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Coach's corner:
Well again, congratulations goes out to all 22 members of this weekend's Irish 7s squad.
We again fielded two winning sides capable of winning each respected division. I
was happy to see the way we are able to maintain composure and control the flow of
the game in most situations. Strong performances by Weiss and Jake helped to
carry us through several matches. We are supporting our mates on long breaks
and staying out of defensive rucks. So well done, Green and White- another week with
Hardware. That makes four in a row.
So onto the critique- Quote of the week, "Do as I say, not as I do". Your coach will
be the be the first to admit his faults (there are many). Lets keep the 50/50 passing to a minimum,
run with two hands on the ball and more talking on defense. I'm not sure when we
decided to become a 'Kicking' team. I hope we have that out of our systems.
The game is too short to give up possession and we don't have the fitness to cover the
elusive 'kick and chase'.
We need to prepare for each game; stretching and hydrating well in advance. Too
many cramps or other issues reared their ugly heads in the finals for both teams.
So let's each work on one item over the week whether its fitness, passing or
supporting your mates. Let's continue to get better. The MARFU Championships
are 3 weeks away and I want to take home the Title.
Cheers,
Duma
Cheers,
Duma
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Irish Green's Success Continues With 2nd Place Finish
Columbia, MD- June 30, 2007
Irish v PAC Developmental
Irish Green took on PAC's developmental side in their first match of the day. PAC had intermixed some of their premiere players with some of their younger recruits to create a strong mix of veteran experience and the fitness of youth. Green put out their core group of veteran 7s players augmented by Mark Seiss, returning to his home on the Irish while NOVA I enjoyed a weekend off. The Irish opened a little sluggish and allowed PAC to get two lucky tries in the first half. However, they recovered quickly, set their defense and began their come back. Loose play inside the Irish 50 separated the PAC defense and Seiss came up with the ball. Showing superior speed and agility, Seiss zipped around the corner and cut back inside for a 60 yd dash to the try line. Hoping to tie the match before the half, Dan O'Connor broke away from the line and pushed the ball inside the PAC 22. Green failed to support the run and PAC regained possession. PAC made a final break before the half, but O'Connor found some speed and took the PAC player into touch. Green brought Chris "Putty" Putnam, Chris Bayh and James Thompson on at the half. Putnam showed excellent form in his Irish Green debut giving credit to Coach Duma's decision to bump him up. And the fresh legs on the wing helped Green close the gap as Jon "Head" Hansen broke through the PAC line, drew the last defender, and dumped to Thompson on the outside. Thompson put on some speed and crossed the try line while being brought down by the PAC sweeper. The try was awarded, but the kick was too wide for Hansen. PAC managed to slip two more by Green before Hansen again threaded thru the PAC line with Weis and Thompson in support. The dummy to Thompson gave Weis the gap he needed. Hansen made a nice pop-pass and Weis finished between the posts. Green continued to put the pressure on PAC, but time ran out and the match ended 17-24 PAC.
Final 24-17 PAC.
Irish Green v Towson
Irish Green was not going to give up on their shot at winning the tournament and came out considerably stronger against the Towson team. Towson was made up of some large, hard-hitting forwards and Green made the smart choice of playing keep-away, loose rugby. Early in the match, O'Connor made a break around center field and turned on some amazing speed to loop around the end and out run two defenders to the try line. Green tried to make it two tries before the half as Weis also found some room and broke thru the Towson defense. Green again failed to support their runner, however, and Weis was brought down by the Towson sweeper and Green lost possession. Loose play around mid-field allowed Green to regain the ball and deliver the ball to John "JB" Baker on the wing. Baker turned on the speed and put Green up 14-0 at the half. Putnam, Bayh and Thompson all came on at the half. Putnam exhibited his gift for swiftly breaking down the defense off a line out. Towson followed the Green prop leaving a gapping hole in his wake. John Schnibbe came out of touch from the throw-in and caught a slick backward pop-pass off of Putnam and went right through the gap. A 30 yd dash to the try line and Green was up 21-0. Green defense forced an error from Towson and more loose play allowed Thompson to swing the ball wide to Baker. Baker's wheels were no match for Towson and Green finished the match 28-0.
