Thanks to Bruce Carter's Blog at Hail Pelicus -
Well, there’s one rain-out game that will be played April 23, but the
playoff participants have been determined: Fresno, Santa Rosa and SFGG
Colts will advance to the PC playoffs at Sheeran Field May 7-8.
Vacaville 8 – DIABLO GAELS 34Referee: Sean Peters
AR: Ray Schwartz
"Saturday is a rugby day!" A perfect day in Vacaville, they hosted the
Diablo Gaels. I arrived early and got to watch both teams arrive, Diablo
Gaels walked in all together which you really don't see anymore (great
organization). After talking to both sides’ captains, the game was on.
Right off Vacaville started fast, and were attacking going forward down
the field and ending up with 3 points. The Gaels also marched down the
field and ended up with a penalty kick in front of the try line 3-3.
This looked like this was going to be a tight game.
Then the Gaels big forward pack started to control the scrums by pushing
the smaller Vacaville pack. Which opened a lot of room for the Gaels to
move the ball around and put up a couple more trys before half 24-3.
In the second half Diablo seemed to win most of the rucks, by either
attacking or defending. They also were still winning the scrums, but was
caught with a overload and Vacaville made them pay for it with try. But
wait, it wasn't over. The Gaels came back and scored 2 more trys to put
the game away. FINAL 34 -8 Diablo Gaels
Seconds: Vacaville – Diablo Gaels Referee: Ray Schwartz
No report received.
SANTA ROSA 83 – Chico 33 Referee: Cary Bertolone
Santa Rosa scored the first two tries (in the first 8 minutes) and I
thought it was going to be a one sided affair. Chico changed my mind
when they retaliated for long tries that made it a seesaw scoring affair
with Chico on top 26-24 at the half.
Santa Rosa stopped knocking it on in the second half, and remembered how
to tackle, scoring a try about every 4-5 minutes, nine of them in the
second half alone, for a convincing final score of 83-33.
Seconds: SANTA ROSA 19 – Chico 3 Referee: Bjorn Stumer
As Chico traveled short, most of the A side players soldiered on for an
additional 40 minutes under a hot sun at the For Pete Sake field in
Santa Rosa. The hosts however had a full side determined to play in what
was their last match of the season. Regardless of circumstances, Chico
gave Santa Rosa a good game and fought valiantly throughout. Final
score: Santa Rosa B 19 (5), Chico B 3 (0) obtained through a drop kick
towards the end. This was a good, clean match that could have well ended
quite differently had Chico traveled with a few more folks. Good fun!
Fresno 28 – SFGG COLTS 50 Referee: Bruce Carter
ARs: Bill Long, Ben Bravo
It was predicted to be eighty degrees in Fresno on Saturday. During the
match it was very hot; then the clouds came in, it cooled off, and by
the time it was nice out after the seconds’ match, it had dropped to 82.
From the Pelican Nest, Fresno’s pitch is only thirty miles farther than
Golden Gate’s. At six bucks to cross the Bay Bridge and only five to
park at the Fresno Regional Sports Complex, my AR and I saved a dollar.
The drive over the Pacheco Pass is spectacular this time of year. It is,
of course, springtime on both sides of the coastal ranges but
temperature differences start to tell around this time of the year as
you crest the hill and view the Central Valley. Time to pull over, put
the top down, and invite the world in.
The reservoir is full up, as my mother would have said, the waters licking the roadside as you curve around the rim.
Clouds try to hide from the wind, darting here and there, adding a checkerboard of shadows atop that of the crops and orchards.
And on trips to Fresno there’s always one thing to look forward to:
Valley Pistachio just off Highway 99 at Avenue 20. It’s the
Baskin-Robbins of nuts, with samples of all varieties, as well as the
other bounty of the most productive agricultural region in the world.
There’s a winery attached if you have company along, or are stopping on
the way home.
Golden Gate’s team bus arrived at the pitch just as we did, with more
than an hour to spare and pitch preparations nearly finished by the home
fifteen.
The game was going to be big. Unofficial standings compiled by the
Fact-Checker (uh-oh) suggested that Fresno had no losses, having
defeated the other previously-unbeaten team the weekend before in Santa
Rosa. And Santa Rosa had given Golden Gate its only loss in a freezing
downpour only four weeks before this day’s scorcher.
