Gonzaga Wins a Gonzaga Classic Full of Surprises
Gonzaga Wins a Gonzaga Classic Full of Surprises
Behind a very strong showing by their back row, Gonzaga defeated the Charlotte Cardinals 22-10 to win the Gonzaga Classic.
While pool play was shortened somewhat on Saturday due to lightning, the excellent weather on Sunday made for an excellent day of rugby throughout the 12-team boys premier tournament.
Four teams entered the day set for the semifinals, with British Columbia's Shawnigan Lake against Gonzaga, and South Africa's St. Andrew's pitted against the Charlotte Cardinals.
Gonzaga was 22-12 over Shawnigan Lake. THe Canadian side gave up some size to the tournament hosts but played a smart game with some excellent kicking and well-organized defense. Gonzaga, however, were clinical in close and had several danger men out wide.
The result of the day, however, was the other semifinal. The Cardinals unleashed a very direct, quick-offload attack and scored early while St. Andrew's had a player in the sin bin. Adding a penalty goal the Cardinals led 10-0 and their defense was very powerful in a game that featured plenty of collisions.
St Andrew's had been finding space out wide in their games on tour in the USA, but Charlotte didn't give those gaps up so easily. With a deep three that made several excellent cover tackles, and a forward pack that didn't take a step back, the Cardinals got under St. Andrews' skin a bit. A charged down kick and an interception led to two second-half tries and the Cardinals actually led 27-0 before St. Andrews got on the scoreboard.
27-12 was the final score (we think ... there were some scoreboard issues so we're going with the posted score).
The St. Andrew's team was certainly disappointed in not making the final—their players were being hosted by Gonzaga players and they had hoped to meet their hosts in the championship game. Charlotte, meanwhile, had shown everyone they don't mess around.
St. Andrew's ended up putting Shawnigan Lake to the sword for 3rd. Gonzaga, meanwhile, played fast and with aggression and ran out to an early lead. They ran a nicely-executed weakside move to put Tim Wakefield in at the corner. Charlotte's ill discipline got the better of them as a penalty, then an extra 10 meters for backchat, and then a yellow card for pulling down a maul backed them up to their line. Finally Gonzaga mauled it over with Gavin Kosch doing the honors. Charlotte got a long-range penalty but it was 12-0 at halftime.Quickly Gonzaga was over the line again, and a later blocked kick set them up for their four before Charlotte's big runners finally set them up for a nifty lineout play. Gonzaga, however, looked very good in winning the cup.
Elsewhere
Around the rest of the boys bracket of the tournament, Vienna were down 7-0 against NOLA Jesuit in the Plate semifinals when flyhalf Camden Erickson sold about five dummies to go in for an excellent try. He converted to tie the game, but just into the second half the Vienna #10 was felled with an injury that turned out to be a broken wrist—cruelly he is out for the remainder of what looked to be a very good season for Erickson and Vienna.
His teammates picked it up, however, with fullback Tomas Edmeades, hooker David Kendig, and scrumhalf Diego Gonzalez energizing the team and two well-taken tries saw Vienna win that Plate semi 19-7. Aspetuck, for their part, exploded for a 35-19 win over Fort Hunt, paced by some big plays from wing Jaden Seabrook to make the final.
The final appeared to be a problem for Vienna, but they relied on their flex defense to trade field position for time and effort. For Aspetuck, many of their players are still relatively ne to rugby, and when they needed continuity sometimes they would struggle to keep it together. Turnovers are Vienna's bread and butter and they took a 7-0 lead. Aspetuck replied with a try from Pearson Hill—who Vienna keyed on relatively well all game. But a converted try in the second half made it a two-score game at 14-5 and, perhaps surprisingly given the circumstances, Vienna won.
Fort Hunt rebounded to take third in the Plate with a 17-7 win over a NOLA Jesuit that has gamely taken on all comers.
In the Bowl bracket Raleigh unleashed some champagne rugby, showing pace and endeavor throughout. This was showcased by a breakaway try from flyhalf Jack Rice who left a trail of Staples defenders desperately trying to bring him down. In two 4-minute games Raleigh scored 65 points against Staples and Gonzaga White to take the Bowl.
