Griffon RFC News - Summer 2008

Summer practices - Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6 pm

Spring News and Results.

April 12th - Central Michigan University had double booked their schedule, so CMU did not travel for the game. Some of our players went and played in the Kalamazoo v Flint game.

April 19th - Match report from Woody Harris: We travelled light on club numbers to Fort Wayne, so with a few new members and an old boy or two, we set out to play a very well rounded Fort Wayne squad. Our pack needed a few scrum-downs to get "comfortable" with one another, and we made the adjustments and played very well I thought.
Our line-outs were a little sketchy at times, but we did manage to steal a few, and took a few balls away in the scrum-down as well. Fort Wayne put tremendous pressure on our backline all day, and our fullback had his hands plenty full running down kicks and getting us to touch often.
The Griffons were forced to play defence a majority of the match, and we had but only a few opportunities to attack. We always seem to understand after a match like this how important it is to practice together as a team, and when we play clubs that practice together it shows. Hats off to the 15 Ruggers who travelled, and played well.
The score of the match was Fort Wayne 36 Battle Creek 0. A big Thank You to Fort Wayne for always being terrific hosts. Jeff Rhoades played an absolute monster of a match, and deserved V.I.P. awards...

April 26th - Match report from Woody Harris: The Battle Creek Griffons hosted the North West Indiana Exiles for an exciting afternoon of Rugby!
The Griffons put together an impressive performance to put a check in the "W" column.
The Griffons scored early, on a beautiful rolling maul from about 10 meters out from the try zone. We used our penalty wisely, and set ourselves up for an atttacking line-out to set this maul.
Our defence was stout, and we duly punished the opposition all afternoon with hard tackling, and we counter rucked, and poached the ball very well.
Our backs had a wonderful match with great defence, and they sealed the corners well to turn the opposition back to the strength of our pack. We had great clearance kicking all afternoon with the trio of Fernando Rosa, Jeff Rhoades, and Larry Porter. These gents did very well to keep the pressure off of our backline all afternoon, and our backs paid them back with swift running and some crack tackling.
Our pack was strong all day, and we controlled the scrumdowns well, and our line-outs worked most of the match. The Exiles did make a strong run in the closing minutes, and their fitness level has seen much improvement. Thank You to everyone who played, including a few of our High Schoolers.
Chris "The pitbull" had a great match at Fullback, and the win was from an effort put out by all. Congratulations goes to Big Kenny Burdette for winning man of the match, he had a great day at 8-man.

May 10th - Battle Creek 52 - Findlay 20
The tries were scored early, and the team was cruising until a three try comeback from Findlay late in the second half. A late try for the home team Griffons secured the win; a nice breakaway run from Ken Burdette was converted with a pickup and dive over the line from Jeff Rhoades to finish the scoring.

March 22 - The 2008 Rugby Party

Details on the Whiskey 10s - http://www.southsideirishrugby.com/

The Spring schedule is set - see it here.

If you are ready for winter rugby, the Snowball in Kazoo, and the Whiskey 10's in Chicago are coming soon!