Coach's Corner

Undefeated New Orleans Rugby Heads to Southern Final Four

    Two old rivals of Southern rugby clashed in New Orleans on Saturday,
April 12.
    Fresh from an undefeated romp through regular season competitors in
its Deep South league, New Orleans enjoyed home field advantage when
the Atlanta Renegades came to town for the first round in the nation's
Division II Rugby Playoffs. While the game proved competitive
throughout, New Orleans set the pace with an early string of tries and
never let the intensity diminish. The home team enjoyed a decisive
victory with a final score of 48-0 and a ticket to the Southern
Division II Final Four playoffs later this month.
    "This was probable our best performance to date," said New Orleans
head coach Jerry Malina. "We had good go-forward ball and our ruck
support was the best it's been. This provided many opportunities for
the backs to put some width on the ball."
    New Orleans kept the ball in the Atlanta half of the field for much of
the game and was able to make good use of it. The home team won most of
their own scrums and hooker David Thorburn was able to take away a
healthy percentage of Atlanta's as well. New Orleans had similar
success with line-outs, thanks to the aerobatic work of eight-man Seth
Magden and his powerful lifting pods. Meanwhile, flyhalf Todd
Fitzgerald was effective with the boot, ensuring the ball did not
linger long within striking range of the New Orleans end zone. Several
close-calls were repulsed at key stops, including a tackle by scrumhalf
Trip McCormick that ended a dangerous Atlanta charge at the New Orleans
try line.
    On offense, a succession of New Orleans tries began when flanker Brent
Dempster muscled through would-be tacklers to score early in the first
half. This was the first salvo in what would prove to be a barrage.
    On the very next kick-off, flanker and team captain Kevin Kern caught
the ball and spun it off to Fitzgerald, who found a gap in the oncoming
Atlanta defense and made a timely pass to outside center Seyi
Aiyegbusi, who ran the next 30 meters untouched to score beneath the
goal posts. Aiyegbusi then put up his first successful conversion to
bring the score to 12-0.
    After a series of Atlanta penalties, New Orleans was soon threatening
to score again when an Atlanta back intercepted a pass and took off.
However, his own pass was then intercepted by New Orleans wing Rob
Hoffman, who brought the ball into the Atlanta end zone at the edge
with time to place it near the goal posts.
    Once more deep in Atlanta territory, New Orleans won the ball in an
Atlanta scrum. Dempster ran it forward and offloaded it to Kern in a
tackle. Kern ran the ball in with plenty of support trailing him,
touching it down between the goal posts and setting up Aiyegbusi for
his second successful conversion and bringing the score to 24-0 at the
half.
    Atlanta entered the second half with renewed vigor as the Renegades
endeavored to change the lopsided score they faced. But New Orleans
proved relentless. McCormick ran the ball from an early second-half New
Orleans scrum, passed it to prop Sean Malek who in turn passed it to
fellow prop Matt Upton. A quick ruck recycled the ball to Dempster near
the Atlanta 22-meter line, and he was able to jog it in for his second
try of the day.
    Atlanta responded with some very hard hits from the following
kick-off, but soon New Orleans was again near their try line. A quick
transfer of the ball from a ruck at one sideline to backs formed up all
the way across at the other side put it in the hands of fullback David
Buckingham, who passed it to wing Joe Palermo who offloaded from the
tackle to insider center Eric Mackintosh who scored at the very edge of
the try line. Aiyegbusi made an impressive conversion from this
challenging angle to bring the score to 36-0.
    Fresh reserves from the New Orleans sideline soon made their presence
felt as well. From a penalty call against Atlanta, flanker Tommy Locke
completed a laser-guided pass in traffic to wing Tony Breaux who dove
into the end zone to score. Later, a hard series of successive rucks
within the Atlanta five-meter line set up Thorburn to make his own
dive over the try line for another five points. A successful conversion
by Aiyegbusi, his fourth of the day for eight attempts, added the coup
de grace to the match, which ended minutes later at 48-0.
    Man of the match honors went to Brent Dempster, who scored two tries
and provided crucial support in many other phases throughout the game.
    This playoff win keeps alive an undefeated streak for the New Orleans
team, which earned the title of Deep South champions during the regular
season. The New Orleans team next travels to Jacksonville, Fla., for
the Southern Division II Final Four on April 26. Winners from this
round of playoff action will go to Austin, Texas, for the USA Sweet
Sixteen in May. The nation's premier teams will then meet for the
championship final four round in Glendale, Co., later that month.