So: Fresno in first at 8 – 0, then Rosa with a record of 7 – 1 and Gate
at 6 – 1, their rain-out game with Marin not having been played or
rescheduled. Even though these top three move on to the Pacific Coast
playoffs, jockeying for playoff position is an exciting sport to
referee.
And how!
Walking the pitch with young Bravo pre-match, I noted the thick and
heavy dotted five-meter line, explaining to my apprentice that ‘someone
will think they’ve scored a try on this line today’.
This was one of those late-season games that begin in the middle: teams
have their warmups perfected, they have their patterns, they’ve had
enough of referees suggesting to them how to play by blowing early
penalties and they’ve learned that the best way to win is not to feel
your opponent out but to attack. Off we go.
The first half was very even. Fresno scored after ten minutes, Gate
after twenty. In an omen for the future, Gate then scored again a minute
later. But then they traded tries and Fresno scored at the end of the
first half, 3 – 3 tries with Fresno having made all of their kicks for a
21 – 19 lead.
Exciting stuff. Five minutes to wash the running sun-block from my eyes,
review the course of play with my ARs, and suck down all the warm
Gatorade I could find.
But the second half was a different breed of cat than the first: Gate won five trys to one.
However, we did get our try ‘scored’ at the five-meter line. The Gate
left wing broke, juked, and saw the line. The referee saw the line and
realized it was the wrong one.
The player belly-flopped with the ball underneath. The referee announced very loudly into his ear: RELEASE AND ROLL AWAY.
The player rolled over and away, from the look on his face as much to
argue as anything else. But as he did so his captain and scrumhalf,
Westy, picked up the ball and went the further five to score.
All in all, a good day of rugby with plenty of pistachios for munching on the way home.
Seconds: Fresno – SFGG COLTS Referee: Bill Long
ARs: Bruce Carter, Ben Bravo
No report received.
MARIN REDS 37 – Berkeley 31 Referee: Eric Rauscher
Evaluator: Dixon Smith
This was a game between teams at the bottom of the stack, but both teams
played as if it had playoff potential. The play was of a high quality
with both teams scoring on a regular basis. Berkeley pretty much
dominated the first half, outscoring Marin 24 to 10. Marin reversed the
trend in the second half with a total of 27 to Berkeley's 7. Berkeley
scored a converted try at full time to make the final total to just a
six point difference.
The social after wards at the Flatiron in San Rafael was a wonderful way to finish the last game of the season.
Looking forward to seeing both teams next year move up the rankings.
Seconds: Marin 12 – BERKELEY 17 Referee: Bruce Bernstein
Had a real good time watching two close matches with each team taking
turns scoring & singing at the party highlighted by 2 Marin players
as old as me shooting the boot correctly as opposed to Berkeley's less
experienced drinkers/spillers.
Seahawks 13 – BA BARACUS 41 Referee: Rich Anderson
Seconds: SEAHAWKS 31 – BA Baracus 27 Referee: Tony Levitan
A great run in an ultra-competitive second side match, played with full
40-minute halves at the behest of both clubs, eager as they were to give
their boys an earnest rugby outing... which frankly speaking, was a
wonderful change from a rag-tag, half-hearted first division B-side
match I reffed earlier in the season. At 5 tries each, 2 additional
conversions by San Jose made the difference in the final tally.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with the Seahawks drawing
first and second blood, the latter try converted. After trading scores,
Baracus' try with 8 minutes remaining in the half was a work of art,
running through at least 10 phases of recycled ball before being dotted
down. A third Baracus score at the halftime whistle brought us to 19-15,
San Jose.
Baracus jumped out quickly in the second half, scoring with less than 2
minutes gone. The Seahawks regained the lead 7 minutes later, only to
give it up again just less than halfway through the half with what would
prove to be the final Baracus points of the day. San Jose scored the
match's 10th try while playing a man up. Once back at full strength,
Baracus made a furious effort only to be met by staunch Seahawks
resistance, both sides running up and down the firm pitch in juking
bursts with quality support. Stout defense and intense pressure by both
sides generated somewhat ragged, less fluid play at the close. After
four lead changes over the course of the 80 minutes, San Jose held on to
win 31 (5 tries, 3 conversions) to 27 (5 tries, 1 conversion).
