Phoenix Alpharetta Opens Season with a Win
Phoenix Alpharetta Opens Season with a Win
Phoenix Alpharetta opened their 2023 season with a new Head Coach and a victory.
New to Alpharetta Phoenix this season is Head Coach Erik Saxon, who made a non-rugby-related move from Charlotte to Atlanta last Summer. He joined an already stellar coaching staff and fine small core group of returning players along with a crop of players brand new to rugby.
The new-look season kicked off against Greer out of South Carolina.
First half of the match was back-and-forth. Phoenix played their structure well and chipped away at Greer—nothing fancy, but effective nonetheless. Greer was able to answer both of Phoenix's first two tries in short order with a pair of blocked exit kicks. Both of them were scooped up and taken in for tries. Greer would add a third try in the first half, with one of those tries converted, while the Georgia team matched them with two converted tries and a penalty goal. Halftime score: 17-17.
Phoenix cleaned up their exit kicks in the second half and defended better and that produced a big change. Three tries for Phoenix led to a 36-17 victory.
Senior captain and No. 8 Sederik Saxon led all scorers with three tries on the day, while flyhalf Felix Kennett led the overall attack and made sure the game was played in three dimensions with several key open play kicks. He also defended superbly, the team in tackles.
Fullback Santiago Podesta kept the ball on the opponent's half of the pitch for most of the day with booming kicks and several big counterattacks. His goalkicking was also key as he logged 11 points with the boot.
The teams were able to hold a 7s match after the main match for newer players to get some extra playing time in; Greer took that match 14-7.