Ian McNulty


Undefeated New Orleans Rugby Heads to Southern Final Four Two old rivals of Southern rugby clashed in New Orleans on Saturday, April 12. Fresh from an undefeated romp through regular season competitors in its Deep South league, New Orleans enjoyed home field advantage when the Atlanta Renegades came to town for the first round in the nation's Division II Rugby Playoffs. While the game proved competitive throughout, New Orleans set the pace with an early string of tries and never let the intensity diminish. The home team enjoyed a decisive victory with a final score of 48-0 and a ticket to the Southern Division II Final Four playoffs later this month. "This was probable our best performance to date," said New Orleans head coach Jerry Malina. "We had good go-forward ball and our ruck support was the best it's been. This provided many opportunities for the backs to put some width on the ball." New Orleans kept the ball in the Atlanta half of the field for much of the game and was able to make good use of it. The home team won most of their own scrums and hooker David Thorburn was able to take away a healthy percentage of Atlanta's as well. New Orleans had similar success with line-outs, thanks to the aerobatic work of eight-man Seth Magden and his powerful lifting pods. Meanwhile, flyhalf Todd Fitzgerald was effective with the boot, ensuring the ball did not linger long within striking range of the New Orleans end zone. Several close-calls were repulsed at key stops, including a tackle by scrumhalf Trip McCormick that ended a dangerous Atlanta charge at the New Orleans try line. On offense, a succession of New Orleans tries began when flanker Brent Dempster muscled through would-be tacklers to score early in the first half. This was the first salvo in what would prove to be a barrage. On the very next kick-off, flanker and team captain Kevin Kern caught the ball and spun it off to Fitzgerald, who found a gap in the oncoming Atlanta defense and made a timely pass to outside center Seyi Aiyegbusi, who ran the next 30 meters untouched to score beneath the goal posts. Aiyegbusi then put up his first successful conversion to bring the score to 12-0. After a series of Atlanta penalties, New Orleans was soon threatening to score again when an Atlanta back intercepted a pass and took off. However, his own pass was then intercepted by New Orleans wing Rob Hoffman, who brought the ball into the Atlanta end zone at the edge with time to place it near the goal posts. Once more deep in Atlanta territory, New Orleans won the ball in an Atlanta scrum. Dempster ran it forward and offloaded it to Kern in a tackle. Kern ran the ball in with plenty of support trailing him, touching it down between the goal posts and setting up Aiyegbusi for his second successful conversion and bringing the score to 24-0 at the half. Atlanta entered the second half with renewed vigor as the Renegades endeavored to change the lopsided score they faced. But New Orleans proved relentless. McCormick ran the ball from an early second-half New Orleans scrum, passed it to prop Sean Malek who in turn passed it to fellow prop Matt Upton. A quick ruck recycled the ball to Dempster near the Atlanta 22-meter line, and he was able to jog it in for his second try of the day. Atlanta responded with some very hard hits from the following kick-off, but soon New Orleans was again near their try line. A quick transfer of the ball from a ruck at one sideline to backs formed up all the way across at the other side put it in the hands of fullback David Buckingham, who passed it to wing Joe Palermo who offloaded from the tackle to insider center Eric Mackintosh who scored at the very edge of the try line. Aiyegbusi made an impressive conversion from this challenging angle to bring the score to 36-0. Fresh reserves from the New Orleans sideline soon made their presence felt as well. From a penalty call against Atlanta, flanker Tommy Locke completed a laser-guided pass in traffic to wing Tony Breaux who dove into the end zone to score. Later, a hard series of successive rucks within the Atlanta five-meter line set up Thorburn to make his own dive over the try line for another five points. A successful conversion by Aiyegbusi, his fourth of the day for eight attempts, added the coup de grace to the match, which ended minutes later at 48-0. Man of the match honors went to Brent Dempster, who scored two tries and provided crucial support in many other phases throughout the game. This playoff win keeps alive an undefeated streak for the New Orleans team, which earned the title of Deep South champions during the regular season. The New Orleans team next travels to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Southern Division II Final Four on April 26. Winners from this round of playoff action will go to Austin, Texas, for the USA Sweet Sixteen in May. The nation's premier teams will then meet for the championship final four round in Glendale, Co., later that month. Ian McNulty