April 2, 2011: Lions vs Albany
Posted on Friday November 26th, 2010 @ 03:32:08 pm

The match begins with a Albany kickoff to Lions. Houser gets the first tackle and there is a turnover out of a ruck. On the first 90 the ball goes to Kelly, who takes it into contact. There is a turnover to Albany when they pick it out of the ruck. Rosie gets the tackle on the first Albany break-away.

There is a scrum to Albany (1st scrum of the game), and Albany drives to the weakside, but gets called offsides.

There is a scrum to the Lions, Kim puts in, Kim gets it out to Collins for a kick. Albany returns ball in a 15 meter run, Collins gets the tackle even with a stiff-arm to the face, with only 2 fingers on the girl’s jersey.

There is a Lions scrum, and Cardwell and Kim both go for pick, which results in a turnover to Albany.

Albany gets a 5m run and Kim gets the tackle on the try-line, but it counts as an Albany TRY (5 minutes in). Albany makes the conversion.

5 minutes in the score is:

Albany 7, Lions 0

The Lions come back out from the try energized. Gae gets the first tackle. Collins gets a pick out of the ruck for a turnover, pops to Houser for a 5 m run.

There is a scrum to Lions, but Albany wheels the scrum. In the second scrum Albany gets the ball out weakside, goes into contact, and there is a turnover out of the ruck.

Collins runs a 90 and Kelly gets a 5m run, then takes it into contact. Albany gets a penalty for hands in the ruck, and Collins gets a run off of a pop pass out of the penalty. Collins takes it into contact, and Albany picks the ball out of the ruck. From this, Albany gets about 5 breakdowns in a row, moving the ball across the field. Jackie has had enough and literally throws the Albany ball carrier out of bounds.

In the first lineout of the game, a fire ball goes to Amanda. There is a turnover which leads to a scrum. Albany gets the ball out of the scrum and the flanker runs down the sideline. Trish makes the tackle. THEN gets up and makes the next 2 tackles in a row. Albany breaks through the Lions defense, which was a 3 on 1, and scores a try, and makes the kick. Collins is down on an injury, but then recovers.

Score is:

Albany 14, Lions 0.

Also at this point you can hear Houser from the sidelines yelling “lay em on their arses”.

Gae catches off the kick and takes it into contact, there is then a huge “rucksterfuck” of a mess. There is about 6 Lions and 6 Albany players in a ruck, everyone is rolling about.

There is a penalty on Albany for not releasing the ball, and Sari kicks it out. Second lioneout of the game, Sari throws in, ends in a ruck, there is a penalty called on Albany for playing the ball from the ground. Collins takes penalty and runs it in for a try! 18 minutes in. Lions miss conversion.

At this point the score is:

Albany 14, Lions 5

Kelly starts off the set with a 5m run out of a breakdown. Albany picks it out for a turnover, then is awarded a scrum. Kim sacks the crap out of the scrumhalf.

Gae gets a run, takes it into contact, then Albany gets a scrum. At this point Greally is shouting to clean up the rucks.

Albany gets a lineout, Lions don’t have a jumper but the lineout wasn’t straight so a scrum is awarded to the Lions.

Albany gets a penalty for hands in the ruck, swings across the field, Dana intercepts a pass for a steal, drops ball, Rosie grabs it for a short run in which she takes the ball into contact. There is a scrum to Albany. They go for a weakside run towards Nish and Cerra, Trish swings across field for the tackle.

Trish is on her 7th straight-arm to the face thus far.

There is a lineout to Albany, who strips the ball from their jumper and makes a 10m run (Kelly gets the tackle). From the breakdown they pass out to the weakside and Nish is left in a 3 on 1 situation. Albany scores the try and makes the conversion, at 28 minutes in.

Score:

Albany 21, Lions 5

Trish gets the first tackle and a scrum is awarded to the Lions. Cardwell picks the ball out of the scrum and there is confusion, which leads to a turnover. They get a run on the weak side, Trish gets the tackle.

Trish straight-arm count: 9

Cardwell gets a turnover and takes it into contact. Sari gets the ball and kicks it out. Lions throw in, Kim and Collins go in for a tackle, ball pops out, Collins is injured and out for the game. Renee goes in.

There is a Lions scrum but the ball comes out of channel, scrum part 2, Albany gets the ball out of it and runs down the weakside. Rosie gets a sick low tackle, there is a penalty, then halftime called.

Halftime notes:

Greally: Not protecting the ball, first person must secure ball, drag knuckles on the ground, running to many 90s, need more 22/11s. People are going too high into crashes.

Houser: There needs to be more aggression.

Subs: Tape in for Amanda

Colman out, Stacy in, Nanc out, Sari out.

There is a Albany scrum, ball goes out weakside and Nish goes in as the first person in the ruck. There is a penalty on Albany and Houser passes to Kim who takes it into contact.

There is another penalty against Albany in the ruck. Erin takes it, kicks it out. Erin gets the ball and breaks through for a 5m run, Houser passes to Nish, who takes it into contact.

There is a Lion’s lineout, fire-ball, which leads to a scrum. The ball gets to Rosie, who passes to Nish, who is tackled out. Albany gets a lineout, but Houser interferes with the lineout and gets a breakaway run of about 5 m. There is a turnover to Albany from the ruck and they kick to Jackie who passes to Rosie to Erin, then Erin takes it into contact. Lions wheel Albany’s scrum.

