Wild OATS Rugby

Oswego Alumni Touring Side

Semi-Finals - SUNY Oswego (25 OT) vs. Clarkson College (20)

Regional Championship - SUNY Oswego (17) vs. Fairmont State University (15)

National Semi Final - SUNY Oswego (39) vs. Salve Regina University (19)

National Championship - SUNY Oswego (15) vs. Salve Regina University (36)
 

Match #2 - Clarkson:

Saturday, dawned clear and bright, but only in the 40’s! Perfect for Rugby The field had managed somehow to dry up a bit from the Mud Bath last weekend. After waiting for the referee for an extra half hour, the match began, with our lads taking it to the Clarkson side from the get go, much to the acclaim of the CROWD! (That crowd of parents, friends, recent Alumni and the Women’s Rugby team had to number about 100!) We managed to absorb a few early mistakes, where Clarkson stole our loose rucks, but the team kept up the pressure and we ran in a try within the first 10 minutes, followed by a missed conversion. This one was followed soon after by our 2nd try & no conversion, before Clarkson started stiffening in their resolve and pushing back. They failed to take advantage of a couple of penalty situations, but managed to put a score over before half time. The second half picked up where they left off, with punishing loose rucks in sequence back and forth, mixed in with some very highly-contested backline play. We let Clarkson score again, before we put in the 3rd try. But with far too many penalties against us, the momentum was changing. The remainder of the 2nd half was a see-saw battle, with them equalizing the score at 20-20, by the end of regular time. Over time began, with its mandatory 5 minutes each way. While we threatened and got close a few times, there was no scoring by either side. Then we began the “sudden death” period of overtime. After turning back Clarkson’s effort early to score, we pushed the ball deep, with a run from the backs that ended with a series of scrum play in the loose, that freed up the ball to the backs, allowing the center to break through for a try, to win the match!! It consumed about 2 and a half hours for an exhibition that the crowd will remember for a long while…

Match #1 - Fairmont State College:

 Arriving at the field and seeing real GREEN grass for the first time and firm footing underneath, I knew the team was going to be fast, having suffered through the  past weeks of mainly rain and muddy practice conditions!  At the first kick off, we absorbed their pressure and battled back and forth, with little advantage showing as the teams felt each other out.  We held up well against a larger and wider pack—(with some of them appearing to be on the 6 year plan!)—and even stole a few of their scrum-downs!  We dominated the line-outs, taking some of their’s along the way.  Turning back a break-away that looked to be an easy score, we stumbled allowing a penalty kick, which resulted in the first points in the game.  Undaunted, we kicked off and pressured them back into their own end of the field.  Running wave after wave of offensive rucks and back-line attacks finally created the opening needed to punch in a try!  Converting a wide-angle put us ahead 7-3, which is how the 1st half ended.

  Second half continued the same hard-fought scrum action, with some sloppy transition passes that they were able to threaten us with.  Each time it seemed they might break through, we resisted and held our ground.  However, as they pressed us into our end of the field, a clearing kick was blocked and taken in for a try, which with the conversion put Fairmont ahead 10-7.  At this point in the game, we substituted a couple of players to add more inspiration and energy, though they seemed more gassed than our squad—(a tribute to our famous “truck-tire flipping” drills!).  Our intensity seemed to buckle a bit and they appeared to find a bit of 2nd wind and attacked with more effort, spoiling much of our backs attempts to move the ball.  Chasing down a long kick created a penalty situation against us about 10 yards out.  The ensuing play resulted in their 2nd try, but an unsuccessful conversion!

 I began to feel that we were losing our Spirit, being frustrated in the backs’ play making.  Somehow on a lone out the ball did get out to our center, who blazed a trail from inside our 22 to theirs before he was tackled.  Our scrum took over and we kept the ball down there, till a full-back-joining play punched through their defense, setting up the score under the uprights and the conversion that followed.  However, while this brought us to 15-14, there was precious little time left.  Insisting that they NEEDED to secure the kick-off, my heart sank, as it was flubbed, resulting in a line-out to Fairmont.  Somehow, our jumper again stole the line-out and we brought the ball back to their end, amidst some desperate action to press in for another score.  To my amazement and everyone else’s, they committed a penalty during some loose play, that gave us a kick at about 35 yards out, in the middle of the field!!  Our kicker sent through one of the straightest, ugliest “dying-quail” kicks I’ve seen.  But it had plenty of distance and just enough height to put us ahead 17-15 with 4 seconds left!!!

 The 30 or so parents and fans went wild on the sidelines, along with the team on the field, as the final whistle blew!  I’ve seen these guys turn things around in games before, but not against this kind of resistance.  They were giving me a heart attack all game long, as opportunities were missed, but they really dug deep to show “No Quit” right to the end.  I hope some of you nearby can come down to NJ for the finals.  Regardless of outcome, you’ll see some Oswego Ruggers to be proud of.       More details as they become available….   KEVIN

Match #3 - Salve Regina University:

Well, they got the Silver!! 

