Griffon RFC News - 09/02/06

Click here for the team picture from Traverse City
We took 13 up to the pre-season tournament in Traverse City on August 26th. In each game we gave a solid performance, and it is pretty clear to me what areas we can improve on to be very competitive this season. We played a conservative game against Traverse City , our gameplan was to kick long for the corners, turn our opponents on the wet ground, and play for field position.
Within 2 minutes we had a try from Clint Widerberg, after a nice long kick from Tony Smith. We were starved of possession for long periods of the game, and defended really well, finishing 7-19. We learned how to react to pressure at the base of the scrum, and I think that experience will serve us well.
In the second game, againt a Kazoo/Tri-Cities combined team, I "took off the chains" from our back line and encouraged them to run against the opposition. This provided some nice runs, but we ended up with a much looser performance.
Some of our running ended up going wide, away from the strength of our pack. Again, there was some good defending, and it shows that the defensive drills we work on at practice are having an effect. I thought there were a lot of good ideas being used, but some of them were in the wrong position on the park to be effective.
One of the surprising parts of the tournament was that I was approached by several different people who praised the way the team was playing. It shows that other teams are noticing our improvement, and we should be pleased with this progression from the Spring.

The biggest lesson from this tournament is that if we want to win games, we must have full attendance at practices. Only by running drills in "real life" play against opposition will we be able to solve some of the problems in our play. They are easily solvable with your presence at practice.
If you can only make one practice, come on Thursday.

Check out the 2006 Fall schedule.

We had a great time at our 2006 Golf Tournament - see the pictures here.

Thursday workouts will continue through the Summer. 6 pm at Crosby Drive.
The formula is pretty simple Fitness = Winning games.
Wear your running shoes!

Dark Horse Brewery - great news from Don that Dark Horse will provide our beer. This will save us a lot of money during the year.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go to Dark Horse and have a pint or two. Make sure they know you are from the rugby club, and that we appreciate their sponsorship.


Special thanks to Gary Goidosik for his sponsorship - be sure to visit his website to support Gary's business.

Click here for Previous News and Results.