Final 28-0 Irish
Irish Green v Rocky Gorge
Rocky Gorge fielded a more experienced 7s side than Towson, but Green were not to be deterred. The Green defense was now firmly in place and Green held off the Gorge onslaught throughout the first half. Thompson was now filling in at scrumhalf as Schnibbe had suffered an unfortunate injury in the previous match. Out of a scrum at mid-field Thompson passed to Hansen and looped around the end with Seiss in support to the outside. Gorge wisely spread the defense to cover Seiss's supporting run and Thompson kept the ball up to the 22. Reacting brilliantly to the Gorge defense, Seiss cut back inside before Gorge could close the gap on Thompson. Shouting his position to Thompson before Gorge could adjust allowed Thompson to make a quick pass back inside and Seiss was free and clear to touch it down between the posts. Green held Gorge at bay for the first half and subbed fresh legs in the second half. Another beautiful kick-off from Hansen enabled Anthony Rodgers to run on and use his long arms to steal the ball from Gorge's grasp. Rodgers took two quick steps to maneuver out of the Gorge defense and then dumped the ball one-handed back to Seiss running on in support. Seiss had no trouble beating the stunned Gorge defense and Green went up 14-0. Gorge was determined to stay in the match and struck back quickly on the kick-off. Some nice loose play by the tournament hosts led to a long run around the end that Green couldn't catch. Green answered immediately, however, as Weis and Baker teamed up on the wing trading passes and dissecting the Gorge defensive line. Weis made a final dummy to Baker to create the last hole and raced in from the 22. Green was starting to show some fatigue and poor positioning by Thompson allowed Gorge to close the gap with another try at the final whistle. But it wasn't enough to stop Green and they advanced to the Semi Final, defeating Gorge 21-14.
Irish over Gorge 21-14
Irish Green v MD Exiles (Semifinal)
Pool A was dominated by the Maryland Exiles and they advanced with Irish Green to the Semi-Finals while PAC DEV faced Kenya Exiles in the other Semi-Final match. Green was forced to come from behind in their last two matches against the Exiles, tying once and winning once, so it was with some trepidation that they entered the Slug 7s Semi-final. The Exiles did not disappoint and came out strong against Green. They immediately put a try on the board, but Green answered with some loose play by Hansen and Weis ending in a pass to Baker who still had a good bit of speed left; 7-7. The second half opened with both teams pushing for the win, but Green found space first and Weis shot through the gap to add 5 points to Green. Hansen converted to make the lead 14-7. Green was sure they had this one buttoned up, but the Exiles would not let up. They made some hard runs that spread both teams all across the field. The big red-head took the ball off of loose play and charged across the center before being brought down by Thompson. He popped the ball up out of the tackle and two quick passes allowed the Exiles to slip across the try line and tie the match at the final whistle. Green and the Exiles agreed to go to sudden-death overtime and Green kicked off. Hansen kicked to the weak side and a speedy winger caught it and ran up the pitch. Green's defense stopped the advance and Weis chipped the ball back into Exile territory. Thompson gave chase and picked up the grubbing ball. He was tackled near the touch line but tried to pass before going to ground. The pass didn't work, but the Exile defender kicked the loose ball into touch. Thompson made a quick pass to Rodgers on the line out who distributed to Hansen. Hansen dummied a pass, slipped past a defender and then off-loaded to Weis while drawing a second defender. Weis had plenty of room and quickly covered the last 15 yards to the try line. Green won 19-14 in under 2 minutes of overtime and advanced to the Men's Open Championship Final.
