May 22-23 2004 - Newport, RI

NERFU Tournament - North Shore wins consolation bracket

I won't lie to you, this isn't going to be the best match report you've ever read.

Bits and pieces relayed from Saturday's 28-12 loss to the Boston Irish 'Dinos':

The Dinos looked like a much different team from the one we played about a month earlier and beat. The side was much stronger and outplayed us from the opening whistle. The pack pretty much dominated us and the scores came early and often.

After falling behind, North Shore rallied in the second half for two tries, one converted. Definitely Matt Thibault had one, stiff-arming old friend Billy Foye on his way in, and the other will remain a mystery.

In addition to hangovers, Sunday brought an early kickoff against Berkshire, who had to forfeit but filled their side in with Charles River guys and had enough for a game. This game was pretty one-sided, with a lot of sloppy ball and breaks by North Shore players, sometimes resulting in breakaway tries.

I won't pretend to remember the score or all the try-scorers, but Mark Swan got one, and probably 3-4 others in a fairly lopsided win. A penalty try was awarded to Berkshire and that accounted for most of their scoring. Roughly 30-7...

In the consolation final, North Shore faced another recent opponent in New London, a team that is figuring things out more and more every time we play them. This was a hard-fought game with not many scores, and I believe somewhere around a 19-5 final score.

As always, Newport is a great time and hopefullynext year we'll be in the winner's bracket come Sunday.