Charles River Rugby Men @ Providence Rugby

October 19, 2013, 11:00 AM

O’Brien Memorial Field, Pawtucket, RI

The Rats kicked off to start the game and immediately made an impression, forcing a turnover on return. Scrum-half Zack Cox organized the offense and the Rats started to march inside Providence’s territory. After two phases, Providence was assessed an off-sides penalty about 35 meters from the goal post[3]. Coach Clemens wanted to grab an early lead, so he called on Fullback Jerry Kenneally to attempt a penalty kick.

October 19, 2013, 11:00 AM

O’Brien Memorial Field, Pawtucket, RI

Rats Match

Position	Rats Starter (tackles made)[1]	Substitute
#1 Prop	Phil Adams (1)	Mike “Terror” Tura (2)
#2 Hooker	Alec “Ox” Tolivaisa (9)
#3 Prop	Brendan Wönn (4)
#4 Lock	Mark “The Kid” Cassidy (7)
#5 Lock	Jeff “Swiss Army” Garner (5)	Dave McVey (0)
#6 Flanker	Karim El-Sayed (5)	Dave “Andre” Bloom[2] (1)
#7 Flanker	Grant “007” McAuslan (19)
#8 8-Man	Tommy Conley (5)
#9 Scrum-Half	Zack “For Sale” Cox (6)
#10 Fly-Half	Ricky Friberg © (6)
#11 Wing	“Keyless” Jerry Calixte (2)	“Wee” Pat Cavallario (1)
#12 Inside Center	Corey “A or B” Lang (9)
#13 Outside Center	Jake Marx (4)
#14 Wing	Charlie Punches (4)	Alex Teixeira (1)
#15 Fullback	Jerry “Drainpipe” Kenneally (1)

 

Match Details: Thirty-eight minutes. For thirty-eight minutes, the Charles River Rats truly believed that they would walk away with their first win of the 2013 season. At the end of that thirty-eight minute period, the Rats held a 13-12 lead over Providence RFC. Despite a productive week of practice, the Rats were often disorganized and confused during open play, which added another loss to the Rats’ record.

Armed with a full set of substitutes, Head Coach Paul Clemens felt great about his team’s chance of securing a victory. During practice, Clemens forced his forwards to practice every line-out sequence, scrum engagements and penalty plays. For the backs, Fly-Half Ricky Friberg ran through every play with his backline. At the end of Wednesday’s practice, Friberg was impressed with the amount of effort the forwards gave during the session.

The Rats kicked off to start the game and immediately made an impression, forcing a turnover on return. Scrum-half Zack Cox organized the offense and the Rats started to march inside Providence’s territory. After two phases, Providence was assessed an off-sides penalty about 35 meters from the goal post[3]. Coach Clemens wanted to grab an early lead, so he called on Fullback Jerry Kenneally to attempt a penalty kick. Despite a little wind, Kenneally’s kick went right down the middle, giving the Rats an early 3-0 lead. While the Rats were celebrating the kick, Providence hustled to the mid-line, hoping to catch the Rats out of position on the ensuing kickoff. A few Rats noticed this quick play and managed to get in position, but others did not because they were either playing in a new position or making their debut for the Rats. In both cases, the players did not have enough time to get in their correct position on the kick reception, which led to disaster. Providence recovered their own kick and quickly knifed through the Rats’ defense, scoring in the corner of the try zone. Providence missed the conversion kick, making the score 5-3 in their favor.

Tackling was a huge problem for the Rats, as too many players opted for waist tackles instead thigh tackles, which helped the Providence runners to gain yardage after contact. The only Rat who managed to tackle on the thighs was Flanker Grant McAuslan, evident by his team-high 19 tackles. Despite the tackling troubles, the Rats were bringing their opponents down, getting to their defensive landmarks and tracking Providence’s backs. Also, the Rats were taking advantage of the Providence’s sloppiness in rucks (mainly not covering the ball), allowing the Rats to blitz Providence’s scrum-half, which caused turnovers.

Throughout the first half, both teams committed numerous penalties. Providence received two consecutive penalties in one drive, giving Providence a golden opportunity to extend their lead five meters from the try zone. The Rats stood tall and forced a penalty; however Providence drove back into Rats territory and received another penalty, giving them a lineout on the five-meter line. Up to this point, Providence utilized a five-man lineout, (similar to the one used by the Rats), this time Providence surprised the Rats by using a three-man lineout, causing confusion amongst the forward pack. While the Rats were getting organized, Providence started their lineout play, where the jumper would dump the ball to an on-running pod inside the five-meter channel. Providence managed to score in the same spot as their previous try in two phases, giving them a 12-3 lead after they made the conversion kick.

The Rats fought back with an aggressive offensive attack. The Rats managed to gain possession and Inside Center Corey Lang found a hole in Providence’s defense. When the second wave of defenders came down on Lang, he passed the ball to Wing Charlie Punches, who finally popped the ball to a charging Kenneally, who scored in the near corner of the try zone. Kenneally’s conversion narrowed the deficit 12-10.