Irish Green over MD Exiles 19-14 (OT)
Irish Green v Kenyan Exiles II (Final)
Green was showing some fatigue by the time the Final match against Kenyan Exiles II rolled around. The Kenyan's immediately exploited this fact by chipping over the flat Green defense and chased the kick across the try line. Green answered on the kick-off by swinging the ball wide and finding Seiss on the wing. Seiss made some nice cuts and tied the match. It looked as though Green would have a chance to take the lead, but the ball came loose in a ruck and Kenya recovered. They dissected the Green defense and rounded the corner to take the lead at halftime 14-7. On the 2nd half kick-off, Hansen caught the ball deep and passed to the far right finding Thompson. Thompson rushed on, but failed to respond to pressure and took the ball into contact. Two Kenyans handled the ruck and poached the ball. Green was lopsided in defense and Kenya went up 21-7. Kenya again kicked deep on the kick-off and Hansen swung the ball left this time finding Weis. Weis dumped to Rodgers who broke two tackles and found O'Connor rushing on. O'Connor carried the break away through and Weis caught up to the advance. O'connor drew the last defender, pop-passed to Weis and Weis ran 50 yards to close the gap on Kenya; 21-14. Loose play after the kick-off looked promising for Green and spotting an overload, Hansen went to swing the ball wide to Thompson, Weis, and Seiss. Unfortunately, the speedy Kenyan center saw it coming and burst threw the line for an interception and try; 28-14. Green again tried to rally and pushed hard down the pitch. Some hard rucking by Rodgers accompanied by shifty play from Putnam put Green inside Kenya's 22. Kenya finally managed to poach the ball, but almost immediately knocked it on. Thompson passed to Hansen out of the scrum. Hansen found Decoto, who had stepped up to replace an injured Schnibbe, who in turn passed to Seiss. Seiss again made some shifty moves and scored Green's final try to end the match 28-21 Kenya. Green took 2nd Place.
Kenyan Exiles over Irish 28-21
The Irish Green saw some outstanding play from every player. Putty filled the roll of prop nicely, creating space for the Irish Green speed to run onto. Chris Bayh was making hard hits on defense and had a number of break-aways that contributed greatly to the Green attack. Rodgers and Hansen make for an unstoppable kick-off team with Hansen delivering high, short kicks and Rodgers poaching them out of the sky. But for un-relenting offensive play that included run after run, try after try, Man of the Tournament has to be Weis.
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Hard Fought Day For Irish White
Columbia, MD- June 30, 2007
Irish White v George Washington Univ
Irish White was firmly in the Social Bracket for this tournament, but with 16 teams in that bracket alone, there was some stiff competition. White's first match up was against GWU, with whom the Irish have enjoyed a jovial off-pitch relationship. White's defense has improved much over the last three tournaments and they came out strong in the first half. Some big hits and strong runs by James "Mac" McIntyre threatened the GW try line. Eric "Casper" O'Neill and veteran 7s player Chuck G filled out the White backline and helped McIntyre push inside the GW 22. But with a lack of speed on the wing the offense was unable to finish and GW's fast winger managed to slip one by White before the half-time whistle. At the half, Coach Duma made a wise decision to bump Jake Decoto out to wing instead of keeping him at his 15s position of scrumhalf and brought on John "Boots" Andrews and Timmy Donovan to fill out the forwards. More big hits by Donovan and Andrews and the ball came loose and out to Decoto on the wing. Having the speed the White wing was lacking in the first half, Decoto made short work of dashing 50 yards to put Irish White on the board. However the 15s style defense began to show holes that GW could exploit with speed and White fell 7-20 by the end of the match.
GW over White 20-7
Irish White v Western Suburbs
Irish White next faced the group from Western Suburbs. Feeling that the team could benefit from on-field direction, Coach Duma dusted off his boots and joined the fray at fly-half. W. Suburbs' sideline again showed their penchant for poor sportsmanship by heckling every move White made, but White held their heads high and again opened with superior defense. Coach Duma took this opportunity to try and show White where the gaps could be created. By catching the ball out of the scrums and break downs and then simply walking backwards a step or two, Duma would open large gaps in the Western Suburbs line. However, White was slow to react to this new style of play and Duma's passing was a little dustier than his boots. Robert Guido steadily figured out how to rush on to the holes Duma was creating and made some promising runs. But without the support required for such runs, White offense was unable to close. In the last 2 minutes of the 1st half, W. Suburbs' shifty winger made two long breaks and went up 14-0 on White. The second half showed a break down in defense, but late in the match Guido came up with a poached ball and off-loaded to Decoto. Decoto made some shifty moves around mid-field before giving a nice pop pass to Jeremy Borell running on. Borell, small and deadly, made a few final jukes on the Suburbs' defense and saved White from a shut-out. Mid-way through the half, Coach Duma brought Mark McIntyre on at wing creating a father son McIntyre Duo. Mark did surprisingly well for his first ever rugby match and cleaned up a few grubber balls and made good passes back inside to Casey Kratzer. Kratzer is also coming along as a rugby player, doing well at pulling the ball back out of pressure and distributing to White play-makers. The match ended 31-7 Western Suburbs, but not without Irish White picking up some lasting memories and notable plays.
