Rugby Updater

So I’m back out on the pitch this season, playing Flyhalf for the Woodlands Rugby Club. I played with them in 2005-2006, then took last year off because of their crazy schedule and my kids. Ryan’s old enough now to go out their with me and enjoy himself, so it makes it a little easier.

Anyhow, we hosted Baton Rouge this past weekend, and, though a bit chilly, it was a pretty nice day for rugby. I scored my first try of the season, and went 1 for 2 on conversions (of course I made the more difficult one – typical). We won 24-8 after pulling away in the second half.

I went down awkwardly on my hand in the second half, and ended up spraining my wrist (left) pretty badly – enough to come out of the game and go for X-Rays today (negative – yeah!). Luckily, I was already planning on missing this next game because I can’t travel to Dallas. So I have a couple weeks to recover and hopefully play on the 2nd against the Austin Huns.

Here’s the write-up on the match:

On a very sunny but cold day, the Woodlands opened their spring campaign with a home game against the 2007 DII Champions, Baton Rouge. The game started off at brisk pace with the Woodlands trying to get an early lead but the Baton Rouge defense was up to it. The BR Australian flanker was very adept at turning over ball when a Woodlands payer got isolated and this stymied many Woodlands attacks.

However the pressure finally told when from a ruck close to the BR line, Brian Dusablon was able to run through a gap in the defensive line. However this lead was short-lived as the BR center outjinked several defenders and linked up with his support runners and BR scored a good try to level the scores. The Woodlands came back strongly and Tiaan Brand scored in the corner with Brian Dusablon making an excellent touchline conversion.

Despite some strong runs by Logan Mitchell and Alois Odhiambo, the Woodlands were unable to extend their lead. In the second half, BR came out all fired up and spent a considerable time in the Woodlands 22. The Woodlands defense put in a large number of tackles and BR had to be satisfied with a successful penalty kick. With the game entering the final ten minutes, a turnover of BR possession allowed Logan Mitchell to make forty yards and quick interpassing saw Mark Atkins score underneath the posts with Byron o\’Bannon converting.

In the final minute the Woodlands secured possession from the kickoff and drove down the pitch and this culminated in Mike Wilson driving through the last defender to score a bonus point try and seal the game for the Woodlands.