Anchorage Thunderbirds RFC

                            Thunderbirds vs. Barbos, 19th July 2007.            

Cosy, running horribly late (what can I say fellas, she insisted !) turned up ten minutes after six on a hot, sunny Thursday night for the T-Birds third league encounter of the season with the Barbos. It was soon clear that both teams were low on numbers, the T-Birds mustering 19 players and a stealthy count of the Barbos revealed they had one less at 18. Mo's hopes of turning just to watch and work on his bar fitness with the odd Coors or two were dashed by a pair of shorts hitting him square in the chest and a sea of grinning faces had him shaking his head and mutteringas he began to change. After this the usual undignified scramble for tape/shorts/boots/shirts etc broke out prior to a final 10 minutes of running through plays and before we all knew it, referee Cam Vivian blew the whistle and it was time to start the game.           

The first ten minutes of the game was a strangely subdued affair and while neither team could be said to be half hearted, the game in no way matched the intensity levels seen in the previous weeks. There was little calling or shouting from the spectators or the players and the whole affair had the atmosphere of a charity match (without the beer). The game was littered with individual errors and the play had little continuity. About ten minutes into the game, after yet another knock-on, the Barbos suddenly (and without fair warning we all thought) appeared to wake up and at the scrum, unceremoniously shoved the T-Birds off the ball. As the ball squirted out of the side of the scrum, an enterprising Barbo picked it up and took off. Some neat interplay, including three offloads in contact, which even Cosy had to begrudgingly acknowledge saw the Barbos score the game's first try and slot the conversion.  0  -  7  Barbos           

This proved to be the spark that the, until then, lacklustre match had needed and the T-Birds apparently (and much to Cosy's relief) decided that they did want to play some rugby after all and took the game to the Barbos. With neither side dominating the set piece scrum, the line-outs began to gain ever more significance. Matt Elder, playing at hooker and responsible for the line-out throws for the first time in his fledgling career, wasn't doing too badly. A couple of throws went astraybut all in all, an area of the game that has, at times, been a problem this season was holding it's own and the T-Birds slowly but surely began to dominate the territory and possession. It's fair to say that one thing the T-Birds have been pretty good at all year is making their first up tackles and again this area of strength paid dividends with the ball coming loose in contact. Our club president, his Tee-ness showed good presence of mind (surprising the coach) and although not famous for his kicking, timed a fly hack of the loose ball beautifully (surprising the coach even more) and sent it spinning thirty yard downfield. Instead of the usual "Keystone Cops" affair, a disciplined chase through ensued (by now, you could have knocked the coach over with a feather !) and the Barbos' full back was caught in possession, stood up, robbed and the ball was spun out to Kumi. He broke, was tagged by a scrambling Barbos' defence but managed a good offload in contact to a closely supporting Mo who, with all thoughts of merely spectating forgotten, ran through unopposed to open the T-Birds account for the day, almost under the posts too. The conversion duly sailed over and the game was now tied  7  -  7.           

After the restart, the game was once again reasonaby even with the T-Birds probably just on top in terms of possession. Good pressure from a breakdown saw a Barbo back make a real mess of his kick. A poor chase and a lack of discipline from the back line gave referee Cam what was surely the easiest offside call in the history of the game (honestly, nearly 30 yds !) and Kumi slotted the penalty to put the T-Birds into the lead for the first time at 10  -  7.           

The Barbos are nothing if not resilient and for the next tem minutes or so, raised their game significantly and put the T-Birds under some concerted pressure. The T-Birds' cause was not aided by a succession of penalties, allowing the Barbos to steadily move the ball downfield until they were camped in the T-Birds' twenty-two. Here, the T-Birds gave another demonstration of just how resilient they have become and a series of all-out full blooded hits held the line intact. Wave after wave of Barbo ball carriers crashed into the thin blue line without breaking through and big hit followed big hit as neither side wavered in it's commitment. Something, ultimatley had to give and eventually, another monster T-Bird hit had the ball carrier isolated and penalised for not releasing the ball on the ground. After a frantic 5 minutes like that, most people would be happy to gather themselves, take a breather and kick up the line, hoping to retain possession on their own throw. Apparently, the rules on "Planet Kumi" are quite different and with his own try line licking his heels, and to Cosy's absolute horror, he took a quick tap penalty and took off. He was brought to ground just inside the T-Bird twenty-two but off-loaded to Chris Bolin, who took the ball on and passed well out of contact to Tom Ferrara on the wing, who made another crucial 10 yards before being bundled into touch. A highly enterprising, entertaining passage of play, which cleared the lines, made 40 yards of territory, involved good support play, showed good ball skills in contact and aged Cosy by about 10 years.........           

