Tactical Nous Helps Torrey Pines to SoCal Win
Tactical Nous Helps Torrey Pines to SoCal Win
Torrey Pines won the SoCal single-school final Saturday night in San Diego, defeating Loyola of LA 41-12 behind a very effective kicking game.
The Falcons did not have an easy time of it and while they eventually won by 29, the game was far from a runaway.
Torrey Pines did score relatively early, forcing a turnover off the kickoff and keeping the pressure going from there. Finally they put flanker Shay Farkash, new to rugby but a talented loose forward, throughthe middle for the opening try.
That try was converted by Rees Curtis and he added a penalty to stake Torrey Pines to a 10-0 lead. But the Falcons struggled to build on that as Loyola defended with determination, led by some good work from hooker Sami Park and flanker John Francis.
For their part, Loyola wasn’t able to get too close to the Torrey Pines tryline, but they did attempt a shot at goal, which hit the post.
Up 10-0 Torrey Pines started the second half under some pressure from a Loyola side that was using the pick-and-go game and one-off passes to good effect. Lock Ayden Blue and No. 8 Cassius Grimes asked questions of the TP defense, and only because of a couple of pass-catch missed connections did the Falcons hold on.
In fact, one of those missed connections resulted in scrumhalf James Curtis snagging the ball and going 65 meters to score under the posts. That was perhaps against the run of play but Torrey Pines now had a 17-0 lead.
With Loyola fullback Henry Groves now out of the game, the LA side was vulnerable to the kicks, and Torrey Pines obliged.
Some excellent kick-and-chase, with Rees Curtis and Farkash in the middle of it all, forced an offside-on-the-kick call against Loyola. Torrey Pines took the lineout and mauled it over to extend their lead to 22-0.
Loyola went back to their forwards running hard lines and this worked, resulting in a tap penalty and a try.
But Loyola struggled to handle the Torrey Pines kicks. One was allowed to bounce and it rolled awkwardly. The chase was good and the Falcons had another try.
More kicking produced another turnover and another try.
Finally Pines put Gabriel Gonzalez in on the wing after a nice sequence of phases. Loyola scored late, just reward for their work.
But Torrey Pines won it on tactics and skill execution. No. 8 Will Barrett was very good, and the team’s work rate as a whole was impressive
