Perhaps we should begin with the difference between a back, a forward, and a forward who runs like a back. Yes gabe, I’m referring to you. He was unstoppable, At full speed the fake to the right, the side move to the left, the spin move, and the slide into the rhubarb to touch it town! I think the tires came off during the side move to the left, but it could have been on the spin!

Needless to say, such moves should be left to backs, as Brundage demonstrated ten miles down the road. Brundage made the same first move, but he kept it just inside the touch line, cut across with a spin move, took it to touch. Jeff managed to keep the tires in tact, but in the end, was still stuck in the ditch.

Now some prefer to move like a forward. Pete has really stepped up to show how that is done. It doesn’t take fancy moves, it takes speed and force to drive through the opposition. Pete was certainly at full speed when he decided to make his run. He busted right through the pylons that had spread the field in front of him. Then kept it going and “hit the gap” avoiding the semi that was coming head on!

And then there are those who are not part of the action, just raise there hand and blow the whistle for the try. Driving Dodger damn sure showed up in Missoula to signify the completion of the team, raise his arm, and set up for the first kick off!

Well, the kick was up, the yell of “Who wants it” was unanimously responded with “I do”. Where does it land, of course, in Tom Price’s lap, literally. “Fort Collins Would-be fornicator” was seen with a stripper in his lap, and her room number in the team hotel, freshly ringing in his ears. Perhaps it was the overload of “fighting snappers womens ruggers” that caused the missed tackle, but “Hope” slipped by outside, going in for a score that Tom could only think longingly of.

The rookie to the Flamingos and inside center, Scott, picked up where Tom left off though. The 8-man that he was lined up against was a ferocious opponent to say the least. Not many can “pull off” the “arm tackle” but reports from the game say that she did. Scott was able to get back up, but unable to shake off the 8-man. The ball was pitched to the outside center to take it in.

Ryan Harms made the catch, and was off. His opponent, though just as ferocious, was no match for Harms. He danced, he ran (not fast enough if you ask me), he made a fast break, and the score was “wide open” when he stopped short, and touched it down outside of the try zone. She missed the tackle, went low, and Ryan took advantage of it, but at the end of the play, opted out of the try in a defiant act, placing it just outside of the uprights.

The glory of the back line was only matched by the ferocity of the pack. Butters showed how to work in the middle. He moved fast, he was knocking people over left and right, he was throwing people, and shouting for support. It was the best dancing at the party. Unfortunately the fighting snappers rushed in and formed a maul around the new lock. Surrounded by catholic school girls, he had nothing to but try for some ball movement, and serve detention. I hear tell that several are still waiting for him to show up after school.

And in the eye of the hurricane was our trusty hooker. Keith was steady and true, in the middle and bringing it back to his team. Though the “pick and go” was seen several times, this team player always gave it to his team mates, giving the glory to the centers. His unselfish acts proved the heart of the team, never once trying to score himself. He did good work on the pitch too!

Last but not least (well, maybe least) was the full back. He moved fast, he got in the play, and when the perfect opportunity for the score was presented, was in the wrong place. Aerodynamic hair was no match for the speed that she had. She was making her move when he looked away, and when he looked back, she was gone. A good lesson for a first time full back on not loosing track of the play.

The Fort Collins Men faced off against cross town friends and rivals, C.S.U., on Sunday. The match, previously scheduled for Saturday, was played on campus in front of a large group of local rugby supporters. Those in attendance enjoyed a cloudless, beautiful day of spring time sunshine. Unfortunately, the contest on the pitch didn’t live up to the standards set by Mother Nature. Both teams came out very aggressive, and set a fast pace for what would be a long day for the Fort Collins Men. C.S.U. capitalized on poor ball handling and a lack of strong ball support to jump out to an early lead. Fort Collins had many opportunities to establish momentum and gain a foothold in the contest, but even a long scoring dash and strong individual effort by many, including Man of the Match, Jeff Brundage, wasn’t enough to kick start the Flamingos. Dropped passes, and missed tackling seemed to plague the club, as it just wasn’t their day. Each time it appeared the Fort Collins Men were on the verge of closing the early gap established by C.S.U., another mental error, or mishandled ball would open the gate, and C.S.U. would be off to the races. Much credit should be given to the Rams for their aggressive play, and relentless offensive approach, as they were clearly the better club on this day. The Flamingos will, no doubt, need a spirited and productive week of practice, as they prepare to host Boulder this upcoming Saturday. Fort Collins is a proud and talented club of veteran players, and I expect a much better showing next week, but as for this week, thank goodness it was a beautiful day, because their loss to C.S.U. was certainly anything but beautiful.

