North Shore RFC 15 Rutland 27

The second game of the season was an ugly one. Not to take credit away from Rutland, who came down and played solid fundamental rugby and took advantage of their opportunities. However, we blew a lot of chances and caused way too many referee's whistles for offsides, etc.

Having more than a few guys get banged up the week before, it was a somewhat makeshift lineup we sent out. However, everyone that we plugged in played hard and hustled. We were still in the game until mid-to-late second half, when a basically uncontested Rutland forward went in for a try to push their total to 27.

North Shore got strong performances from new arrivals Chris Linder, Chris Mroz and Frank Chung as well as mainstays Reade Morrison and Matt Thibault.

Not sure who scored for us, but it wasn't enough. We played sloppily and didn't have the athleticism to overcome it like some games in the past.

There were some good phases of passing and individual running but we couldn't put anything together. There was not enough support of the ballcarrier and just too many mistakes.