October 9, 2004
It was another beautiful fall Saturday for rugby as the Pigs trekked down to Rochester for this match. Things started well, with some early Pigs pressure, although the final pass seemed lacking, and the first 20 minutes or so of the game was scoreless, despite an advantage in possession. The breakthrough finally came as a well won ball was spun wide out to Psycho and then Grant, then after a tackle quickly rucked and passed back inside to Leprechaun, who passed off to Hightower, who ran it in to score under the posts. Naber made the conversion for the 7-0 Pigs’ lead. More possession and solid forward play followed, and we again found ourselves deep in the Rochester end. A series of penalties against Rochester got us all the way to the 5 meter line, where Luke took a quick tap and stumbled over the line for the second score. Naber’s conversion was again good, 14-0 Pigs. Towards the end of the half Rochester managed a try of their own to cut the deficit to 14-7 at half time.
The second half saw more of the same, as the Pigs held most of the possession. A try for Zac off a nice lineout run by Jake (again converted by Naber) increased the lead. Rochester fought back however, with a long breakaway try to cut the lead to 9 at 21 – 12. Our possession advantage held, however, and Naber kicked 3 of 4 second half penalties to keep the game out of reach of the Rogues. They did manage a final try on another breakaway that Grant was able to chase down, but neither the referee or either touch judge was fast enough to make it downfield in time to see the obvious forward nature of the final pass that allowed for the score. Final score: 30 – 19.
Special accolades and thanks go to Roger, who came out of retirement to play scrum half for us in this match.
Lineup:
1. Ben Hanson 2. Luke Utting (Alan Martin) 3. Troy Midboe 4. Ryan Backman 5. Jason Naber 6. Zac Bauer 7. Mike Hankee (Captain) 8. Jake Hodgson 9. Roger Bruggemeyer 10. Steve King 11. Brett Carter 12. Mike Lundberg 13. Philip Wagner 14. Bill Bridgeman 15. Grant Dietrich
Scoring:
Tries: Backman, Utting, Bauer
Conversions: Naber (3/3)
Penalties: Naber (3/4)
B-Side
Having travelled down with 20-some players, we again played a shortened B-Side match to ensure everyone who came down got a run in. Several new Pigs saw their first (or nearly their first) action, including John, John, Jesse, Jason, etc. Lots of good potential on display, and hopefully they will all stick around for a long time to come.