Wolverines vs. Suburbs
Paige Armstrong
Paige Armstrong, Staff Photographer
March 28, 2012 • 159 views
Filed under Sports, Top Stories
Over the weekend, the Western Loudoun County rugby season started up. With their first game against the Suburbs, the Wolverines prepared for their most important match of the season.
For the last month, the Wolverines coach was working the boys hard, making them re-do drill after drill until they were perfected. The pressure was on for the boys, facing off against their rivals right out of the gate. The fact that the Wolverines have lost to the Suburbs for the last two years in a row only added to the tension. The boys were itching for a victory, and they were going to make sure this would be their year.
As friends and family made their way to Leonard Field, the excitement and tension was palpable. With only minutes left before the game started, the two teams huddled around their coaches for some final “words of wisdom.” Before clearing the pitch (or field), the Wolverines huddled for a chant in order to demonstrate their unity and capability to their rivals.
Rain was a big factor during the game. Thanks to the wet field and slippery ball, many players either dropped the ball, or found it difficult to keep their footing during rucks (recovering the ball from a tackled player) and scrums (in which) both teams face off in order to gain possession of the ball). While many saw the ball slip right from their fingers, others used the conditions to their advantage. Senior Chance Hendley used the slick grass to slide himself right into ball before anyone from the Suburbs was able to regain possession.
Both teams fought hard with strong defense and smart plays. Even though more than 90% of the game was played down near the Suburbs tri line (score line) they never let up their defense, making the Wolverines use a rolling maul technique, in which the player who has the ball faces his teammates, and someone comes in, grabs the ball and rolls himself away from the ongoing maul. In the end, the Wolverines scored two tris (10 points) and one conversion kick (two points), making the final score a decisive 12-0.
