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Dayton match Report
The
Lions started the '05 defense of our MW 7s championship
with a victory at the Dayton 7s - a MW qualifier. We
were in a pool with Dayton and Louisville. Several
teams didn't show, so there were 3 pools of 3 teams, and
the best 2nd-place finisher went through with the 3 pool
winners to the semi-finals.
We won our pool games against Dayton 38-0 and Louisville
29-10. The tournament director gave Louisville and
Elvis their choice of pools, and Louisville chose to be in
with us. Interesting. I wonder if they'll do
that again.
In the semis, we played Scioto Valley and Elvis played Cincinnati. Elvis
beat Cincy easily. We put lots of effort into our game
with Scioto, but we made it difficult on ourselves by taking
it in too much, leaving the ball on the ground, etc. Still,
a couple of clutch plays saw us through, as we won 17-10.
We addressed the problems we had with Scioto,
and made adjustments for the final against Elvis. We
played sound fundamental rugby, and won 47-15. It was a
very nice turnaround from how we played against
Scioto. Our performance in the final completed a day
that saw us accomplish our basic goals: we got better on
the day, and we played as a team.
The squad was: captain John Ehresman, George Plackmann, Aaron
Mannheimer, Jeremy Nash, Arno Hugo, Josh Cocking, Paul Dituro,
Dave Selimos, Misha Shemyakin, and Nick Waddell. Only
3 veterans from last year, and 7 rookies - at least on
the Lions 7s team. Nick just joined the club last week,
from England by way of Bayonne, NJ, and played well.
In checking the game notes, it's clear that Nash, Josh, Arno
and Ringo all had big days. Everybody else contributed,
sometimes brilliantly. The best thing was how the team
came together, and played so much better in the most important
game. It's a good start to the 7s season. This
week is the Highland Games. It's not a qualifier, but
it is in Chicago, so come on out and see if you can break
Paul Harpur's meat pie consumption record.
Schedule of tournaments: This is not finalized,
but most likely.
June 11th: Dayton, Ohio - MW qualifier- 1st place
June 18th: Highland Games
June 25th: Grand Rapids - MW qualifier
July 2-3: Cape Fear (?)
July 9th: Lakefront in Milwaukee - MW qualifier
July 23rd: Cincinnati - MW qualifier
July 30th: MW Championships - Mishawaka/South Bend,
Indiana
August 13-14: Nationals - Pittsburgh
Let's have another great summer.
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National finalists 2001, 2002, 2004 (get
the bigger team pic)
Circled: David Fee
Back: Aaron Manheimer, MC Laubscher, Noel Christopher, John Ehresman, George
Plackmann, Jeremiah Cowin
Front: Rich Hughes (Coach), Scott Jones, Joe Chesak, Ryan Nelson, Chris McClellan,
Joe Aleki
Picture courtesy of Ed Hagerty, Rugby Magazine |
Aug 14-15, 2004: The Lions lost in the National 7s quarter finals to Olympic Club.
Training for 7s has now finished – see you in 2005!
Here are the tournaments we entered this summer:
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