Match score 3/27/10 Saturday
Gentlemen of Dubuque 36 (6) v Pearl City Pumas 12 (2)
MATCH SYNOPSIS: By Dave Schlueter
The Gentlemen traveled to Muscatine to take the pitch against the Pumas from Pearl City. The weather was beautiful with sunny skies, temps in the 60’s, and a bit of a cross wind. The match started with the Gentlemen controlling a majority of the possession but unable to penetrate the opposition try line till about 10 minutes into the game on a 10 meter break off the back of the scrum by 8-man, Matt Roberts. The kick was skew. The G O D tacked on 2 more tries, one converted, before half and took a 17 to 7 lead into half. The second half saw similar, hard, rugby action throughout with the Gentlemen adding 3 more tries—2 converted—to 1 for the Pumas. The final tally at the hooter was a 36 to 12 count. The Lads from Pearl did host a 10 minute 3rd quarter to make sure everyone had a run. In that session, Ryan Marsh scored a try under posts after recovering his own pop kick. Ron Pole slotted the conversion kick.
Katie Meyer played for the Madison women in Oconomowoc as well and scored 4 tries in each match leading her team to victories over both the host club and Scylla RFC out of Milwaukee. Kayla Soliday played for the UNI WRFC in the collegiate Nationals in Santa Barbara CA.
Positives: Everyone had a run on the pitch and we traveled with good numbers, both players and support. The kicking throughout the match was pretty spot on whether we were kicking post, touch, kick in, or position. We showed good fitness and discipline was good.
Negatives: We were way to high in all phases of the game; rucks, mauls, and tackling especially. We need to get out of the blocks a little quicker. Our defense was very “picket fence” with gaps for the opposition to run through. We need to come up faster and together when the ball is out and make tackles on their side of the gain line.
A good match against a physical and skilled side. A very good effort.
Scoring: Tries- Zach Singsank (3), Steve Ruden, Matt Roberts, Jeff Wertz
Conversions-Zach Singsank 3/6
Men of the Match: Forwards-Matt Roberts; Backs-Zach Singsank