My co-coach, Jason Wallace, got me a bit concerned, after he scouted the Salve Regina College side over Easter break and reported that “they were pretty big!”  So we stepped up the rigors of practice going into the final week before the Finals in Cherry Hill, NJ.  We pushed the team right up till Thursday before driving down in a convoy of Vans—(more like a “herd of cats”, the way Jason described organizing the various drivers!)  As I left before them, with Irene, we scouted out the route into Philadelphia & over into NJ—there is NO GOOD WAY!  About 2 hours later, they all trickled in, despite Wallace saying he was ready to blow his brains out!  (Apparently there isn’t total agreement with the GPS systems and the old colonial horse tracks that Philadelphia and NJ roads were laid over!!)

After finally getting everyone fed and aimed towards bed, Wallace & I tossed back a quick beer and resolved to roust the team by 8:00 AM to prep them for the day’s events.  (I’m beginning to know how all you with kids feels, ‘cause I couldn’t sleep past 6:30 AM, not being settled as to where and what the field looked like, etc.  I ventured out and found the straightest way there, so as to preclude losing Wallace due to any further stress-induced mortal wounds!  Returning to the hotel, we began the process of waking and starting the engines of a bunch of 19 and 20-year-olds!  Beating them out of bed and forcing them to eat while they were still in deep rem sleep was an interesting process—(we never seemed to have that much trouble getting on the road to Rochester, or Buffalo for a game, after Scanlon’s after party ended at 3:00 AM, did we?!)

 We managed to get all 5 vans with players & equipment to the pitch in time to register, check rosters, go over rules—(like no swearing & no alcohol on the sidelines, etc!?)  After warm ups & psych-ups we hit the field to face Salve Regina College.  It was a hard fought contest from the start, with good stiff resistance from our scrum, both in the set scrums and the loose rucks.  Our hooker even stole a few of their puts, along with some overwhelming loose play, where we controlled the gain line, pounding pod after pod into their forwards, before sending it out to the backs.  It was a great hard met start, until our scrum-half went down in the loose and came up with a broken wrist 5 minutes into the game!  Off he went to hospital—conveniently across the street.  We were briefly unsettled, but held firm as we pushed in the first try.  Despite their rebounding efforts, we held them back, taking loose play away from them time after time, and also dominating in line-outs, despite their extra height.  We took out some of their wind with a new play run off a long lineout, where the last scrummer—(who’s built like a Zulu warrior)—turns up field and tosses out a “wish-bone-like” pitch to another scrummer—(built more like Arnold S!).  Trying to stop that lethal combination was more like catching cannonballs for the defense.  With this swarming-type scrum play, we managed to punch in a couple of tries in short order.  Then the back line started clicking, despite throwing in our back-up scrum-half, who hasn’t had that much full game experience.  He’s a tough little guy and quick, though.  Our centers not only pounded through their line, but refused to allow any return progress from their backs, with almost no desire to meet our backs at all showing from Salve Regina, as we went into the 2^nd half.  At that point, we led by a couple of tries and 1 conversion—(I never was aware of the real score till the end, when someone pointed out the scoreboard to me!!).  While they scored a few more times towards the end of the game, we had put in a few subs by then and were adjusting to new combinations.  (We pulled 1 flanker at the half, after he had scored 4 tries, ‘cause he got dehydrated!  The temperature had risen well into the 80s by gametime, despite waking up in Oswego the morning before scraping frost off my windshield!!)  Using all 22 players in the effort was a great achievement, so that they all contributed to a great win.  We answered back to every score they managed to put up late, resulting in a 39-20  result, that we dominated most of the way.

Then came the fun part:  There were about 20-30 parents and family on the sidelines, along with about a dozen Alumni, with the surprise appearance of one of the “originals”—Pete Ryan of the 1970 team—who taught me why I DIDN’T want to play in the scrum in 1972!!  Thankfully Rick Scanlon brought down a Tent for shade with Mike Whelan, along with a cooler full of “lemonade”!  (The best was the “home-brewed” beverages that Pete Ryan brought!)  Bob Hogle provided another shade tent, along with his photo and film expertise—taught to him by his son Dan!  “Mountain Man” John Stersner showed up late with some lame excuse about dragging people out of burning cars at an accident scene he passed, but we appreciated his support nonetheless—he even came back Sunday for the Final!  Mark Hessler’s brother, Fleetwood—(I never did learn his real name, even when I played with him in the late 70s-80s!)—was impressed with the team’s performance, pointing out strategies that actually were working on the field, that never seemed to work as smoothly in practice!  There were a couple of other Alums that ran up and said they’d played with me, or at OZ, but I can’t come up with the names—but thanks for being there!  And here is where the Wild OATS really made this weekend happen:  From the checks handed over on the sidelines, to the cash given by Alumni and parents, we were able to feed these guys properly and have all the water and Gatorade and oranges and energy snacks they needed to be properly fueled for the effort they put in.  They said to me time and again, “ The Alumni came up HUGE!  Those guys are awesome!!”

