Coming off a great win last weekend against Boulder, Northern Colorado were looking to build and continue to develop against the Colorado School of Mines at home in Timnath. With the Flamingo’s the victor 24 – 10

 The game kicked off with Northern Colorado scoring within 10 minutes after some great backline work from Todd Oswald and Drew Grigsby. Grigsby was the eventual Try scorer and the conversion was made

However, the excitement was soon over as Northern Colorado went on to concede several penalties over the next ten minutes in the rucks and mauls to allow CSM to get some great ball movement and eventually score under the posts. With the conversion, the scores were tied up at 7. The game continued back and forth again with the penalty count mounting in the favor of mines and the Flamingos were unable to get any steady momentum because of this and the number of turnovers due to silly passes that were never going to hand. Northern Colorado came close on two occasions to scoring again, but if not for a drop ball and a silly penalty against winger Nate Holmes for pushing a defender while chasing down a clever kick from Graepler of a Well earned tight head scrum. The Clock ticked over and so did the simple mistakes for the flamingos. The Forwards were rumbling forward well but trying to do to much was the issue of the day. Instead of doing the basics and holding onto the ball, the big pack forced to many passes and turned over the ball to much for any real momentum to taken advantage of. If it wasn’t for some quick thinking from Richard Carter, and a quick tap to dart through the scrambling defense to dot a try over, the scores would have been locked at 7 – 7 going into the half. 

Half time: Northern Colorado 14 – CSM 7

The 2nd half started much the way the 1st did. The Flamingos came out fired up and through some great forward work set the backs up to allow winger Kyle Hosmer to score his 1st try of the day. But again the drop balls, turn overs and penalties mounted and we were back in the same position as the 1st half. No good ball, and no momentum to build off. CSM took an easy 3 pointer to close the scores. However, through all the penalties and turn overs the Flamingos mounted one last good set of phase work and momentum to allow the backs to work some magic and set Kyle up for his second of the day. The score did not change for the remainder of the game as again, silly penalties and far to many turn overs at the break down cost the Flamingo’s the ball retention they needed to score more points.

Final Score: 24 – 10

Man of the match: Mike Bockelman

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Spring was in full swing this past Saturday as the Flamingo’s travelled to Boulder to face the Boulder rugby club.  Boulder got off to a great start with a converted try within five minutes. But with a shoulder injury to lock Steve Robinson following a great kick off tackle brought on replacement forward Nick O’connell. Nicks impact on the game was immediate as he scored 2 tries in ten minutes. The second of which was created by a great line break by Drew Grigsby from 30m out from his own goal line. Things were looking good for Northern Colorado until winger Nate Holmes was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle. Boulder took full advantage of this scoring twice while in ten minutes (The 1st was off great turn over ball) to put them back in the lead at 17 – 12.  However when back to 15 men the Flamingo’s back line fired again and running behind a forward moving pack regained control with a try each to Sol Mascarenas and Bobby Hyatt while another went missing when Nick Flora butchered a sitter while already in the try zone. The half closed out  with Northern Colorado leading 17 – 26.

After the half time break the Flamingo’s held on the pressure to score try number five with replacement forward Nick O’connell scoring his 3rd of the day after some more great attacking play by a back line that looked great with the ball in hand all day. Boulder bounced back yet again with another converted try to keep them selves in the game at  24 – 31. With O’Connell off injured and Henry Vancill on causing havoc in the rucks and mauls, the Flamingo backs again broke free and Hyatt crossed over  for his second on the 58 minute mark to pull his team away even further. Another try was scored to the flamingo’s and the season was off to a great start with the final score 24 – 41.

Man of the match: Nick O’connell

Starting XV

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Queen City Vs Northern Colorado

Saturday 17th October was a perfect day for rugby. The Queen city Rams Were hosting the Northern Colorado Flamingo’s at Dicks Sporting goods field. The Flamingos were without 5 regular starters and a new look back line that included Nick O’connell at 12, Bobby Hyatt at 9 and Eugene Collins making his 1st start on the right wing. The Game kicked of at 2:40pm and right from the start both teams were keen to get the early lead. Queen city opened the scoring early with a try out wide after after re gathering a kick from their fly half and scoring in the corner. The flamingos were on the board not long after though with a successful penalty kick from Jeff Brundage.  Both teams continued to fight hard for the 1st 20 minutes of the half.  Fort Collins managed to score 2 tries to Nick O’connell which were both converted by Jeff Brundage.  Flamingos were up 5 – 19. The next Twenty was all Queen city. They applied great pressure to score twice in ten minutes to re take the lead. However after the sin binning of 18 year old rookie Bobby Hyatt, Northern Colorado dug deep to keep queen city from scoring again.

Half time score: Queen City 19 – Northern Colorado 17

The 2nd half was a great game of Rugby. Northern Colorado threw everything at Queen City, whose defence was up to the challenge. Queen City Scored 1st to extend their lead to 7 points.  That lead did not last long as Veteran prop Terje Whitmore crashed over for a try to the Flamingos. 10 minutes later while Queen city were down a man to the sin bin Drew Grigsby Showed great speed to beat three Queen City defenders to run 60 meters down the touch line to score in the corner. Northern Colorado were now up by three 24 – 27. The game continued to be an physical contest. With another Flamingo in the sin bin and a silly mistake on there own line, Queen City poached and scored a gift converted try to again take the lead with five left on the clock. There was one more opportunity for Norther Colorado  with a great attack scrum on the Rams 5m line. This however turned out to be the nail in the coffin with Queen City winning the tight head and scoring a final try a few phases later.

Final Score: Queen City 36 Northern Colorado 27.

Northern Colorado notched up their first win of the year with a 33 – 3 victory over the DenverHarlequins. The Flamingos looked 100% better than the previous week with great defense from the backs. Kye Mascarenas played a very aggresive game out on the wing in both offense and defense, while fly half, Mike Staab, did a great job in directing the team around the wet pitch. Unfortunatly for Mike, a good game could have been a great game if he was a little more accurate with the boot.  Staab had 1 conversion from 5 tries and 0 from 1 penalties.  He did however slot a nice drop goal. The forwards had a great go forward.  Sol Mascarenas, Nate Bell and Nick O’connell all led by example and worked hard to give our backs quality ball.

All in all it was a great game and man of the match goes to 18 year-old rookie, Bobby Hyatt. Honerable mention to Mike Staab and Nick O’Connell.

Flamingos 10 – Queen City 20

Round 1 is over and unfortunately for Northern Colorado rugby we did not walk away with a win to celebrate the opening of our new facilities. The game was a long and hard fort game by both sides. Both teams played great rugby and hard rugby.  The 1st half was well played by both teams as neither we able to score any points. Both Queen city and Northern Colorado had their opportunities, but were unable to capitalise. 2nd half was a different story for both teams. The same opportunities were presented and this time both teams were able to capitalise and get points on the board. Unfortunately for us, we allowed to many missed tackles which allowed our opposition to get good field positions which they turned into points.

Our man of the match was Nick O’Connell and honorable mentions to Bobby Hyatt and Sol Mascranes.

Cheers to the boys from Grand Junction for traveling with strong numbers.  The weather was warm for a late day in March.  The match featured lots of intense rucking by both sides.  Junction’s fly half used his foot often to keep Fort Collins in

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