Northern Colorado Rugby Club defeated the Denver Harlequin Rugby Club on Saturday March 19. Clear weather, no wind and a great crowd attended the club’s only home match this spring.
Before the first XV started, the Fort Collins Old Boys hosted the Colorado Senior Old Boys in an oldies match. The FC mature men (is that an oxymoron?) came out on top of the short, but sweet match 12-7. After the match, Jeff Calhoun presented Greg Chvatal, FC Youth Rugby Coach, with patches adorned with a hammer symbol, for both the mens and youth side jumpers in rememberance of Matt Hammerdorfer. Matt passed this life shortly after contact in a high school rugby match two weeks ago, due to an existing heart condition. Fort Collins and Northern Colorado Rugby thank the CSOBs for their gracious and meaningul gesture.
The first Northern Colorado, Denver Harlequin match started shortly after with spirited but scoreless action between the 22 meter marks until 15 minutes into the contest when the Denver pack was penalized for going over the top of a ruck in their own 22. Mike ‘Bird’ Staab place kicked the 3 pointer. NoCo 3, Denver 0. Then next 11 minutes were heated with the Flamingo pack making advances phase by phase. Scrum half Jeff Brundage popped a kick over the defending back line, retrieved the ball to score a try. The try was left unconverted. Flamingos 8, Quins 0. The ensuing nine minutes saw a seesaw battle again in midfield until NoCo committed thier own over-the-ruck offense resulting in a penalty and a 3 point goal. NoCo 8, Denver 3 at the half.
Coach Brad Polzin informed the Flamingos that it was not enough. Not enough effort, not enough ball production, and not enough scoring. NoCo responded with hard rucking and mauling. At the 44 minute mark, when defending in the Quin 22, the ball came out to the Denver fly half with the intention of kicking to touch. Captain Sol Mascarenas, in flanker fashion, adroitly hacked the kick on to the try zone and pounced on it for an impressive try. The try, again, was left unconverted. Flamingos 13, Quins 3.
The match again was back and forth until the backs found their chance to shine 52 minutes into the match. The ball was kicked over the Quin backs and Chad ‘Grape Nuts’ Graepler outsped the defense to the bouncing ball and dotted a try to increase the Flamingo lead. ‘Bird’ Staab converted the try. Fort Collins 20, Denver 3. With the restart, the Harlequins pressed every advantage and situation. Another Flamingo over-the-top penalty was called with a quick toe by the Quins. Eric ‘Ginger’ Rice immediately tackled the playmaker and as a result was penalized and presented with a yellow card of greeting to sit for 10 minutes. Following advantage was pressed by Denver until a lock took the ball from a ruck and scored a try and completed with the additional two point conversion. NoCo 20, Denver 10.
Four tics later, Sol Mascarenas, while controlling a ruck, took a pick-and-go ball to the try line for another 5 points which ‘Bird’ converted. NoCo 27, Denver 10. With the return of Rice from the sin bin, Captain Sol exhorted his charges to give him 13 hard minutes to finish the game off. Unfortunately, the result was a try from the Quin wing that outpaced the defense. Flamingos 27, Quins 17 with conversion ,and just 6 minutes to go.
The following restart found the ball in the Flamingo 22 for some time when a penalty was called for not entering from the back of a ruck. A quick tap from 12 meters out, the ball handed to a determined center which resulted in a hard earned try at the whistle with a conversion. Northern Colorado 27, Denver Quins 24.
The local boys came out swinging and did not find themselves behind the entire match, but lackluster late play cost them a point with the game win by less than 7 points. A good win, just the same.
The second side match was hotly contested by Old Boys, first side players and a few very new players. It is to be mentioned that the Quin coach Poindexter played with the Northern Colorado second side “to give his boys a good run’, and was recognized for such at the post match party. The Flamingos came out on top of this match with an impressive score of 43 to 34.
Sol and Tye Mascarenas were tapped as ‘Man of the Match” for the first and second sides respectively.
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