From here on in, the play largely centred around the halfway line and neither side was able to establish any kind of rhythm or pattern. The T-Birds did manage to win a penalty mid way between halfway and the Barbos' twenty two but Kumi just missed the kick. That was pretty much it for the half and the teams came off with the T-Birds in the lead 10  -  7.           

A couple of half time substitutions appeared at first to make little difference as the Barbos came out fighting and pinned the T-Birds into their own half. Eventually, the referee awarded a penalty about 10 yards from the T-Birds line. The Barbos, eschewing a possible 3 points opted to run the ball and it was here that the game turned decisively. A wall of resolute blue shirts greeted the Barbos' ball carrier, who was hammered to ground and stripped of the ball. From the resultant break the ball made it out to the T-Birds twenty-two. As play broke down the ball went loose and not for the first time that day, Caz Castaneda did exactly what his side needed by picking up the loose ball and running it straight up the touchline. Although he was taken into touch, he secured the loose ball, gained precious territory and crucially, took the ball safely out of play to allow his side time to regroup and reorganise... it was classic defensive wing play (that and another couple of good examples of wing play swung the man of the match award in his favour). At the following line out, the forwards joined the party too and a well timed jumped, combined with a good lift allowed the T-Birds rob the throw and fire a quick pass out into the backs. Kumi nimbly side stepped the first tackler and broke the second to find himself in open field. He duly took off at full tilt and took the exposed Barbos' full back on the outside. Indeed the only player on the pitch who caught him was our own Rico Suave (steady ladies !) who showed a great turn of speed to get onto the stand-off's shoulder and provide excellent although unnecessary support as Kumi ran 70 yards to score. Kei made a good attempt at the conversion from wide out, which went just wide and the score was now a healthier looking 15  -  7  T-Birds.           

This last score appeared to draw much of the sting from the Barbos, who began to falter a little and allowed the T-Birds to dominate the next ten minutes. The ball made it's way inexorably downfield and desperate last ditch defense from the Barbos saw the referee award a penalty only 5 yards out. Once again, the rules on "Planet Kumi" were in play and with every T-Bird calling for a kick to touch for an attacking line-out, the T-Birds fly-half tapped the ball and darted for the line. The play had been read by a Barbo who came out to meet Kumi but unfortunately for the Barbos, no-one came with him and Kumi side-stepped neatly into the space where the second tackler should have been and dived over the line to score a crucial try wide out on the left. Kei once more made a great kick and this time a very tough conversion went over and the score was now 22  -  7  T-Birds.           

The T-birds continued to dominate from the restart, moved the ball quickly downfield and came very close to stretching their lead out when a short tap penalty and drive had Kei put into touch with only inches to spare. The Barbos conceded another penalty and this Tangi drove to within only a foot of the line but in the ensuing ruck, injured his foot to the extent that he was forced to limp out of the game. This was the first of three quick injuries as Rico Suave (steady ladies !) and Kumi also went down and had to leave the game. In addition, Tee, Kei and Matt Elder were all also playing through the pain and all of these combined to upset the balance of the team. The Barbos began to smell blood and quickly came back into the game. For over 5 minutes they Barbos set up camp in the T-Birds twenty-two and only the all out utter defensive commitment for which the T-Birds are fast becoming known prevented the Barbos from crossing the line. With each big hit and successful defence, a little more belief flowed back into the T-Birds and gradually, they worked their way back into the game. A couple of positional changes on the field seemed to restore balance to the side and despite continued pressure from a Barbos team that refused to quit, the T-Birds held their line and indeed pushed the Barbos back almost to the half way line, thanks in large part to an excellent pick and drive from Phil "Beaker" Gudgel, who drove the ball into contact, went another 5 yards over the gain line, stayed on his feet and with some help from a good drive from his fellow forwards, drove the Barbos back at the resulting maul. Time had run out and Cam blew for the end of a very hard fought game with the final score standing at  22  -  7  to the T-Birds.           

This was another of those games where the score did not necessarily reflect the game. Although on balance the T-Birds shaded it and came out deserved winners, every single one of their players came off the park knowing they had been in a game and one or two of the Barbos put in good performances which went unrewarded.           

After having lost their first two league games of the season, the T-Birds now find themselves at 3-2-0 and need to win on Thursday against the Dragons to secure the first seed spot. A seeding which few would have predicted at the start of the season.  Put quite simply, the team that is the T-Birds has well and truly got it going on......