Group F Round-up - Part AnElan Raetolil (aka RubiFaman) - Pad Deg, Copper Cuprum
Well they've been a fun set of games, haven't they? Three straight wins with plenty of action to compliment each win. Sure it may have been against realitvely easy opponents due to the amount of absences. It may be because we're not just the only ranked team in the group but also there are only two groups with more than one ranked team in it. Whatever the case, we're riding high on this massive wave and I don't really see it. They might rock the boat once or twice, though, and I could imagine a decent amount of close games. But it should be fun to see what'll happen next. With all of that out of the way, let's reflect on what we've done so far and dive right into our opener against Northwest Kalactin.
Paete AEtomir, who's having a bit of a weird
one this tournament. from somehow getting
hurt by falling wrong in one game to
arguably rubbing a drop goal in the
opposition's faces in another.
The first half went just as you'd expect, plenty of action and thrills. Not as much scoring, though, but plenty of good opportunities and times when everyone came close before an interception or they hit the magic number. But, ultimately, it'd be us who'd score the first set of points in the 25th minute. After a scrum following the ball going into touch Ryan Pritchard, Shane McGinley, Nathan Westerman and Jason Saunders all began their campaign to ground the ball. Something that Saunders was able to do after four tackles and at least 79m gained. The grounding wasn't in the best of places but de Vargas managed to add the extras without any issues. Westerman would score try number two in the 33rd minute, making a mad dash for the line when he was in the clear but he had to ground the ball as soon as he got there due to the opposition being able to catch up meaning that a much safer grounding would be unlikely. Not that de Vargas had any trouble there, as he was able to get another goal quite easily. There wasn't much that was worth reporting on afterwards and the half ended Elejamie 12-0 Northwest Kalactin. Decent but we could've done better in a few aspects.
The second half was more of the same. Plenty of close calls and plenty of moments where it'd seem like one side was going to score a try only for their opposition to nip them in the bud. This did lead to one or two bad moments, the worst of which was José Diaz Escobar accidentally high-tackling one of their players (I can't remember which one, sadly) and that would lead to them scoring a goal to give them their two sole points for the entire match. Even more so when another one of their players ended up tackling Paete AEtomir, he ended up falling quite badly and had to be replaced by Felipe Herrera for the rest of the match. Fortunately, said player was sin-binned for a period and that lead to Herrera scoring a try of his own during that period, with de Vargas easily making it 18-2. With exactly 70 minutes on the clock and time starting to run out, de Vargas would not only ground the ball in between the posts on tackle number five but would easily put the final nail in the coffin with a spectacular goal to make it 24-2. He'd also get the drop just past the 80th minute, as in the hooter went off just as he kicked the ball and the ball sailed through the uprights a couple of seconds later, just to make the final score 25-2. Not the best ending to a match we dominated but there have been worse. Besides, it's best not to rub salt in the wound.
And then came the second match, this time against Ancharmunn. They were having a decent run so far. Well, as decent a run one could have after one game, where they had beaten Hannasea 22-6. As previously mentioned, they're also our biggest rivals for first place, given that they're the only other team in the group with a known professional league with professional players which meant that they would pose a serious challenge. However, we had made it to the finals once whereas they were newcomers, so we had that experience going for us. Yes, I know I'm just filling this paragraph up so, in order to stop me from doing that any longer, I'm going to talk about the match itself.
The first half could easily be summed up as "one try, one goal". Simply because that was the only real highlight of the first half. On the upside, at least it was for us as you'd expect. Courtest of Paete AEtomir, who was able to make a return following that nasty fall he had in that tackle during the last game. He managed to budge his way past Tadhg Cudgegong and George Curran, who was trying as hard as they could to prevent the try before the ball was safely grounded. It even went to the TMO who would confirm that, yes, it had been grounded past the line. While it may not have been in an ideal position, de Vargas would still convert it from 33m out, just scraping the edge of the post before it passed through the uprights. Other than that, it was pretty much what you'd expect, a hard-fought game where both sides came close to upsetting their opponents before strokes of luck and unluck swooped in to ruin the proceedings. All of which resulted in a disappointing-on-paper 6-0 lead for us at half-time.
The second half, however, was definitely more action-packed. For a start, with 53 minutes on the clock, the Squirrels would score their first try of the evening, with Lurcan Eugowra being the lucky scorer for his side. After all, he managed to worm his way past Vítinho and Brad Clement and safely get the ball down past the line to make it 6-4. And then we were introduced to the kicking feet of Liam Brannigan, a man I will mention later on, who expertly levelled the scores with a swift but precise kick of the ball. Some time after that, Brannigan had to be sin-binned due to an argument he had with the referee. During that time, we'd eventually get a penalty following Charmunnry prop Ossian Flannigan high-tackling McGinley, an incident that saw both men lucky to avoid injury or a card. De Vargas lined up his shot from 35m out, he gave it a powerful kick and it easily made it through the posts to make it 8-6, thus pushing his team ahead.