Subs: Angela, Jessie in.

Ok at this point I am playing, and I totally appreciate Nanc, Anne and Anne for taking notes…..

Rosie gets a try! (miss the conversion)

Score:

Albany 21, Lions 10

Renee throws Albany girl out of bounds, there is maul for 10 yards. Erin kicks and Rosie tackles Albany ball carrier out. Lions get a scrum, Angela gets a low tackle. Albany gets a penalty, punch forward, tackled out of bounds. Lions throw in, kick by Erin, lineout.

Penalty, quick to Renee, secure ruck, Anne knocks the ball out. Out of a messy scrum the Lions (Sari) score a try! Miss the conversion.

Score:

Albany 21, Lions 15

Lions score another try (Sari). About this try, in the words of Jackie:

“The second-to-last try was really pretty. It started from our 22m and worked the game plan according to where we were on the pitch. The forwards had the opposition reeling backward, and they got quick ball out for Renee to continually feed the wide-punching forwards. They just marched down the field, and sari peeled off a maul weakside for the score. It was really pretty and one of those series where you think: oh, that’s how it’s supposed to look.”

Score:

Albany 21, Lions 20

Rosie scores a try in which she “centers” the ball and sari makes the conversion!

Score:

Albany 21, Lions 27

Albany gets another try, misses conversion.

FINAL SCORE:

Albany 26, Lions 27.

Women of the match: Kim

Silent Force: Gae

Starting 15

1 Nancy


2 Kelly


3 Sari


4 Houser


5 Amanda


6 Trish

7 Gae


8 Cerra


9 Kim


10 Collins


11 Nish


12 Dana


13 Rosie


14 Jackie


15 Colman

CLOSING notes:

Houser/Rosie – believe going to win, will win.

Defense: two man tackle, they did it well, we need to do it better.

Rosie: “I thought that our game plan, “Earn the right to go out wide,” worked well in the second half and even better in the third half. We did a good job of mixing up both 90′s and 100′s, which created bigger holes for our backs to sneak through. I also thought that the forwards did a much better job of securing rucks in the later part of the game.

In general, our team needs to improve on securing rucks (both forwards AND backs). It was apparent that Albany stole the ball from us numerous times during the rucks and created scoring opportunities for themselves because of this. We also need to work on both tackling AND communication on defense. Albany’s scrum-half and fly-half got through our defense sooo many times and actually scored because of our lack thereof. Sometimes, people didn’t know who was supposed to tackle who, and we paid for it.”

Village Lions 2010 Northeast Rugby Union DII Champions!
Posted on Monday November 22nd, 2010 @ 12:26:07 pm

After avenging the only loss on the season by lashing CT Yankees RFC 61 -26 on Saturday November 20th,  2010 in the Northeast Rugby Union semi-final, the Lions bested Middlesex RFC with a strong 39 – 13 victory  in the Regional Final on Sunday November 21st, 2010 to take the trophy as the best team in the Northeast United States.

Lions are now the top seed from this region in the DII Nationals in May 2011.

Before a crowd of a few hundred spectators the Village Lions’ Men side took on a very determined Middlesex RFC side for the Northeast Rugby Union Championship DII title.  It was a well contested battle, but the Lions structure and execution with ball in hand won out on the afternoon at Randall’s Island field 74 where they led the whole game. Both teams move on to the National Tournament round of 16 in the spring with the Lions being the first seed and Middlesex being the second seed.

Read a full match reports at http://rugbymag.com here VLRFC 64 – CT Yankees 26 and VLRFC 39 – Middlesex 13 .

A full and mostly accurate game recap can be viewed from the live tweets  on twitter at http://twitter.com/villagelions.

Thanks to all the spectators for your support. A VERY, VERY special thanks goes out to all the Old Boys,  Coaches, B-side players, Womens’ team, Wives,  Girlfriends, Children, Family members, etc.  for your support throughout the season. We couldn’t have had the success this year without you!

Lions defeat Newport 64-20 in MetNY NERFU Crossover 11/13/2010
Posted on Tuesday November 16th, 2010 @ 10:34:09 am

Lions defeat Newport 64-20, Danny Kroll contributing 39 points and earning a chandelier while Patrick H McJury flew in from Florida to captain us. Next Saturday we’ll play the regional semi final at Randall’s, the winner of that match will go to Nationals. Read the http://www.rugbymag.com here : Kroll’s 39 leads Lions into playoffs.

The Village Lions will now take on Connecticut Yankees in the Northern Rugby Union semi final. The winner of this match secures a place in the National Finals. More details on the two game weekend NRU finals round up can also be found at http://ww.rugbymag.com here:  Four left in NRU DII .

Connecticut Yankees are the only team to defeat the Lions this season with a 1 point win in round 2 at Norwalk. Since then the Lions have averaged over 50 points scored …per game and are coming off a big 64-20 win over Newport.

Come out to cheer on the boys – a win seals a place in the nationals, while a loss will finish the season.

If the Lions win the Regional Final will be on Sunday at the same field at 12 noon.

Immediately after Saturday’s match we’ll enjoy a bbq at the pitch while watching our other competition, North Jersey and Middlesex, play in the other semi at 12 noon.

More event details can be seen found at the Village Lions facebook event page.