W. Suburbs over Irish White 31-7
Irish White v Renegades
With the never-give-up attitude that defines all Irish sides, White took the field against the Washington Renegades to try and hang on to their shot at the Social Bowl Championship. The Renegades had some shifty wingers and a large prop that managed to run over more than a few White defenders, but growing more and more used to Duma's ability to create holes, Guido rushed through a gap in the Renegades defense, caught a pop-pass from Duma and touched the ball down to put White on the board. White forced an error shortly after the kick-off and Decoto, back at scrumhalf, took the ball around the weak side on his own. No support was needed for the fast moving Decoto and White went up two tries before the half. Andrew McClure, enjoying the 15s style play that the Renegades were using, was itching to get in the game. He came on at the half and immediately took the ball off the kick-off. The large Renegades Pack descended on McClure, took him to deck and poached the ball and distributed to a fast winger. McClure was down with a hurt knee and the 6-man defense couldn't hold the Renegades back. McClure recovered after a minute or two and re-entered the fray with greater determination. Making heavy hits around mid-field, he forced the ball loose. Some nice passing by Duma, O'Neill, and Decoto dissected the Renegade defense once again and Decoto was able to put another try under his belt. After the kick-off, John Andrews put a devastating hit on a Renegade runner and drew the knock-on. The ball came out of the scrum and Duma did his customary two steps backwards and paused for a moment. The Renegades overcommitted to White runners rushing on and Duma found some space. He faked a pass to Donovan and then rushed in on his own. The Renegades answered once again with a hard run from their prop who off-loaded to a winger that was able to slip around the White defense. But the White forwards were able to pressure the Renegades into more mistakes and the ball came loose. Andrews poached the grubbing ball, McClure secured the ruck and Decoto made a quick pass to Donovan. Donovan showed some surprising speed and agility and opened up the Renegade defense. O'Neill was rushing on in support and when the pass came had an open shot to the try line. White finished the game 5 tries to 2 White and sealed their slot in the Social Bowl Semi-Final
Irish White over Renegades
White vs. North Bay (Semifinal)
White overpowered North Bay from the beginning, but a tiring defense could not prevent some of the faster North Bay players from keeping up in points. Early in the 1st half, Duma created a gap in the North Bay defense and made a long run to the try line. J. McIntyre converted and White went up 7-0. White didn't let up and some loose play started by Donovan to McClure ended up with Decoto who rounded the corner and bumped White's lead to 14-0. Duma also found space again and further increased the White lead. McIntyre again converted and White led 21-0. North Bay finally managed to answer and one of their wingers closed White's lead to 21-7 and another break down in defense allowed them to go up 21-14 before the half. The defense showed some fatigue at the second half and allowed North Bay to tie the game, but Decoto again used his speed to put White back in the lead and McIntyre's conversion made the score 28-21. Mark McIntyre came in again in this match and made a brilliant defensive run after a chip kick deep in White territory. With no support Mark opted to kick the ball into touch and prevented a North Bay try. North Bay did not give up, however and made a final push to tie the match. They put together some loose play and managed to slip around the outside on White. They crossed the try line under pressure, but missed the conversion and time ran out. According to the referee, Irish White had missed one of their conversions also making the match a tie at 26-26. By all accounts of the sideline, White converted all their tries and the match was won by White at 28-26. The ref's word is final, of course, and the match went to sudden death overtime. North Bay got an advantage call off the overtime kick-off and managed to drive through a surprised White defense and end the overtime almost as soon as it started. A bit incredulous, Irish White accepted the loss with heads still held high.
North Bay over Irish White
Special thanks go out to Chuck G and Casper O'Neill for their continued support of Irish White. Their leadership and veteran skills on the pitch are invaluable to the younger Irish Players trying to step-up their game. Timmy Donovan distinguished himself with unrelenting pursuit of break away runners and Robert Guido did an outstanding job poaching balls out of rucks and making tackles. Casey Kratzer's game continues to improve and John Andrews is quickly gaining the fitness he is pursuing in preparation of the 15s season. Thanks also to the Mac Duo for outstanding defense on the pitch and for making a memorable moment in Irish History to have father and son playing side by side in a 7s tournament.
Man of the tournament for Irish White is Jake Decoto
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