Guilford gets back to winning ways in 2010 opener

Despite accruing an embarrassing total of 18 penalties - most coming around the ruck - Guilford managed to seize victory in the opening game of the 2010 matrix season against the visiting Elon Pheonix on Saturday. In what might be remembered here out as the "mud match," a game that was thought to be just another in a string of cancellations (dating back to Halloween day for Guilford) but was ultimately allowed to commence, both teams came out of the gate with intensity.

Elon captured the momentum early with the first try of the game off of a mishandled kickoff by the home team. Within minutes most members of both sides were covered in a thick layer of brown mud as all of the snow from the night before melted on the already-devastated Guilford rugby pitch.

Guilford regained composure and took over the lead with two tries before the break as winger wing Walt Barber and inside center Randall Aldana each earned their first career scores; Walt touching down in the corner and Randall charging through from five meters out after the pack secured an important scrum. A controversial offsides high tackle by Aldana in front of his own try-zone would probably have earned him a ten-minute breather and a penalty try for the Phoenix under most officials whistles, but instead was deemed just a penalty, which Elon could not use to their advantage.

After the half Guilford's forwards began to control the game with a dominating scrum and some impressive jumping in the line-outs by lock Crosby Blair. Guilford found themselves unable to find pay dirt after winger Dave Kloss got the ball close on a weak-side attack. The forwards ran a succession of crashes around the five-meter line until getting penalized and losing a potential game-sealing opportunity.

However, the tired Guilford side was aided by a string of substitutions and a large crowd of home supporters and off of a line-out in their own end fullback Max George caught a long pass from flyhalf Sean McNally, found a hole in the Elon line and was able to shake the lone 15 and take it 60 meters until falling awkwardly a few feet in front of the try-zone and squirming forward to touch the ball down across the line just before an Elon defender got there.

But the Phoenix fought back and after yet another penalty in the ruck against the home team and the subsequent sin-binning of captain Andrew Slater an Elon forward scored on a hard tap-and-go drive from five meters out. The remainder of the game was defined by sloppy play from both sides in the increasingly muddy conditions. The teams traded penalties and Guilford benefited from some crucial Elon knock-ons until flyhalf Sean McNally managed to break a succession of tackles and run in the game's final try with minutes remaining, securing a bonus point for the Quakers.

With a final score of 22-10 Guilford earned their first win since September and find themselves in a decent position approaching this weekend's home match against UNC Charlotte. Spirited play from flanker Kevin Cumberland, who was so thoroughly covered in mud by game's end that his number seven was indiscernible, earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.

At days end it was clear that everyone is happy to be playing rugby again and the unheard of streak of seven straight games canceled due to weather is finally over. Guilford will host Charlotte, who have yet to play this year, at 1 PM on Saturday.





(photos by Cloud Gamble)

Finally, Saturday can be a rugby day once again.

For as long as this blog has been down (since the NCRU tourney last fall), Guilford Rugby has been unable to play a match, perhaps a direct response from the rugby gods to the inconsiderate and unfavorable nature of the content formerly appearing on this blog.

However, I am happy to announce a number of positives in this post, the foremost being the extreme likelihood of a Guilford Rugby match being played this coming Saturday. That's right, after three months of rain and snow cancellations (totaling 7 straight unplayed games), this Saturday the weather is looking good and Guilford hopes to host Elon Rugby Club at 1 PM to kick off their Spring 2010 Matrix campaign. Despite the facts that our last game was on Halloween day (and we, appropriately, wore NC State's graciously shared b-side jerseys) and it was a devastating blow-out delivered at the hands of an impressive UNCG side, Guilford is coming into this weekend's game with a renewed focus and energy and a generally thankful attitude to just be playing rugby again.

Other news: just before the winter break Guilford put together a 7's side featuring Sean McNally, Luke Walsh-Mellet, Kevin Smithey, Andrew Slater, Max George, Alum Drew Gottlieb and Ben Snyder, and ruglets Nelson, James and Z plus Sean's little brother Connor who flew up from Austin to participate. The team entered into the Columbia-hosted annual Grunk 7's tourney and came out with a 1-2-1 record on the day and a lot of gained experience and lost energy. We sported new green-and-white (cliche much?) jerseys under the moniker "McNally's Gold" after a player homebrew, and Sean is hoping to break the set back out this summer for a few tourneys around NC and Texas (if you're interested in playing for McNally's Gold 7's this summer, let us know!).