 After watching the 2^nd match, while relishing our victory, we got a feel for the team we were going to face on Sunday.  The game was back and forth between Longwood College of Virginia and Coastal College from Carolina, but eventually the monstrous size of the Carolina team wore down the Longwood side, winning 36-15.  We knew we had some battle ahead.  Determined to have them re-charged and ready, we herded them all off to dinner early, so they could crash early.  Then the girls showed up!  While it was great that about 7 of the Women’s rugby team showed up after their tournament in Binghamton to support the guys, it prolonged the “lights-out” process! 

Match #4 - Coastal Carolina:

Sunday’s game was at 12:00 noon and we didn’t need to re-register, so we let the team sleep in till 9:00 AM, which they informed us was in fact the middle of the night!  Nonetheless, we actually got them fed and in the vans and checked out by 10:15!  Thanks mostly to the $300+ that we collected on the sidelines from Alumni & Family the boys had REAL Bagels and cream cheese and granola bars and apples and oranges—(not to mention all the cases of water, Gatorade  and ice dragged along in all those coolers, brought by the Moms and Dads!!

We arrived at the field and taped-up, warmed up and psyched up, then hit the field.  At the first collision, you could tell it was going to be a hard-fought scrap.  Coastal had a few guys that were cut from the football team in the pack—(their 1 prop had bigger thighs than Rick Scanlon’s son has!)—and the rest of them were on steroids, or something!  A few take-downs later, one of our props crunches his guy with a tackle & goes down with a stinger, that wrecked havoc with his lifting ability for the rest of the game.  They swept down on us on a few kicks and threatened close a few times, which we resisted, keeping them out of the try zone—(we even had one try held-up!)  A mix-up in clearing the ball out of the in-goal area, however, allowed an easy score, after all that.  The battle heated up from there on out, with neither side allowing the other much progress.  Our backs failed to puncture their line; they couldn’t make much progress without getting put in the dirt in a very unfriendly manner!  Despite the giants in the line-outs, our jumper refused to give in to being dominated and at one point, came down with their jumper’s head, shoulders and the ball he thought he had won!  Every loose ruck attack they launched was put on the floor before they could advance more than a few yards, but we couldn’t get much return control either.  With a late penalty against us, the first half ended 10-0.  I must admit, there was a bit of high tempers among the team members, ‘cause we weren’t playing like we can, ‘cause we couldn’t get any breathing room, which made everyone that much more anxious to try harder, which made them more out of position, causing that many more mistakes.  Every time we had a break through, there seemed to be a missed pass, or knock-on, or forward pass.  These guys are so hyped to do well, they get in their own way!

Second half started with new resolve, but had cold water thrown on what seemed to be some momentum, when our 2^nd scrum-half went down with a severely stretched upper Achilles tendon!  After making some adjustments, we plowed on, raising our spirits with a finally successful break-through by our Zulu-like Flanker, for our 1^st try.  The euphoria didn’t last, as a long kick was mis-handled and gave them advantageous field position, from which they pounded against our pack till they could spring their backs free with the ball to score.  It looked like a grinding war of attrition by now, where scoring was only an interruption of the real battle going on between the scrummers in the loose and in the line-outs.  We subbed out the gassed and put in fresh legs, which helped to ignite some late fire, as our centers not only body-slammed their attack, but turned it around and ran the ball down through them, handing out stiff arms wherever needed as they ran in 2 more try’s towards the end of the half.  Our kicker was the one dishing out the most punishing runs from center, so we failed on all conversions, leaving us with a final score of 36-15.  The way I look at it, 2 defensive mistakes less and they only score 24 points; 3 completed conversions on our part and we score 21!  That would reflect the tight battle that was actually going on.  They were carrying guys off long before we put in subs and when our subs came in, if they weren’t so damned fired up to contribute, they wouldn’t have dropped that crucial pass, by being too close, nor knocked that pick-up that had nothing but open field ahead of our fastest guy!!!  If we get them up here in 40 degree weather, we can run them off the field!

 If you guys want the web site to get info, its: www.nscro.org.   Finally, a big word of THANKS to all the WildOATS that rallied to the support of the team from some amazing amounts from corporate sponsors to support directly from a team in Maryland to the $20 bills on the sidelines, along with your responses of good wishes—I passed them all along.  I haven’t tallied up everything exactly, but I believe we received support to a tune of around $1800+/-, not counting what the parents did in kind.  Building on the $1900 voted by the Student Assoc, for a trip that was going to cost $3000 just to get there and back, with a place to sleep—(4/room)—for 2 days, not to mention feeding themselves, you all have made the difference and they know it and appreciate it immensely!  As do I—just hearing all those voices from the past that come trickling out; it’s great!  It makes it all worth all that freezing weather we’ve been practicing in since January—(it was in the 40’s right up till we left!!) 

Thanks you all—get your asses to Saranac; I’ve got the first round! “Follow, Pack!”       

KEVIN                              

[Home]