Cleveland Rugby

On April 13, 2013 the Eastern Suburbs Rugby Football Club welcomed the BGSU Mens Rugby team for a match that had a lot riding on it for the Green Horde. After a devastating loss to the Wisconsin Rugby club the previous week, this match offered the Green Horde an opportunity to rebound against a strong college side and regain some of the confidence they had left behind in Wisconsin. The Falcons had heard about the Wisconsin Incident as well and looked to exploit and destroy an already beaten Cleveland side. Two teams came together at one pitch with different intentions. The Green Horde came to play for pride. The Falcons came to run a clinic and pick the bones clean. No matter their motivations, only one team took a victory away at the end of the day; and when the final whistle blew it was the Green Horde that stood triumphant by a convincing 45 – 5 margin.

From the first minute the Green Horde imposed their will in every aspect of the game, dominating possession and and, for the most part at least, moving the ball with ease and purpose. Once the Cleveland side got on a roll there was little BGSU could do to stop them. Never ones to roll over, the Falcons fought every second of the match. For their efforts, BGSU created turnovers and made threatening breaks towards the Green Horde’s whitewash. Ever the opportunists, the Falcons really shone on defense, isolating ball carriers, tying up the ball in open-field mauls and making nuisances of themselves at the rucks. The score line might have been different had it not been for a few try-saving efforts from the Green Horde’s defenses.

The entire mach saw both teams unloading the entirety of their respective arsenals in an effort to outdo one another. The Falcons would hurl their forwards into the Cleveland defensive line, only to have the Green Horde repel the blows and return with another of their own. The young speedsters from the Falcons darted and dodged their way through traffic, but the Green Horde back line would clamp down, close off their running and passing lanes and answer back with devastating fashion. The ball volleyed back and forth like mortar shells as each team vied for territory and sought to put their adversaries under pressure. Though the squads shot back and forth at one another on the field, the Green Horde was able to minimize their mistakes and capitalize on their scoring opportunities. This sealed the Falcons’ fate.

Set pieces were where the Green Horde really showed their worth, handling lineouts with ease and imposing their will at the scrums. Offensive lineouts went smoothly for both sides, aside from the high winds taking the ball of its mark a few times. Neither team was able to take a lineout against their opponent’s throw.

There were a few moments of let-down and lax discipline for the Green Horde that resulted in them being pushed back for committing penalties. Fortunately, the Cleveland men regained their composure, tightened the reins and got back to business as usual. No one got down on each other or took an ill tone with the referee as they had been known to do. Hopefully, this is a sign of a new trend to come.

Perhaps the most promising thing about the day’s performance was that of the subs and B side players. When the fresh legs came in towards the end of the A side match there was no let down in intensity. As a matter of fact, they provided a shot in the arm and helped the players on the field reach a new gear. When the B side match came up the second side from Cleveland came in without fear and with an intensity to equal the first side. They mirrored the A side’s success in every step of the match, aside from some miscues in the back line. The success of the subs and the B side show that the Green Horde is turning a corner and is evidence of two things: that the ESRFC B side can compete with the intensity to match any A side player and that the future of the Green Horde is looking very bright.

Before March 23, 2013 the Green Horde and Scioto Valley had played each other twice in recent memory. The squads had split their encounters with one win a piece. Scitot took the first victory, a contest that was decidedly in their favor in both the score line and the play of the game. Not to be handed back-to-back defeats by the same team, the ESRFC took home the second match and proved that they were on the rise and stood as more than a match for the Columbus-based side. On March 23 the rubber match took place at SPIRE Institute to decide who would take lead in their in-state rivalry.

This most recent game was unlike most others in some respects, but in other ways it was very much the same. How often do games get relocated to a field 30 minutes from the original venue? On top of that, how often does a team’s warm-up consist of shoveling ankle-high snow said field? It’s never a good sign when a “warm-up” results in cold hands and frozen toes.

Though there was a lot of belly-aching about the temperature and the pre-game chore, when the whistle blew the Green Horde switched on and got down to brass tacks. From the first whistle to the last, the match was a back-and-forth shootout. Scioto Valley would put up a try only to have the Green Horde put together a sublime set of play and narrow the gap. There were plenty of hard hits and line breaks to go around as well. The big men on each team made their presences felt with every touch of the ball. Not to be left out of the fun, the back lines pulled out all their tricks to get the better of their opposite numbers. Nick Musarra linked up with newcomer, and now Zulu Warrior, Bryan Liberatore for a magnificent try that saw Musarra tightrope the sidelines before flicking the ball in bounds to preserve possession and secure the five points.

The teams were very evenly matched throughout the entire contest. They traded off snatching up loose balls in rucks and gave each other no end of trouble in the tackle and maul situations. The two squads split the set pieces though. As is their usual method, the Green Horde held fast and steady in the scrums, even imposing their will and driving over Columbus ball to steal back the possession. Scioto Valley outshone the ESRFC in the lineouts, though. When it was the Green Horde throw, Scioto Valley disrupted just about every throw; and when it was their time to toss in the ball they seemed to have little trouble getting it past the contesting Cleveland jumper. This didn’t spell the all-out doom for the Green Horde, though, because as soon as the jumper hit the ground he was set upon by the ESRFC’s defenses.

Despite a strong back-and-forth match that saw two teams braving one another, the forces of nature and the shoddy calls of a certifiable – I mean certified – referee, Scioto Valley came away from the day victorious. What sealed the fate of the Cleveland side wasn’t the overly impressive play from Scioto Valley. Rather, the inability to finish on their breaks and careless penalties put the game out of reach. Towards the final moments of the match, the Green Horde was within a converted try of being on top but Scioto Valley managed to cross over the whitewash enough to put the game out of reach: 32 – 19.

The next slate of games are home matches as well, but they will be played at the normal Metro Parks pitch. The Green Horde takes on Erie and John Carroll. After a strong showing in DIII this past fall, Erie is sure to be crossing into our territory with some steam in their stride, eager to make a statement. Well, when the first game kicks off at 1:00pm, it will be up to the Green Horde to shut them down and shut them up.