Just after Christmas this winter former Guilford flyhalf and reigning Woodcock holder (and current volunteer assistant coach) David McKindley-Ward returned from his 3 month stay in Ireland where he was productive playing Outside Center for Dunmanway, a small town club near Cork under the Munster family of Irish rugby. McKindley-Ward scored a handful of tries for the club that would find itself playing for the championship in its division (although David injured his shoulder and couldn't play) and he made such a contribution as to be asked to stay on, which was, unfortunately, not possible due to his visa. However, back in Greensboro, David is, regrettably unable to play for Guilford, but has joined alum Gottlieb and Snyder on the Triad Men's Club. We wish him luck and hope he can return to Guilford in the fall.

And that is about all I will say for now. I am happy to be back from injury and will be doning the 15 in Saturday's match. More to come soon, great to be back on the pitch and back online!

Max

NCRU State Tourney and Recent Developments

The Guilford Rugby blog has become dusty with the cobwebs of neglect and the stale breath of Chris Allman. Not to worry, though, here is an update for all ye faithful (aka those who read this blog aka a few current and former Guilford rugby players) on the last month of activity and the road ahead.

After losing to the old-boys in the 2nd Annual Guilford Rugby Alumni Game in late September, GCRFC hosted a reformed UNC Charlotte team looking for revenge after losing here in Greensboro one year ago. Revenge, so it went, was readily available in easy-to-swallow pill form as the 49's rolled up to Greensboro, rolled over Guilford, and rolled back to Charlotte with only a few speed bumps (most of them being literal road traffic calming devices and only a few being those metaphorical hindrances on the pitch). As the game was a month ago, I have chosen to forget the final score, however it is clear that Charlotte had a lot and Guilford had a little (5 to be exact, coming in the form of a late second half dignity try by junior transfer Sean McNally, aka "the new David", getting his much-deserved first points of the season).

If there was anything to glean from the game it is the play of senior scrumhalf Kevin Smithey who made his debut in the 9 shirt (transitioning from his 3-year worn number 7) and proved not only his aptitude at organizing both the piggies and the princesses but also fed McNally clean ball all day (on and off the pitch), earning Smithey his second man-of-the-match award of the season. Also noteworthy for Guilford is the continued commitment of the rookie players who again came out to play despite an apparent lack of knowledge in the game. But do not discredit these boys, they're learning more every week and have definitely begun to show a retention of knowledge on the basic rules and skills of the greatest sport on Earth. Credit must also be given to UNC Charlotte. The boys we met in this game, sporting slick new black jerseys, were not only generally nice but they also showed some real talent and their drift offense had Guilford players thumbing their own buttholes while Charlotte scored time and time again.

Since that game Guilford has begun an effort to return to the basics of rugby that enabled us to go undefeated last fall and place 2nd in the matrix this past spring: endurance and defense. With junior prop Randall Aldana making the move to inside center (?!?) and senior Bryce Bjornson and rookie Lester back at the outside center position, Guilford woeful backline play since the season opener is poised for a turnaround as senior Joel Popkin and junior Harry Anthony will be able to command the back-three with rookie talents Z Klonowski and Luke Walsh-Mellett. Another bit of good news is the possible return this weekend of fullback Max George who has been out for 6 weeks after dislocating his shoulder in the first five minutes of the Elon game. Today he received a hesitant vote of confidence from the doctor, who says he will be full strength in three weeks time but is probably okay to start contact, which is by any means good enough for him.

All of this is to say that Guilford is feeling confident going into this weekend's North Carolina Rugby State Tournament in Danville, VA (??). On Saturday at 11:30 Guilford will take on crosstown rivals UNCG with the winner playing the winner of UNCC-Duke for the Sunday championship.

One man to rule them all.

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