Victory Is Ours and Video Interviews

As we used to say in Baracus rugby, Put Away The Mirrors. Team leaders said this to keep the team humble after a win. A couple weeks ago, we posted our first win of 2010 with a 10-5 triumph over Alameda in Alameda. (These videos are some player interviews.)



I was away for the game, the first one I missed all season. I had a family function to attend. But it made my weekend to hear from Coach Burke about the mighty heart we showed in this win. Burke and the rest of the coaches have always been about "it's how you play the game." We would rather lose with class and effort than win with something not measuring up to our standards.



So the week after the win we went back to our usual grind of training, including sprints up Mt. Soni. But something was off, I could tell. We were again having problems with attendance at training, especially in the backs. In rugby, the backs are supposed to provide an offensive thrust. The backs catch the eye with explosive running, deft passing and crushing open field tackles. We had choppy turnout at training all week. When numbers are down, you can't bang on each other and provide the full intensity that practice demands.



On Saturday morning we did the usual "scramble and wait" to assemble team members and caravan out to the game. This week it was in Pleasanton, which has exceptional coaching and is building a great program. The first half found us doing nothing right, coming up soft on tackles, not running hard, taking atrocious angles and just not playing with heart. Pleasanton had knocked us off our short pedestal after the Alameda win.

Coaches at the half talked about problems we needed to fix. We made adjustments and then it all started to click. In five minutes we scored two tries, both set up by our rumbling forwards. Pleasanton answered back. Then, our team leader 'Nela smashed through a couple defenders going weak off a scrum from 10 meters out.

Pleasanton scored a few more but at least we had put up a fight the second half with our more structured style of play. We have one more match, against Danville, and then a tournament in San Jose on April 23 and April 24.