B-side- On a brighter note, the B-side match was played afterward with many of the A-side players from both teams running double duty. B side Man of the Match, rookie back Ryan Harms, had a breakout afternoon capped off by his scoring the first two tries in his young rugby career. Can anyone say Zulu? Unfortunately, his effort may have come at a great cost as we wait to hear results about a possible shoulder injury. The early moments of the first half were delayed as Fort Collins’ second row player, Chris Fielder took a nasty blow to the head, and had to receive medical attention. I am happy to report that when I questioned him afterward about his condition Chris was quoted as saying “Ya,” which I have assumed meant that he was feeling all right. Both sides exhibited great heart and stamina, as two 30 min. halves were contested with Fort Collins prevailing in a closely played match. Thanks again C.S.U. for a solid afternoon of play, to all who were in attendance, to Conor O’neills for hosting a top notch drink up afterward, and a special thanks to Coach Chvatal who filled in as match referee, and did a fine job. We are all looking forward to next week, when Fort Collins will attempt to bounce back against a tough opponent, Boulder Men.

Yesterday was the St. Valentines Day Massacre Tournament at Carter Park in Breckenridge. The weather was normal for the mountains, with the sun out and 35° in the morning, and snow flurries, wind and much cooler in the afternoon. The tournament consisted of 12 men’s teams, and 9 women’s teams, with the match format being 10’s rules with 7 minute halves. No points for penalty kicks or conversions, only for tries. The 2 pitches were groomed snow, lined with Kool-aid, and no posts. The western pitch was quite odd shaped, with the in-goal area as shallow as a meter in places. Each team had 3 qualifying matches, with the four teams that did best playing semi-final matches.

The Flamingo’s first match was versus Metro State. Fort Collins scored 2 fairly quick tries dominating the first half. Fort Collins traveled extremely well to this tournament, having as many as 27 players including several players from Glenwood, and visiting players from Fort Collins past like Mike Coco. So in their matches they were able to completely replace all the players at half time. So the second half of the match against Metro State ran a little differently, with two interesting moments. The first was an issue with the previously mentioned lack of depth on the in-goal area, as Tom Behr, on a break away, with no opposition, ran straight through the dead ball line nullifying what should have been the third try for the Flamingos. Metro State put a try on the board somewhere in this half too. Off a 5-meter scrum with Metro State close to scoring, the ref indicated that the next stoppage would be the end of the match. It was Fort Collins put in, so a play was called to get the ball back to the fly-half and kick it out of bounds to end the match with a 2-1 win. However Donny Slager, playing scrum-half, chose to kick it himself, attempting to kick it out of the back of the try zone. He slipped and the ball wobbled into in-goal, and Metro State recovered it for a try, ending the match with a 2-2 tie. Both Donny and Tom were rewarded for their bumbles at kangaroo court that evening.

The second qualifying match was against DU. The Flamingos dominated the match and ended with a 4-0 win. The elevation of the pitches should be mentioned at this juncture. Carter Park lies at about 9,615 feet above sea level based on USGS topographic maps (9,600 as stated on the tournament t-shirts, and 9,652 based on this reporter’s GPS reading when arriving at the pitch). So while 7 minute halves sounds like it would be quite easy, this reporter found that the way he felt at the end of the half to be about equivelent to how he feels after a normal 40 minute half. Surely running through the snow adds to the fatigue factor as well.

