July12, 2003 - Acton, MA

10's Tournament recap   

NSRFC traveled to Acton for their second visit to the New England 10's tournament, hosted by Old Gold. Perhaps the victim of a scheduling conspiracy or just bad play, North Shore came away with a 1-3 record on the day and hopefully some lessons learned about defensive spacing and support.

Opening match vs. Boston - North Shore quickly learned how overlaps can cause major problems in 10's play.  Boston's backs and "forwards" all had the right idea in creating odd-man breaks and supporting well. The Steamers fell behind quickly and the final score was somwehat lopsided somewhere in the 30-0 range.  Not the club's finest hour (many many penalties) but noone was about to roll over and die.

Second match vs. Providence - A much closer game, ended three tries to one (19-7)? Providence got a few opportunistic scores in the first half but otherwise a fairly even match.   Rich DePiero used some fakes to create a gaping hole in the Providence defense and dart in for a try (and convert).  Despite a little bit of momentum created, the gap was too large to bridge in such a short game. A much better effort in defense and fewer penalties, but still a lack of organization.

Third match vs FUBAR - After a significant rest period (4 1/2 hours), we took on "the artist formerly known as Bridgewater State" with some liquid courage and dominated the match.  Stepping in for his first NSRFC try was Randy Gardner, who ran all over the FUBAR backline. Also making breaks were Jesse B, Martin (one long run for a score), Scott (he seems to have the habit of scoring) and Rich (aka Phil) who actually handed off to Eric for the score. All in all a much better showing, keeping alive hopes of hardware (....somehow). The siite says 23-5.... seems low.

Final match of the day vs. PC Selects (Rhody Old Cocks?) - A match where the opponent was again more capable of creating # mismatches, and taking advantage of our mistakes.   Hurt by penalties, North Shore was unable to get any momentum going as PC scored about four tries and generally outplayed us.  Final 32-0. As Liam pointed out, the hit of the day by soon-to-return Scott Marcoulier was a highlight. Another highlight (lowlight?) was me trying to play scrum half, offsides and confused about which side of the scrum to be on... all in all a good time though.

Not the result we may have wanted, but more game experience and hopefully a good time had by all in attendance. Pictures soon to follow of Kenny's near death experience (thank god for lifeguards!) and Liam's various native american artifacts. T-Bo may still have a headache... Chad and Wes banged up - get healed up boys..

In attendance - (Playing) Capt. Chris LeBlanc, Liam Brady, Jesse Dole, Jesse Brewer, Matt Thibault, Chad Horn, Rob Moran, Martin Mahoney, Eric Cushing, Trevor Maz, Rich DePiero, Wes Darwin, Jeff West, Matt Cogs, Mark Swan, Reade Morrison, Tony "Bikini Briefs" Buonaugurio, Scott Marcoulier, Randy Gardner.

Social - Ron Ciampa (although ready to play!) , Toes Moloney, Jesse Wilson, new guy Damien Bamberg