And then the incident happened. If you thought it was awkward watching it on the television, you had no idea how awkward it was watching it live at the stadium. Shortly after his return, Brannigan would be 25m out on the sixth tackle and in a good position to set up a try to give his side a lead for the first time in the match, with the potential extras potentially hammering the point home and giving them a shock underdog victory. What does he do? He kicks for a field goal and, while everyone was standing there either confused, he acted as if he scored the winning point and thus pulled off an unlikely upset. Trust me, the entire crowd was silent at that point. You could hear a pin drop or a facepalm. I'd hate to imagine how his coach reacted, though a look at one of their local papers said that he was "busy angrily rearranging the furniture in his coaches box" so I could imagine. AEtomir would score a drop of his own not too long after, apparently taking advantage of their opponents confusion from earlier instead of safely going for the try, though I wouldn't be surprised if he also did it to remind them of that mistake even if that was a bit unsporting. Either was, a 9-7 win for us wasn't as bad as it seems on paper and, indeed, was a commendable result for the Squirrels, derp moment aside.
Raul de Vargas, who's been
having a brilliant tournament
as far as kicking goes just as
long as you ignore the first
half against Hannasea.
Finally, we had Hannasea. As previously mentioned, they were an all amateur-side with no proper league, presumably because their rugby federation isn't that interested in appealing to a niche market even though there are probably enough fans to support a small league. Which I feel is a bit unfair because it means they have to rely on wowing foreign teams Not to mention that they made a bit of a comeback in style following that disappointing loss to Ancharmunn in their opening game when they managed to edge out Northwest Kalactin 12-9, so naturally there is something there worth developing on back home. Still, despite what I just said, we were the favourites going into the match and an easy win was definitely on the cards.
However, it would be the Hamsters who'd be the dominant force throughout the first half. For a start, Jack Egan would score their first try 13 minutes in, on the fourth tackle after a bit of back and forths between him, Logan Barling and Ryan Dickinson. He would even get the extras to make it 6-0, made a lot easier by the ball being grounded a decent distance away from the posts. Fortunately for Coach Wallace, Justin Green would score the first try for his side 18 minutes in, with de Vargas just about getting the extras. The kick was a bit sloppier than we would've liked but it still did its job. In fact, de Vargas would have three more penalties in the next fifteen minutes (fortunately they weren't anything severely bad, given that the all-amateur Hamsters are one of the fairest-playing teams we've came across, but rather due to accidents or mistakes you can't really be upset at them for) but, sadly, only one of those would be a successful two-pointer. Egan would go on to level the scores in the 34th minute with a penalty from 29m out and, in the last play before half-time, he'd go on to successfully score a drop from 27m out to give his team a slight lead at half-time. Yes, this plucky group of amateurs were beating a world-class team 9-8 at the break.
Unfortunately for Egan and his teammates, the second half would not be the storybook ending they had hoped for. For a start, we came incredibly close to scoring a try to push ourselves back ahead, though sadly that run had to end due to an offside. Which is a shame because it was building up to be an incredibly good run but it was nothing worth worrying about, since we would probably get another chance soon enough. Egan had the opportunity to extend his side's lead shortly afterwards but sadly his kick went wide. That ended up summing up their half, as other attempts fell flat. Meanwhile, the away side would end up finding their mojo. Jason Saunders would score his first try 55 minutes in, first by taking advantage of an error by Hannasean winger Ethan Price 20m away from the Elejamian try-line and then working his way to theirs thanks to his teammates until, five tackles later, he managed to leap past the line and press the ball onto the ground to give his side their lead back. A refreshed de Vargas would have an easier time getting the extras. Saunders would get try number two fourteen minutes later, easily being able to outrun his opponents and placing it down in between the posts, thus avoiding any problems getting the extra two points. In the end, we were able to shut Hannasea out for the rest of the match to secure a 20-9 win, though I wouldn't be surprised if Mark Wallace decided to rest de Vargas for the next match considering how he was a bit out of it for the first half.
So where does that leave everyone? As expected, we currently sit top of our group. Three wins, zero draws and zero losses. 54 points for us, 18 against us. Not bad, not bad at all. Next up is Ancharmunn, whose sole loss was to us but still sit comfortably in second place with two wins and a loss making four points. Third is Hannasea, with only one win so far sadly but there's always the potential of them getting more. And, finally, we've got Northwest Kalactin bringing up the rear with zero points in total from three straight losses. But anything can happen and there's the possibility of there being one or two mix-ups. We could draw or lose, Northwest Kalactin could get their first point, Hannasea might make it through to the next round. We just have to wait and see.
So how about the other groups? Let's start off with those who also have a perfect 100% record so far. There are quite a few, though whether or not they'll be able to keep them (and whether or not
WE'LL be able to keep ours) is another matter entirely. Most of these names are complete non-surprisals as you'd expect them to get perfect records so far with groups like them. Hutanjia's dominating Group B after winning all of their games against HUElavia, Quebecois Acadiana and, most recently, Sandwichs [still sic]. Neu Engollon are running roughshod in Group D after high-scoring wins against Placely Placington and the Kingdom of Great Britain, as well as a not-so-high scoring win against the Mathuvan Union. And reigning champions Abanhfleft have nearly scored nearly 100 points in their three wins against Bostopia, Staypuftonia and Croblade. There is, however, a surprise in Group C with TJUN-ia being the lucky one to win all of their games so far but, looking at how well they're playing and how easily they've slipped into the role, I'd say they've definitely earned it. Everything else in the other groups are mostly what you'd expect, though there are two groups where the last placer has at least one point: Group D, where the Kingdom of GB has a single point from their 6-6 opening draw with the Mathuvan Union; and Group E, where the Fair Republic were able to snatch a shocking 6-2 victory over Ko-oren.
OK, I've talked enough now. Let's bring on round two. Let's hope for some brilliant plays, exciting tries and, most importantly, incredible matches. We might get some, we might not. Only one way to find out, really.
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