Defense, Team Ethose Carry Great Lakes to All-Star Titles
Defense, Team Ethose Carry Great Lakes to All-Star Titles
Paced by some very strong work in the forwards the Great Lakes Thunderbirds defeated the Midwest Barbarians 34-0 in the final of the NCR Men’s Collegiate All-Stars in Round Rock, Texas to take the championship.
The Thunderbirds were impressive throughout, allowing just 12 points in pool play and winning both the quarterfinals and the final by identical shutout scores. Only their semifinal, a 24-17 victory over a tough Tri-State Foundry team, was especially close.
Great Lakes started their campaign on Saturday with a clash with Mid-Atlantic where neither team was able to score. The Thunderbirds had scoring chances but just couldn’t quite get the connections. As they began to be comfortable with each other the Great Lakes players started to find the connections. Flanker Aaron Juma was influential here and another player from Wheeling University, Joseph Iye, was silky smooth in the backs.
Thomas More backs Tshepo Moselane (wing) and Luca Mattasini (flyhalf), and Tommaso Lorenzetti of Marian were all dangerous attackers. While Phil Tracey (Bowling Green), and JD Farrell of Marian, and the second row partnership of Navin Couch (Wheeling) and Chris Jensvold (Louisville) got plenty of go-forward in traffic.
The final itself began as the opening game began for Great Lakes, with chances available to score but perhaps a little too much adrenaline leading to a few miscues. The Midwest was able to get out of trouble but for the most part couldn’t launch much in the way of attacking movements inside the Great Lakes half.
Finally, a big run from Moselane set up the Thunderbirds and after a penalty and a tap Mattasini was in.
Moments later the Thunderbirds worked the ball with a little razzle-dazzle. They got a favorable call on a potential knock-on (replays showed the ball had come off a foot so a correct non-call), and a big charge from Farrell was capped by a pick-and-dive from Tracey.
After defending for several minutes, Great Lakes added a third try as halftime approached the backs went to work. Moselane fed Mattasini and he put on a move and raced down the sideline. A desperate tackle from Koen Webb prevented a try, but only for a moment as Iye came in, picked up the released ball, and soared over everyone to score in the corner. It was a spectacular end to the first half.
Great Lakes rolled from there with three more tries and barely a sniff at a scoring chance for Midwest.
Great Lakes had to work hard to hold off the Foundry in the semifinals, tested as they were by the pacey Southern Nazarene wing Tony Robinson—his interception try stakes Tri-State to a 17-12 lead with about 15 minutes left.
But the Thunderbirds’ defense came to the fore; they were strong in set piece and after a long period camped out in the Foundry 22 Tracey caught a flat pass from Lorenzetti and powered through for the game-tying try.
Their tails up and on the front foot Great Lakes put the pressure on and a quick pick up and fend from Juma put the flanker through for his second of the game and that was the game-winner.
Moselane was the MVP of the tournament, and the Great Lakes also won the Rising Stars final, beating Independents Blue 31-7 behind an MVP showing for Alex Nyamunda and a defense that allowed just two tries in four (shortened) games.
Overall, the two Great Lakes teams went 10-0, scoring 288 and allowing just 43.
Head Coach John Harley (Marian) deflected credit for getting these players to play as a unit, saying their familiarity with each other was what made it all happen.
"I would say that for 95% of the kids this is their third tournament they’d played together over the past three years, and with the players from Wheeling, Thomas More, and Marian, they all see each other through the seasons," explained Harley. But he avoids mentioning his own ability to select and keep the players who are right for the team ethos.
"If you asked me to pick the best player, I couldn't because they all performed, they all worked hard, and they all played unselfish rugby," said Harley. "We were also probably the biggest team and that helped."
Defense, set piece, and playing unselfishly on attack all played a massive part, and really that is all about playing team-first rugby.
"When we got together Aaron Juma—he's in his third tournament—basically from our first practice let everyone know when we don’t come in and play together it doesn’t work out. And that was the theme of it and the players just did a really good job of taking that plan on all by themselves."
Add to that some resilience. In their opening game they didn't score for a long time. The same was true in the final, while twice the Thunderbirds had to come back to win.
"They didn’t crumble; they kept it together," said Harley. "Yeah it takes a few years off my life but we as coaches kept telling them just stay positive and do the things we all know what to do ... and it worked out."