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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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