Rain Soaked Classic as Woodlands Holds Off St. Martin's
Rain Soaked Classic as Woodlands Holds Off St. Martin's
On a very wet field in The Rugby Garden in Wylie, TX, Woodlands of the Houston area held off St. Martin's out of Kansas 15-8 in a high-rankings showdown Saturday.
The wet conditions (and they were very well) made it difficult for either team to really get their attack going, so neither team was going to run away with it. It was 5-3 Woodlands at halftime and stayed that close pretty much the whole time.
It had rained very heavily before the game and that left The Rugby Garden's field soaked.
From the first whistle, it was evident that this would be no ordinary contest. In the standing water the ball was exchanged between the teams with turnovers and knock-ons. From one of the many scrums, Woodlands center Zane Smith emerged as the catalyst, bulldozing his way over the tryline and opening the coring.
As the first half unfolded Woodlands controlled possession but struggled to convert those opportunities as they were plagued by knock-ons and penalties. Once St. Martin's seized their chance to gain territory, they punished penalties and center Will Van de Ryt put one over the bar to make it 5-3 at the break.
The second half saw more ball on ground due the wet and muddy conditions, but Woodlands finally got their second try when Gabe Hopkins, on as a forward from the bench, came down with the ball in the Woodlands lineout. Seeing that St. Martin’s did not contest so, in a very nice, heads-up move, Hopkins just turned and charged ahead. He thundered 15 meters on to score and make it 10-3 at 58 minutes.
Just a few minutes later St. Martin's found some space and went over to inch closer at 10-8. Scrumhalf Joseph Moleski launched a nice little grubber though and prop Colin Egger chased it down to score Kingfishers' lone try.
It was all on a knife edge throughout the rest of game. With three minutes to go, Smith made the big play again, carrying several defenders with him as he made the tryline, extending the Woodlands lead to 15-8. There was still time to come back for St. Martin’s and they had chances but in the wet conditions those breakaways were hard to come by.
"It literally came down to the final play," said St. Martin's Headmaster Daniel Kerr. "Proud of our boys who played valiantly despite being outgunned size and strength wise at most every position. Woodlands dominated territory and yet, at the final whistle, it could have gone either way."
The two teams came together the thank the hardy fans and thank each other in a nice moment. St. Martin's Head Coach John Prezzia and Woodlands Team Manager Lance Raper immediately commited to a rematch next year.
