Nookie Woods were over from the Island Sunday so we did a 1:30 kickoff to accommodate their ferry times. They had the 15 required and we fielded probably 25. They didn’t ask for spares and coach Wee did not offer any. Teams seemed fairly evenly matched but Nookie didn’t have a trained front row so we had to go no-push scrums. Our tackling was not up to snuff with a lot of chest high tackles that got shrugged off (I see more tackling drills in our future). This allowed Nookie to penetrate as they cycled the ball out through their backs. Ultimately Nookie got it across the line to score first. We seemed to have an edge in speed with Ian getting some runs and we also ran down a couple of their guys that broke through. Luke had a great run through traffic and got out to the wing with one man to beat but when he tried to dance around him he slipped and fell.
Lance shed a couple tacklers and broke through for a 40 yard run to get us even before the half. He got into a little heated tussle after that and we were all looking forward to seeing an angry Lance playing. But he got sent off with the other player and made friends and eventually called the ref ‘Hey we’re friend now can we come back on?’. Ref let them back but Lance was all mellow by then. Into the half at 1-1.
Into the third. Jamie is out with a tweeked knee so Luc moved in to 10. Doug was doing some of the heavy lifting for us running from the forwards. Don’t get me wrong the other forwards like Falkie and Ted were having some good possession also – probably well rested and a little annoyed by the no-push.
Nookie pulled ahead with their big winger getting through. But Nookie also lost that winger with a shoulder injury. Still they didn’t ask for a player and played with 14 but eventually we polled for a volunteer and I got sent over. Having known they would only have 15 players I had brought a spare jersey.
So now at some point Ian gave use a perfect example of why you drop on loose balls as he charged back from wing to pick up a kick and kinda waved at it on the ground until a Nookie player dove in and took it. But defense held and we turned them away again.
Into the 4th and weather was turning on us as the temperature dropped and wind picked up and it even hailed a bit. Doug was again laying down his case for player for the match with a couple more runs and eventually he scored to pull us even. Coming down to the last play and Nookie decided they were happy with the tie and kicked it out to head for a hot shower. Final 2-2