Flamingos placed 2nd in a thrilling final at Breckenridge’s Valentine’s Day Massacre, finally falling to a 0-2 second overtime half defeat to the reigning champions, Breckenridge’s own Blue Goose.

The Flamingos started the day, kicking off at 9:20am to Western State. This game would open up a successful day of hard, fast moving, and wide played ball in the frigid, high altitude air. Moving the ball hard, and keeping the opponent’s offense from scoring was the name of the game, and we secured 2 tries for a 2-0 victory in our opening game.

Our next game would see us playing the hosts. We quickly secured a lead in this game, punching in a try and keeping the lead for most of the game. Breckenridge held strong in offense, and kept defense tight, keeping our score line low, and finally securing tries of their own. With both teams pushing hard, and making few breaks, the game came down to a final 3-3 tie, with both teams vying for the top of the tournament.

Our third pool game was against Chicago, and the Blue Goose had set a high bar for the top of pool placement by trouncing the Denver Harlequins 7-0 in their final game. We came to the field know that as long as we won this game, we would secure a spot into the semi-finals, and played a solid defensive game, scoring 3 tries, and successfully keeping Chicago from securing any scores of their own, finishing for a 3-0 win.

This win put us in for the Semi-Finals against the yet undefeated Durango Rhinos. We started the match securing our own kick quickly recycling the ball for a quick try to start the match with a lead. The Rhinos fought hard, and through the game they were able to secure 2 tries, although they allowed 3 more tries to be pushed in on them. We took that match with a 4-2 win, putting us in the finals against Breckenridge.

The final match, Fort Collins started a hard fight toward the Breckenridge line. We spent most of the first half in the Blue Goose 22, getting close to the line on many occasions, but due to infringements or turnovers, the Blue Goose were allowed to clear their line, and keep us out of their goal. By the second half, the game became more evenly balanced, although Fort Collins was still able to pressure the Breckenridge goal line a number of times, ending up fruitless in the end, and keeping regular time to a 0-0 tie.

Two more halves were lined out as a tie breaker, and Fort Collins was starting to show it’s fatigue, while the host side was able to consistantly move their much higher manned side in and out of the field, to keep it’s players better rested. Fort Collins was able to keep the Blue Goose from scoring anyways, through the third half, keeping the tie game going until the fourth and final half of the day. The final half Fort Collins found a kick put under heavy pressure from Breckenridge, who were able to capitalize on a penalty advantage and score a try. Fort Collins continued to fight back into the game, but Breckenridge broke our line once more, and put in one more try at the whistle to secure the win. Leaving Fort Collins with a 0-2 2nd overtime half loss.

Finally, at the bar, we had one more contest, and took Durango, and Glenwood Springs to task, winning our first two boat races, and meeting with Chicago in the finals. Our race against Chicago came out as a draw, and once again we found ourselves in a finals overtime knockout, as Chicago was able to beat us in the end.

As a final note, we had a great time over the weekend, and are proudly looking forward to a strong spring season.

The sun and heat were definitely a factor on this opening day of the fall 2007 Rugby season. With temperatures in the 90s and a pitch overgrown with 6 ” grass both teams prepared for what was to be a grueling match between the long time rivals. The Qui kicked off and attacked the flamingos from the start. Digging in and waking up, the flamingos fought back allowing only a penalty conversion in the first 15 minutes. The flamingos pushed forward with a powerful scrum, but ended up being no match for the quick ball movement of the Quin’s forwards and backs. By the end of the first half the Quin’s had scored multiple times with only limited scoring done by the flamingos. The second half turned out to be an opportunity for the Flamingos to show the crowd they had woke up and were ready to play. Unfortunately the increased intensity of all aspects of the Flamingo’s game play,were not enough to stop more scoring by the Quin. The Quins came away with the home opener in a very decisive victory.

The B-side game was a different story. Intensity was very high from the start and both teams fought a very close battle to the end. The flamingos ended up with a 3 point victory over the Quin in this very close game.

Man of the Match for the A-side game was our strong scrum-half Chris, who worked hard and made good decisions throughout the game

For the B-side we went with our new New Zealand prop.. Harmish for both his ability to crush the Quinns in the drinking race, but for his powerful scrum and loose ball play

Fort Collins Flamingos defeated Colorado School of Mines Rugby 52-31 in Golden, Colorado, on April 14th. Congratulations to our man of the match, Ronnie Warenbourg.

Just a quick re cap of the weekends events. B-side lost 36 – 0. We played a great game considering we had many players who are very new to the game. Man of the match went to Ronnie with special mention going to Word. Well done lads.

A – side was a different story. We played a decent 1st half and a fell apart during the 2nd half. We were beaten 62 – 5. Man of the match was Mario… Mario was our best example of how to tackle. I also believe that he was one of a few people in that game who made a one on one tackle. And a fantastic try saving tackle. Well done Mario! Special mentio goes to Sol, and our two front rowers.

Try was scored by Keith Slate