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Fall's Final Stretch
Congratulations to the team and our supporters for filling two complete sides this weekend and playing through to two well-won victories.
This wouldn't have been possible without the help of our Old Boys, who gave us good numbers for our first game against Battleship and allowed us to keep much of our A side fresh for the second game against the Bay Area Rugby Club.
This was not a case of an A side game and B side match-up, but rather a visit by two separate A side competitors. Being able to field two of our own sides to take them on says a lot about the depth of our team and commitment of individual players. So thanks again to the Old Boys who played with us. We'll be relying on their help again this coming weekend when the Houston Athletic Rugby Club comes with both its A and B sides.
We have only two more weekends of competition left on our schedule this fall. These are key developmental games for our players to challenge themselves, to put themselves to the test against opponents and to show our selectors what they can offer during the matrix season coming up early in 2009.
With the holidays on the horizon, we all know that improving fitness levels will be more difficult. But with the start of the matrix season just over two months away, it's also more important than ever to put in the work to reach your highest potential. No other step can do more to improve our quality of play as individuals and as a team.
See you at the pitch,
Coach Jerry
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Battleship Bound
Halfway through our fall season, I'm excited for this coming weekend's trip to Mobile for the 30th Annual Battleship Rugby Tournament.
We will be playing Army Select side Duct Tape along with other teams traveling to compete this weekend. This opportunity to play multiple games against quality competition comes at a good time for us to put our depth, fitness and pattern of play to the test. Our earlier games this season have demonstrated areas of strength and shown us the price of straying from our fundamentals. So at Battleship, we can apply those lessons, the skills we've been drilling in practice and hopefully our progressively improving fitness and see the results against a diverse roster of opponents.
This has always been a fun tournament, and this year especially the players who have committed to make the trip can expect to come away with some great experience to draw on as the fall line-up continues and the spring matrix season approaches.
Regardless of your availability this weekend, it's important for all players to come out for practice and of course for everyone to increase their fitness training on their own time. As I've said and will continue to remind you, boosting your fitness is the single most effective thing each player can do to raise our team's overall performance and see us through to our goals for the season. The matrix season will be here soon, so your fitness should be ramping up now.
See you at the pitch,
Coach Jerry |
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Committment and Camaraderie on the Road
Our recent trip to St. Louis was a long time coming, and proved itself quite a valuable experience for all those who participated.
A year ago, members of our men's club and Old Boys sides conspired to plan a trip together for a friendly match against a very challenging opponent. Bob Jones, a former NORFC player and friend to many in our club, is involved with the St. Louis Bombers, so this Super League team was chosen for this past weekend's game.
An unexpectedly high number of schedule conflicts meant that our numbers were sparse on both the men's club and Old Boys sides. Those who did make the trip showed great commitment and demonstrated the potential of teamwork and the powerful bonds of camaraderie in our sport that span generations.
The short numbers on the Old Boys side ensured that they were well beaten by their opponent during the first game of the day, but the loss did not diminish our Old Boys' vigor and enthusiasm. They were there for the men's club with a rousing pre-game speech, with support on the sidelines and with their sweat and blood on the pitch as well, as Old Boys Tim Falcon, Gary Giepert and Geoff Ormsby were called up to play in the day's main event. In particular, after Giepert's impressive 40-minute shift at lock with the men's club the word around the pitch is that he is considering an age-transplant treatment to restart his rugby career.
Our team came out firing on all cylinders, and we kept ourselves in the zone for much of the first half. Ruck support and general support were very strong, and our off-loading was successful to the point where the Bombers often couldn't predict where the next break down would occur. This resulted in two well-worked tries, plus one conversion, before the Bombers scored a try right on the verge of halftime to bring the score to 12-5.
The Bombers acknowledged this strong start on the part of New Orleans by bringing in at least five top-level ringers to step up their play in the second half. We fought hard for the final 40 minutes of the game, and while the Bombers overtook our lead for a final score of 19-12 I was pleased to see how well our players continued to work together, support each other and keep up their intensity right up to the final whistle.
Our guys made me proud with their commitment and their level of play, and I look forward to our continued improvement as a team.
Tony "Front Reaux" Breaux earned Man of the Match honors for his superb debut performance with the forwards as hooker, and he had the red shoulders to show for it after the match.
This coming Saturday we face a very formidable opponent with LSU, and we'll be applying some of the lessons learned on the road in our training this week.
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Building Our Momentum
We're well into our second week of practice and off to a great start for the fall.
It's good to see that most players are picking up close to where they left off at the end of last season. We're using a different format and pace for practice and, as players are discovering, our drills are now aimed squarely at skills and areas we have identified for improvement.
These drills involve a good deal of fitness, but remember that practice twice a week is not enough to keep you in shape for an 80-minute rugby game. It's essential that everyone keeps running and working out on your own time as well. This will help us get the most out of our practice time and ensure that we play up to our potential in the game.
Our numbers at practice continue to be very good, and more new players are turning up each night with all different levels of prior experience. When you see a new face at the pitch, introduce yourself and encourage these new guys to keep coming out.
As we get closer to our fall friendly matches, it's important for us to keep numbers up, to stay focused at practice and to encourage those players we haven't seen yet to step up and join practice again.
Remember to take care of our CIPP obligation to play this season. Copy and paste this link to do this now:
https://membership.usarugby.org/default.aspx
See you at the pitch,
Coach Jerry
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Great Seasons Start Right Now
Last season, our club had an undefeated run through our division, earned the title of Deep South champions and advanced to compete in the U.S. championships round of 16 with the nation's best teams.
As we begin our new season, it's clear our players took this experience to heart. While we had a well-deserved break from formal practice, I know many guys put in a lot of hard work maintaining and increasing their fitness and strength. Our players broadened their rugby experience competing in summer 7s tournaments and we kept team bonds strong at twice-weekly touch training in City Park.
We've also done a great job of spreading the word about our team and building excitement for the upcoming season. For our first practice on Tuesday, we saw more than 40 players, including a lot of new faces with a wide variety of rugby experience elsewhere and some guys getting their first taste of the game. We're eager to work with them all and make them part of our team.
Soon, we will once again convene as a team to set long-term goals for the season ahead. Many of you saw just how much we accomplished last year by setting high goals and committing ourselves to meeting them, so you know how important this step is for our future success.
In the meantime, our goals are to keep numbers up at practice, train on our own outside of practice and get ready for some great competition during our fall friendly matches.
See you at the pitch,
Coach Jerry
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