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The Rowing Club Third Division kicked off a big club day at Brockton today with a 71-5 walloping of the Bayside Sharks today.
First year coach Chris Seyler fielded a Thirds squad that could have been a Prems Reserve side against an effective Bayside 2nd division, saving the usual Thirds lineup to for the game to follow against the Nanaimo Reserves, who were short men.
Veteran Prop forward Gus “The Bus” Crowe kicked the game off running some hard lines off of the 9, flattening 2 Bayside defenders, and pushing the attack deep into Bayside territory. The Sharks turned it over and sent it back for territory, but may have wished they hadn’t when fullback Garret Ó’Súilleabháin fielded the ball and made the first of several 20+ yard gains into Nanaimo territory. Ó’Súilleabháin sold a dummy to make some space, then ran through the entire defense until finally being dragged down by three Bayside players at the 5. He offloaded to fly half Oisin Daly who finished the job to open it up. Ó’Súilleabháin would finish with one try and one conversion on the day, while Daly would contribute five tries, and five conversions.
“Disco” Stu Holland, slotted in at inside centre, followed up on Daly’s opener with a try of his own, after the pack set a powerful maul off a line out, sucking in the Bayside defense. Stu found himself with the ball in space just inside the 22, with one man to beat around the 10. The patented Disco Stu Dance Step embarrassed the Bayside defender, who bit on the first move, and allowed Stu to end up under the posts un-touched for the first of two tries on the day. Oisin hit the conversion to make it 10-0 and the rout was on.
An apparent shortage of Front Row players in White Rock caused the Sharks to request uncontested scrums. The Rowers agreed, setting up high energy games for Crowe and pride of Ottawa, Ontario tighthead prop Jake Schwartz. Unencumbered by scrummaging duties, Schwartz showed incredible passion on both sides of the ball, finishing with one try and several very strong tackles. Natural prop Justin Lalli, playing at the 8th man position in this rout of a game, scored a fine try in the 2nd half after a double offload kept the attack’s momentum.
In the 71st minute, with the Rowers already up 66-5, loose head prop and stranger to 71 minutes of consecutive rugby Gus Crowe scored a final, un-necessary try in the corner. This reporter missed the try while warming up for the next game, but Crowe’s own account had him travelling for a number of yards higher than he can count, dragging defenders as he went and putting the ball down with an impact registered by local seismologists.
Rowing Club alumni Ian “Jaimo” Jamaieson told the blog that the Bus’s try came at the end of a 30 m run, included a spectacular fend, survived a chase down from the opposing fullback, and was “the best f*cking prop try [he’s] ever seen.”
Coach Seyler told the Rowers blog that he was very pleased with the 71-5 effort. He attributes the victory to sticking to the pattern, and hopes to see this squad run the same level of pattern execution next week against Seattle.
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