would take place in Uptown Harrisburg against the newly formed Harrisburg Cougar Rugby Club. The Harrisburg Cougars are the newest member of the Harrisburg Rugby family. They actually were wearing the same borrowed jerseys that we wore during most of our first season. Sunday's game would be the first official game for the Cougars.
Upon arriving to the field I spotted a strange pink hue coming from one of the cars. I peeked in the car as saw what looked like the offspring of a flamingo that cross bred with a rhinoceros.
Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it was Aubrey Moore with his new "hot pink" Mohawk. I think I overheard one of the Harrisburg players saying, "that is the ugliest woman I have ever seen!"
First Half
After warm ups we kitted up and hit the field. West Shore would strike first with Ryan Heffernan touching down for his first career try after a nice change of
angle run. Aubrey Moore would strike next with a pick up off of the weak side of the ruck. Aubrey would outrun the entire Harrisburg backline showing incredible pace for a
flamingo/rhinoceros. Jake Fink would convert and United was up 12-0 early in the game. Harrisburg refused to back down and picked up their intensity with several big hits and solid defensive
play. United would keep it's composure and show it's experience by working the ball wide with several short pop passes out of tackles resulting in Ryan Heffernan touching down for his second try of the
day off of a nice feed from Gage Warner. 17-0 United. West Shore would again work the ball out to the wing and Jake Fink, who has been playing better every week, would touch down his second try
of the young season for a 22-0 United lead at the mid point of the first half. Aubrey Moore would score again on a penalty play to give United a commanding 27-0 lead. Several substitutions were
made at this point, but United was able to maintain their pressure and touch down two more tries before the half-time whistle. Gage Warner scored the first of these two tries and Ryan Heffernan
completed his hat trick with the final try of the half giving West Shore United a 37-0 lead at the break.
Another major accomplishment happened during the first half when Chris Shissler set a new world
record in the mouth piece throw. Shissler launched his mouth piece and amazing 98 feet and 4 inches when he was pulled out of the game in the first half. This beats the old record set by Jon
Intrieri in 2006 when he threw his mouth piece 97 feet 8 inches.
Second Half
Most of the West Shore United players that started the game were given the rest of the day off and a
second wave of players took the field for the second half. The Harrisburg players came out ready to play and showed that they had learned a ton in their first half of rugby. They were hitting
rucks harder, spreading out on defense, and playing with loads of intensity. Both teams struggled to keep possession because of the intense defense. West Shore was finally able to adjust and work
the ball downfield where Tyler Sorenson took a nice feed and outpaced (believe it or not!) the Harrisburg defense to touch down for his first career "A" side try to bring the lead to 42-0 in favor of West
Shore United. Matt Connolly would close out the scoring with a nice run through a couple of Harrisburg defenders before touching down a try that was converted by Tyler Sorenson to bring the final score
to 49-0 in favor of United.
Several players made their "A" side debuts in this game and performed admirably. Most of the West Shore "rookies" showed how far they have come since week one. The
tackling was solid, the defense was spread across the field, and the passing was much improved. We still need to improve our rucking and body position in the tackle, but we're seeing tons of
improvement with every game. The Harrisburg players also showed how much is learned by playing in a game. Their performance improved dramatically as the game went on. The Harrisburg team in
the second half and "B" game looked 300% better than the Harrisburg team from the first half. It just goes to show you that nothing compares to game experience in developing rugby skills and knowledge.
"B" side
A solid United "B" side would take the field to face the same Harrisburg side that had just played their guts out in the "A" game. The Harrisburg players had to
be tired, but you couldn't tell by the way they played. They showed how much they had learned in the previous game by working the ball down the field with nice passes, hard runs and solid rucks.
After a couple phases of play they were able to power the ball over the goal line for a nice try and a 5-0 lead. Harrisburg would maintain the lead for most of the first half, but West Shore's Mike
Mikula would score on a good hard run in the final seconds of the half with Nick Calabrese converting to give United a 7-5 lead at the half.
West Shore would strike first in the second half as well with
Matt Connolly making a hard run through the Harrisburg defense to increase the United lead to 12-5. Harrisburg continued to battle with some nice individual runs, but solid tackling by the United backs
kept them from the try zone. Fatigue started to catch up with Harrisburg and West Shore's Dustin Hicks scored a try to increase West Shore's lead to 17-5. Just when it looked like West Shore
would start to pull away, Harrisburg would get its second wind and score another try, this one converted, to get back within one score at 17-12. The teams battled for field position with the game on
the line before Nick Calabrese would touch down the final score on a nice individual run to put the game out of reach and bring the final score to 22-12 in favor of West Shore United.
After the game we
enjoyed a nice meal with the Harrisburg team and headed home. Harrisburg is a team with a bright future. Once they learn the game they will be a force to be reckoned with.
Overall it was a
great day of rugby. Everybody got a lot of playing time and new players were able to gain valuable experience. We did a good job passing the ball out to the wing quickly and funneling to the
ball. We still need to improve our rucking and body position in contact. Keep up the good work and enjoy your weekend off!
Sean Robinson
Head Coach
