Men A (17) 17 v (10) 15 Princeton A

Scoring: Gray, Kleparek; McKee - 2 convs, 1 PG.

Man of the Match: Jason Rozger

LINE-UP: 1. John Cochenour, 2. Mike Rooney (c), 3. Jason Rozger, 4. C Deasey, 5. Pat O'Keefe, 6. Bryan Gubser, 7. Jerry Gray, 8. Mike Steavenson, 9. Young, 10. Andy McKee, 11. Ray Abruzzi, 12. McCallum, 13. Kimani Davis, 14. Chris Kleparek, 15. Wilson.
Subs: Berger, Marciniak, Vexler, Pinho ,Homayoun.

In brief:
It's a beautiful sunny day. The field is very short, looks almost like a square.

"Today, this game is within you. You have to be confident," Coach Adrian says before the game. "And enjoy the game." He also tells the team: "The first 15 minutes, stamp your authority on the opposite number." Andy McKee tells his teammates to be "ruthless in their 22" to avoid blowing scoring chances.

The same goes for defense, Kimo says. "No more points for the other team(s)" for the rest of the season, he eggs on his mates.

Princeton kicks off, it's short, and Cochenour catches it nicely and takes a big hit well. A Princeton knock-on gives us a scrum, Kimo makes a nice run, but we drop a pass and lose the ball. Princeton scores a try soon after and converts it.

Princeton takes a kick from the half-way line, but misses. The Lions then win a penalty just outside the 22, and Andy hits it beautifully. Hands in the ruck leads to a penalty for Princeton, but they miss again.

In our next attack, we're a few meters from the try line, but drop the ball. However, we keep up the pressure and wheel the scrum. We end up with a 5 meter lineout and only get stopped a meter before the try line.

Princeton gets a lineout, but Cherry steals the ball, pops it to Red, and it's a glorious Lions try. Andy converts. A few minutes later, Princeton makes a penalty kick. 10-10. Right after, Princeton touches the restart kick into touch, we win the lineout, Andy passes it to Chris Kleparek, and he runs it in against three defenders. Touch judge Stevie Raia comments: "Fucking beautiful play." Andy converts.

We give away another stupid penalty, but Princeton misses just before the end of the half.

Mike says in his half time speech: "Great tries...But our penalty count is killing us right now. If we stop that, we roll them." He also calls for better first tackles. Adrian adds that we have to up the communication. Both coaches reiterate that we want to have fun. Captain Rooney tells the Lions: "They don't want this. Let's have some fun" and play hard.

No score about 10 minutes into the second half...Still no score about 20 minutes into the second half...Lineout for Princeton in our half, but they can't control the ball, and Jason steals it.

Princeton takes a tap penalty, passes the ball out wide and scores right between the uprights. But they don't convert thanks to John Cochenour who rushes up the second the kicker starts moving (twitching forward counts as moving, John tells me later) and kicks the ball off the tee. Princeton is shocked, awed and confused. Great play!!!

The final phase of the game is a chaotic back-and-forth. First, Pat O'Keefe takes a hit to the finger and goes down, chaos ensues, Princeton runs with the ball and passes it out wide. Fire!!! But we hit them, and they pass it forward. Phew!

Good Lions defense, and we get a penalty. The kick doesn't go out though, and they take another run at us. We turn it over again a few meters from our own try line and run it. Andy gets a wobbly ball and gets hit as he wants to kick. Again we recover though.

In the last chance of the match, Princeton gets a penalty in our half, decides to take it fast, and we stop them. The referee calls the game. Final score: Lions 17 - Princeton 15.