Another kickoff return was fumbled by the Rats and Providence penetrated the Rats’ 22-meter line; however the Rats regained possession and Kenneally exposed a gap on the weak side of Providence’s line and dashed 65 meters, however he was caught from behind by Providence’s fullback. Wing Jerry Calixte was in support and had a clear path to the try zone; however Kenneally could not locate his teammate while being tackled, Providence managed to get the rest of their defense back before the Rats could make the final push to the end zone. Providence forced a turnover and kicked the ball away from their try line. As the half winded down, Calixte had a nifty run which got the Rats passed their 22-meter line. Another Providence penalty gave the Rats a chance to get closer to the try zone; however the kick did not find touch, luckily the ball bounced away from Providence’s wing, giving the Rats enough time to prevent a counter-attack. The Rats kept Providence inside their half of the pitch and managed to force a penalty 40 meters from the goal posts. Kenneally was feeling hot and wanted the chance to regain the lead for the Rats. Kenneally again split the uprights giving the Rats a 13-12 edge.

Armed with momentum and the lead the Rats had an optimal chance of victory, if they could just sit on their lead for two minutes before the halftime whistle blew. Unfortunately, the Rats blew another kickoff return, which Providence took full advantage, slicing through a make-shift defensive line by the Rats and scoring a try and conversion as the half expired giving them a 19-13 lead. Coach Clemens was speechless when his team came to the sidelines for instructions. The Rats tried to remember the progress they made for the match’s first 38 minutes, but those last two minutes lingered in the Rats’ psyche.

The Rats finally received a break on a kickoff return when Providence was guilty of tackling a player whom was jumping for the ball. Unfortunately, the Rats could not use the penalty to close the scoring gap; instead Providence regained possession and drilled a penalty kick to extend their lead 22-13. Coach Clemens decided to use some of his substitutes to freshen up the legs of the forward pack; however the move backfired as the pack missed assignments in line-outs and general play. As the game winded down, the forward pack straighten out their confusion, however Providence’s lead was too great at that point for the Rats to overcome.

Even though the Rats did not quit during the match, doubt and insecurity were painfully obvious in their play, especially after they let up another try almost instantly after Providence nailed their penalty kick. It would be the first of many tries that the Rats allowed during the 2^nd half, allowing their opponents to easily break tackles.

Thirty-eight minutes, that’s how long the Charles River Rats felt like a legitimate Division II team.

FINAL SCORE: Rats 13, Providence 55

Man of the Match – Jerry Kenneally: After suffering a freak back injury on Monday’s practice, the Rats’ reigning MVP was unsure if he could play against Providence. Hoping to protect his star player, Coach Clemens decided to start Kenneally at Fullback instead of Outside Center. The decision paid off as Kenneally displayed all his offensive strengths, pinpoint kicking (nailing all three of his kicks for points), strong support running (evident by the try he scored) and his tackle-breaking running style (displayed by his near try in the first half).

Honorable Mentions: Grant McAuslan, Zack Cox

 

Orange Whips Match

 

Match Details[4]: For the first ten minutes of the match, the Whips could not tackle anything as Providence score three quick tries. Lang gave the Whips something to fight for after he broke one tackle and avoided three others as he dashed to the try zone. As the game wore on, the Whips were getting more aggressive and angry on defense, especially Prop Mike Polcaro, Hooker Phil Adams and 8-man Alex Teixeira. The match did feature a sad moment for the Whips, as Teixeira, making his Charles River debut, sustained a crucial knee injury that forced him to get carried off the pitch.

FINAL SCORE: Whips 7, Providence 33

Man of the Match: Mike “Unabomber” Polcaro. The Charles River Old Boy put together a highlight reel of big, powerful tackles through the Whips match. In fact, it was his first big hit that inspired the rest of the Whips to play with intensity for the rest of the match.   

Honorable Mention: Phil Adams, Alex Teixeira

Full Siders: Alec Tolivaisa, Mark Cassidy, Corey Lang

Rats Scoring Table

 

PLAYER	TRIES	PENALTY KICKS	CONVERSIONS	TOTAL POINTS
J. Kenneally	4	4	8	48
M. Fair	1	0	0	5
C. Lang	1	0	0	5
D. Bloom	1	0	0	5
J. Calixte	1	0	0	5
R. Friberg	1	0	0	5

Season Results

 

OPPONENT	W/L	RATS SCORE	OPP SCORE	RECORD
Newport	L	8	22	(0-1)
@Saratoga	L	35	86	(0-2)
@New Haven	L	0	77	(0-3)
@Amoskeag	L	3	67	(0-4)
Portland	L	7	96	(0-5)
Burlington	L	7	46	(0-6)
@Providence	L	13	55	(0-7)
North Shore
@Worcester
Albany