The third match was against Western State. Fort Collins was awarded a penalty try midway through the first half. After a pop kick by the flamingos, Jeff Brundage and a Western player were chasing the ball down. Jeff was beating his man, and soccer kicked the ball toward the try zone. Jeff was obviously going to recover the ball for a try when the Western player tackled him from behind. The referee justifiably awarded the penalty try. This turned out to be the only score of the entire match, and Fort Collins won 1-0.

This win against Western State secured second seed for the Semi finals. A win against Metro State would have assured Fort Collins first seed. Second seed would play third seed, so Fort Collins would face Queen City in the semi-finals.

The semi-final match was a hard fought match with Queen city scoring 2 tries in the first half by exploiting overloads and a missed tackle or two, and Fort Collins scoring once with hard driving forward’s play. Of course the on going rivalry with Queen City drove passions on both sides, and the Flamingos were raring to go in the second half. Queen City was held scoreless, but the Flamingos were able to push in another try to tie the game at 2-2 when regular time ended. The semi finals have to have a winner, so the game went into sudden death overtime with 5 minute periods. Overtime was back and forth until Queen City was able to create and exploit another overload, and ran the ball in for a try withing inches of touch, but enough of a try to secure the semi-final win.

Queen City faced Breckenridge Blue Geese which was a very heated match a Queen City player sent to the sin bin and a Blue Goose player ejected. With 1-1 after regular time, this match went into a double sudden death overtime, with Breckenridge scoring about 8 minutes after regular time, giving them the tournament win.

This was a great start to Fort Collin’s spring season. 25 participating players this weekend, new commitments from a total of 22 players to be Core players, will hopefully translate to a very active club this season. This reporter was not able to attend pre or post game festivities (except for Kangaroo court). Perhaps someone else can fill in some details?

Feb 16, 2005: This reported has been corrected about the score in the semi-final match against Queen City. Apparently the score was 1-0 with the Flamingos in the lead going into the half, and Queen City scored twice before Fort Collins tied it up right before regular time ended. As this author was only a beer imbibing spectator for this match, he begs forgiveness for his PBR induced memory loss.

Also with 2nd seed going into finals, and no consolation match, its apparent that the semi-final loss would put Fort Collins in 3rd place on the tournament out of 12 teams. In retrospect Fort Collins should have boat raced with the Highlanders for 3rd place. Next time.

What a great game. The Flamingos came out determined to execute their game plan, and did excellent. Fort Collins shut down the Harlequins offense for most of the match. The Flamingos scored first with a converted try for 7-0. The Harlequins came back with a controversial penalty kick and an even more controversial uncoverted try making the score 7-8 with the Harlequins up by 1. Just a mention about the try: apparently its acceptable to knee and punch the ball forward and still have it considered a try. In any event with no time left, Fort Collins was awarded a penalty kick at a medium distance and angle from the posts. If the kick is good, Flamingos win, and if it misses the Quins win the match. You can’t ask for a more dramatic end to a match. Steve Rimmer was the kicker. He had already missed 2 penalty kicks on the day, but made one conversion. He stepped off his distance from the teed ball, and paused, focusing on the posts. Lightning flashed in the distance as he struck the ball. It floated through the air with a slight forward tumble and perfectly bisected the posts to make it 10-8. The referee blew the whistle to end the game, and the Flamingos proceeded to celebrate a bit too exuberantly for rugby. As far as this writer can tell from the limited records available, this was the first time Fort Collins won against the Harlequins since 2000.

The B match was played entirely in a hail storm, so this writer has no information to report about it, besides the fact that my E-Z-UP canopy appears to be able to protect approximately 22 people from a hail storm. While I think the best weather to PLAY rugby in is a rainstorm, I do beleive that it is the lousiest weather to WATCH rugby in. Everyone who played B side came off the pitch with huge smiles on their faces.

This win puts us at 2 wins and 3 losses for league play, and in 3rd place. There is still an extremely thin chance for us to get into 2nd place. We would have to win against Queen City in 2 weeks, and score at least 48 points AND Colorado Springs needs to beat the Harlequins and hold them scoreless. Heh heh, well I said thin chance didnt I?