted this was a 50/50 team of D1 players and RSL players, but all joined in making decision errors that took us out of attacking/scoring opportunities and let the Blackjacks move the ball into our end. The second half started out well again with a converted try in the first minutes of the start of the half - only to see a player sin-binned - and again a man down we had to waste the clock for ten minutes to get our man back on field. In the last 20 minutes we played as we should have during the previous hour - scoring three quick tries in succession. Tries were scored by: Matt Hawkins (2), Nick Hawkins, Jason Raven, and Adam Barker. Several players were involved in the USA 7s camp and some were unavailable to injury and illness. We face Santa Barbara, who is new to Division 1 So Cal rugby but have had a good start in the opposite pool with a record of 3-1. The main match is at 3p. D1 Recap (Provided by Coach Clark Bernales) OMBAC D1b 22 - Las Vegas 22 [Editor's note - I had asked Clark to highlight if there were any Legends getting a run on his team - as we all like to see our name in print] There are no legends playing on my squad. When I threaten to take the field and explain how things should be done is about as close as it gets. At the risk of being accused of plagiarizing my own reviews, I proclaim yet another match that was a tale of two halves. This time versus Las Vegas it was OMBAC D1 looking in mid-season form in the opening stanza and then shutting down in the second. With the easterly trade winds, the D1 failed to put up a point in the second half despite the advantage. A recycling phases and territory on turnovers clinic was put on by our forwards in the first half. A 10-meter scrum with two beautifully executed quick rucks led to a quick try by first year flyhalf, Mike Schwartz (not to be confused with Legend Mike Schwerin). Some enterprising ground play by openside and USNA grad Jeff Brown kept OMBAC always in position to score. Aussie #8 Rich Jeffries then executed a patented Gold Coast sidestep to up the count to 10-0 (imagine that, us having an Aussie on OMBAC...I can't remember us having one since...since...since...I don't know...). Vegas replied with a quick try when we were napping to bring it closer at 10-7. Another dose of four rucks yielded another Mike Schwartz try later in the period bringing the score to 15-7. An Andrew Gray conversion (Clark's side note: it pains this once hard-hitting openside to admit that the best defender and tackler on the OMBAC D1 side wears a jersey higher than #8. But, admittedly, Andrew Gray -son of Legend Steve Gray- at fullback is our most effective stopper...the agony!!! Brady Fuchs, Murray Pitt, Rob Young - Where art thou??) inched us further away at 17-7. Joe McNickle closed the half with bull-in-the-china-shop running from a penalty 15m away from the Promised Land. 22-7 going into the intermission. With the wind we were unable to muster any sort of threatening attack against LV. A key injury to Craig Umemura left untested combinations in the centers. Further, an array of penalties against us and an air of complacency derived from the first half dominance seemed to be our Waterloo. Las Vegas scored 15 unanswered points to level the score at 22-22 before the final whistle. Aaron Denaro played yet another menacing game at tighthead in the second half. Since we didn't win, it can't be viewed as a spear-at-midfield performance; the final dance-off scene from the hit movie, "You Got Served" is more like it. Similarly, it was good to see last year's star backline performers, Steve Neville and OB Colebrook return to action. Steve Neville might be the only OMBAC player who can claim he played two codes of rugby in two different continents in the same calendar week. Steve represented the USA in the Men's over 30 division in the World Cup of International Touch Rugby in Stellenbosch, South Africa last week. Other former OMBAC legend/representatives included Dennis "I still got it" Pannish, Tim "King of Touch - North of the 8 and West of the 5" O'Hara, Jeff "I played wing one year" Woods, and Jarrod "I can't decide between OMBAC or Aztecs" Faul. The next World Cup of Touch in 2011 will be in Scotland. Their will most likely be divisions for Men's Over 30, 35, and 40. If you're interested in playing please let me know at cgb777@hotmail.com <mailto:cgb777@hotmail.com>. Where you at Simon Matthews???? D2 Recap (Provided by Coach Bryan Watts) OMBAC D2 5 - San Luis Obispo 36 [Editor's note - When I asked Watts to provide a recap he took the easy way out and sent me a recap from the SLO web site (which their biased editor made sound like they defeated the Colts and Bears simultaneously while sending their 2nd side out against OMBAC). Rather than subject you to such mindless dribble, I instead attached a rugby cartoon from "In the Bleachers" where you can insert the name of your favorite front row.
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