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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Metropolis Old Boys 36 East Side Banshees 12-Back to Playing Prop Again!

When I had heard a few weeks back that my Metropolis Rugby Club was going to have a Family Day that would include a triple-header of rugby with the D1,D3 and Old Boys teams meeting up with the East Side Banshees  http://www.bansheerugby.com/#Events, from Saint Paul-I quickly was able to get this weekend off. I really wanted to be able to play in the Old Boys game, and with the Aspen Ruggerfest coming next month, I wanted to be able to get some real game time in.

It also meant a lot to me to have a chance to play in front of my kids and my grandson. For my daughter, Rachel, this was the first time she had ever actually seen me play rugby, because most Saturdays in the past when I played, she usually had a horse show she had entered.

For me, the scary things about the guys on the Metropolis Old Boys, is that a lot of these men are my age, but have little KIDS of their own(As you will see in the shot lower down on this page), not grandchildren, like me. To my way of thinking, if you are in your late 40's or early 50's and fathering children...these guys are more nuts being parents of young kids at my age than chasing around after an oval ball on a sun-baked, upper-midwestern afternoon. If the choice is between bruises and sleep deprivation, I'll  take the bruises.

Saturday had a forecast of brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures. It was well into the mid 80's during our game, and was up near 90 for the games that the D1 and D3 sides had to play. I was thankful for the Old Boys game kick off to be at 11 30 AM, before the worst of the heat would envelope Columbia Park in northeast Minneapolis.

I ended up getting a lot of playing time in-we did rolling substitutions based on fitness(or lack of) and the warm weather. I played mostly at prop, but during a point in the game ended up playing at 8 man for a few minutes-a position that I had never played before. Boy, was I glad when Mike Kreblin came back into the game to play 8-man, and I could go back to my more normal position of prop. I think my teammates were relieved, too.

The game was played with great sportsmanship-no chippy stuff at all. We were able to blitz the Banshees in the first half to get a 24 -0 lead at halftime. They fought back to make it 24-12, but then we were able to salt the game away with a couple of late tries.

I was glad to get out of the game with nothing more than a little right shoulder and neck stiffness. Even though it was pretty warm out, I could not help but to think of how different it is going to be to play at altitude in Aspen, Colorado in about 3 weeks. I am really going to need to do some VO-Max work with my Kettle Bell workouts so that I am not total road-kill out in Aspen.

2 comments:

  1. Good Times...see you in Aspen.

    Mike Tufte, Omaha Goats RFC

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  2. Hi Mike, thanks for visiting! Look forward to seeing you and your fellow GOATS out in Aspen!

    ReplyDelete