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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:20 |
 | | the_herd |
Stampede 2000 is over.
The Y2 Cows have dispersed and gone their various ways,but with a renewed commitment to do it all again in 2001.
See you all again next May at Fort Benning!!
On the Sat morning at the Vagabond Inn, we had 15 Cows, 7 forwards and 8 backs,(but that's the way we do it),4 state-side retreads Dave,Moose,Robbie and Bird Dog and 11 new travellers .4 guys had inevitably become ?Sleepless in Seattle? of which only Andy had the smarts to get the rest of the way. We eventually picked up a horde of whores,4 of whom looked good enough to risk on the park .We had 3 guys injured off and out, and 2 guys who played through with normally impairing ailments, plus Trefor who claimed a broken toe, but whose running and kicking belied the claim.
The overall stats ie P4,W1,L3,appear less than impressive but we all know we played well, with only the opening game against USAS, when we took 20 mins to get going, being below par. We had beaten them in ,98 but they were a much stronger outfit this year and took Pendleton to two overtime periods in the semi finals. Their big full back, a much younger more supple handed version of Bird Dog ,scored 2 tries and later their SH got another, answered only by a virgin penalty by Gregory,and the first of 4 agressive games by CC the flying flea. 21-3
The 5min opening highlight of this game was Eric?s introduction to ?non touch-non wrap? rugby ,which produced an 8 stitch, forehead memory which in the absence of plastic surgery will probably be with him for some time. He became assistant coach and water boy, fulfilling the thankless tasks non complainingly for the rest of the tourno.
Cowboy switched to hooker (where he always knew he would end up) and our first whore Lucky Luciano joined the pack. Another Cow was born!
We got going in the second half, with the retread Welshman Trefor taking on the play maker role and the forwards beginning to do the winning, retaining and recycling stuff they had done in training.
We continued this into the second game and gave the ultimate winners the Orcas their best competitive 20 mins this year.Dave the bald and anointed one kept the lads in high gear and we took 80% possession and 90% territory against the tournament stars.Russ a diminutive baldie became our second whore and new Cow, and significantly livened up our wide defensive play ,with some technically perfect tackles and good positional play, initially at wing and then at Fulback. However not unlike Eng these days, our period of pressure was scoreless and the Orcas began to flow in the second half, eventualy running out 35-0 winners.
So far a lot of work and not much reward,but it eventually came together against Fort Lewis.Our forwards dominated them,Ron began to win line out ball and from the good possession Robbie took the first try after 7 mins and quickly repeated the offence.Then 5mins into the second half Trefor added a third,immediately stripping of the jersey ,revealing his poundage and coming off without permission.This made way for our third whore Scott,a nubile AFA cadet.Hard working Andy also limped off from the backrow with a cracked fibula and whore number 4 Dave Snook came on with immediate weighty impact.Ever committed CT badly broke his hand in this game but kept it quiet until the tourno was over.A truy committed,truly dumb Cow.
Tired bodies retired for the Sat evening with the bald eagle gently restraining his troops to 2 or 3 or ? beers .Scrotums and other appendages were revealed ,but all paled against the fulsome orbs that Russ's missus briefly flashed when acting as team photographer.(the camera was facing the wrong way!)
The complicated mathematics of the tourno, which clearly recognised our superior rugby, had us claiming a direct entry to the Bowl final.So while lesser teams like Fort Hood dealt with an 8:00 kickoff the Cows had the relative luxury of the final at 11:00.Yours truly was however sniffing around at 8:00 collecting valuable intelligence for the game ,regarding their efficient place kicker and squat inside centre,which unfortunately was totally ignored. Hood including Dan the Man ,at heart a Cow and Mad Cow ,heartless as ever, were with the opponents.
The game consisted of 4 phases.
Phase 1 controlled Cow play,with possession and territory a la Orcas game,but only a sole Gergory penalty as reward.
Phase 2,a succession of dumb forward offsides and Hood penalties shifting the score to 3-9 and then an unfortunate try when Russs's cleats slipped,giving a half time of 3-16.
Then Phase 3 ,when the Cows played smart,used Trefor and Gregory's long boots to repeatedly kick us into their 22,resulting in a try by Trefor and another made by Trefor and driven in by Moose to bring it all back to 15-16 .
Phase 4 had the Cows pressing hard for the winning points,only to be denied deservedly by the squat inside centre scoring and making it 15-23 at the bell.
In the end running a 4 game tourno with only 19 guys finally caught up with us. Dan the man a true Cow to the end was sin binned for a cheap shot on Trefor ,following up his Cow record of first sin binner,with first double sin-binner!
 | | forwards |
We played good rugby but were probably 1 centre short of being able to convert periods of domination into points .Gregory who had to move in to SH because Gabe didn't make it ,played 4 very skillful games with a pulled hamstring and truly earned his Cow name 'pegleg'.Trefor as playmaker made lots of plays but only had Robbie with experience outside him. Our brand new guys Eric,Andy,CC,CT,Will & Brodie went through a tough learning period which will help them in 2001.Cowboy,K ,Ron ,and Andy played very solidly and 3 new Cow Whores, Lucky,Dave and Russ will be back.And last but not least we would have been dead without the old re-treads Dave,Moose,Robbie and Bird Dog
Roll on Fort Benning in Georgia.
| Name |
Tries |
Conversions |
Penalties |
Points |
| Gregory |
0 |
4 |
2 |
14 |
| Trefor |
2 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
| Robbie |
2 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
| Moose |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
|
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