Toad
05-14-2003, 11:56 AM
East Side Nomads and Westside Outkasts both represented Cincinnati quite well in the Ohio HS Rugby Championships this past weekend.
Being new entrants this year, the Cincinnati clubs were automatically given the #7 and #8 seeds in the tourney. This meant that Cincinnati's #1, Westside, opened with Akron, while East Side got the pleasure of opening with Westerville Worms, current Midwest champ and 2002 National Runner-Up.
East Side fought well vs. the powerful Worms, showing them that they would not be intimidated. I believe the final score was 35-5, but I'm not sure. I was not at the match, so if someone can post the correct score and a match report, please do so.
Westside began strong vs. Akron, scoring the first try 5 minutes into the contest. However, Akron seemed maintain possession throughout the first half, but just couldn't do anything with it. Westside capitalized on a knock-on and worked a nicely supported backline try, and with the conversion made halftime 12-0. Akron came storming back in the second half, thanks in large part to an extremely talented inside center, who both kicked to open areas and cut back on a spread out Westside defense. After 15 minutes Akron cut the lead to 12-10. Westside then went back on the offensive, finally putting together a nice set of forward dominated phases, with it culminating in a driving pack try. Akron was not done, however, and thanks to several ill advised penalties, rucked over for a try, which was not converted. Westside then kicked off, received a scrum from a knock on, kicked to touch and the game was over.
Saturday saw them in the Semis vs. Pickerington. Westside was able to dominate in the set pieces and score several tries in the first half, to make the score 29-5. Liveral subsittutions in the second half limited Westside's scoring opportunities, but by then the game was well in hand and ended up 34-12. This led up to a showdown with Westerville. The boys did quite well, withstanding Westerville's obvious size advantage with hard nosed tackling and agressive rucking. At halftime the score was 15-5 Westerville. In the second half, however, Westerville began flexing their muscle, dominating possession and causing frustration among the Westside pack. This led to a sin-bin offense by a second row player for the last 10 minutes of the match, which Westerville used to score 4 tries in the last 10 minutes to make the score 46-5 and a State Runner-up title for Westside.
Overall, everyone was talking about how surprisingly well the new clubs from Cincinnati fared, and definitely the seedings will be re-done to reflect the quality of play. Everyone associated with the High School league should be proud of the accomlishments that have been achieved in two short years.
This leads to the City Championships this weekend (yes, I know it's backwards; hopefully the scheduling issues statewide will be re-done next year). To review from previous posts, North Bend A plays North Bend B on Thursday at Caldwell at 4:30, with the winner advancing to the Semi-Finals vs. East Side. Walnut Hills will play Northern Kentucky at 6:00 pm on Friday at Brimelow Fields, with the winner to face Westside in the semis. The Semis and the Finals will kickoff on Sunday beginning at 11:00 at Brimelow, with the Finals currently scheduled for 3:00. It should be great rugby, so everyone come out and support the lads in the last matches of the season...
Being new entrants this year, the Cincinnati clubs were automatically given the #7 and #8 seeds in the tourney. This meant that Cincinnati's #1, Westside, opened with Akron, while East Side got the pleasure of opening with Westerville Worms, current Midwest champ and 2002 National Runner-Up.
East Side fought well vs. the powerful Worms, showing them that they would not be intimidated. I believe the final score was 35-5, but I'm not sure. I was not at the match, so if someone can post the correct score and a match report, please do so.
Westside began strong vs. Akron, scoring the first try 5 minutes into the contest. However, Akron seemed maintain possession throughout the first half, but just couldn't do anything with it. Westside capitalized on a knock-on and worked a nicely supported backline try, and with the conversion made halftime 12-0. Akron came storming back in the second half, thanks in large part to an extremely talented inside center, who both kicked to open areas and cut back on a spread out Westside defense. After 15 minutes Akron cut the lead to 12-10. Westside then went back on the offensive, finally putting together a nice set of forward dominated phases, with it culminating in a driving pack try. Akron was not done, however, and thanks to several ill advised penalties, rucked over for a try, which was not converted. Westside then kicked off, received a scrum from a knock on, kicked to touch and the game was over.
Saturday saw them in the Semis vs. Pickerington. Westside was able to dominate in the set pieces and score several tries in the first half, to make the score 29-5. Liveral subsittutions in the second half limited Westside's scoring opportunities, but by then the game was well in hand and ended up 34-12. This led up to a showdown with Westerville. The boys did quite well, withstanding Westerville's obvious size advantage with hard nosed tackling and agressive rucking. At halftime the score was 15-5 Westerville. In the second half, however, Westerville began flexing their muscle, dominating possession and causing frustration among the Westside pack. This led to a sin-bin offense by a second row player for the last 10 minutes of the match, which Westerville used to score 4 tries in the last 10 minutes to make the score 46-5 and a State Runner-up title for Westside.
Overall, everyone was talking about how surprisingly well the new clubs from Cincinnati fared, and definitely the seedings will be re-done to reflect the quality of play. Everyone associated with the High School league should be proud of the accomlishments that have been achieved in two short years.
This leads to the City Championships this weekend (yes, I know it's backwards; hopefully the scheduling issues statewide will be re-done next year). To review from previous posts, North Bend A plays North Bend B on Thursday at Caldwell at 4:30, with the winner advancing to the Semi-Finals vs. East Side. Walnut Hills will play Northern Kentucky at 6:00 pm on Friday at Brimelow Fields, with the winner to face Westside in the semis. The Semis and the Finals will kickoff on Sunday beginning at 11:00 at Brimelow, with the Finals currently scheduled for 3:00. It should be great rugby, so everyone come out and support the lads in the last matches of the season...