Tough Loss in La Rochelle

It was our second week of Amlin Cup, but this time we took on another Top 14 counterpart, La Rochelle. The game was mostly played in our territory and with them holding on possession, which obviously meant a lot of defense for us. We took on the challenge quite well, except for their driving maul, however, which they scored three tries from. It wasn't our best side, as the coaches saw these last two weeks as a good time to rest some players, but especially this week. It is more important for us to get wins and score points in the Top 14 matches against La Rochelle, than the Amlin Cup.

In the end, we still had a chance to tie it, and oh was it close. They scored with 3 minutes left in the game to go up by 7 points. At that point I looked around and every single teammate of mine had the look in their eyes of, "we can still win this!" However, it looked all but over 2 minutes late when they got a penalty with only 30 seconds left and just needed to kick to touch and win the lineout for the game to end. Instead, they missed their kick to touch, and we played from our own 10 meter line. From one sideline to the other, we swung the ball, got a half break, and continued from there. Pushing the pace, running with the ball, cutting, slashing, offloading, we were down to their 5 meter line, and had just played some fantastic rugby. And then our chance came, we had a massive overlap out wide. As we tried to get it out there, their defense rushed up on the outside. Our flyhalf pump-faked and found a gap behind the defense for a long pass to our wing who walked in for the try with no time left. It was an amazing finish...but just as the Ref was looking to raise his hand for the try, the touch judge motioned to him that it was a forward pass...game over!

It was a nice effort and we still have three more matches against La Rochelle. And like I said, this one was the least important as it wasn't at home and was the Amlin Cup. We play our next match at Castres, but then La Rochelle is the week after, in Agen.

Barcelona...what a city!!!

Ever since Lauren's last semester in her MBA program, when she traveled to Barcelona for her international business course, she's had a lasting affinity for Barcelona. Any time someone brings up the city, her face lights up and she enjoys a nice, reminiscent conversation with that person. I had travelled all over the world myself, but have never found a place that I could say I enjoyed the way she enjoyed this place.

After 3 years of hearing from her about it's greatness, I was finally able to experience it for myself, and I can't blame her one bit for her appreciation of it. It's a city that never stops. It has hotel after hotel, restaurant after restaurant, shopping after shopping, and endless amounts of people from all over the world walking the streets. The funny thing is I didn't even get to enjoy the beach and most of it's scenery, but it was still fantastic.

We left straight after the match on Friday night and drove the 4+ hours across the border into Spain. Calling at least 15 hotels, and unable to find a single room to stay, we decided since we were arriving so late that we'll just stay at a Hostel (a first-time thing for Lauren). This was a typical hostel, pretty much dorm bathrooms and a big room with about 12 bunk beds (sorry we didn't get a picture of it). When we woke up in the morning Lauren asked me if we should just stay there again Saturday night, and my response, "Absolutely not." It wasn't because the small, uncomfortable beds, nor the loud obnoxious people that you could vividly hear all night, and it wasn't even the hot, stale air, in the muggy room all night that I didn't want to stay again. No, it was because I knew we would want to take a nap later on in the day.

We walked no more than 50 meters down the same street, walked into this beautiful building and Lauren looked at me like, "no way." In my head I just thought I would get a price comparison, however, it turned out we could get the room for half price and we took it.

The shopping was amazing, the food was unbelievable and we enjoyed ourselves in a great city and comfortable hotel room.














Now Lauren is back in the US, fulfilling her commitment to travel back and forth in order to continue personal meetings with clients and ensure things are still running smoothly without her there.

Gloucester...what a win!

Played on a pleasant friday night in Agen, the match couldn't have been scripted any better. After 6 straight losses, confidence becomes an issue for any team; however, no one could tell that this was an issue by watching the game. Our players were exciting to watch - pressuring on defense and imaginative on offense.

At half it was 13-3, but with 2 missed penalties by our kicker, it could have very well been 13-9. Either way, there were opportunities being given to us, but it was in the second half where we would finally take advantage. It was quite the show to see such an amazing comeback, and after much pressure and time in there half, we tied the game at 13. There was still 25 minutes to play and the territory and possession went back and forth a bit with them scoring a penalty at the 70 minute mark. Just 3 minutes later we returned the favor to tie it once again. But with time winding down, it was there possession in our territory and everyone was trying to figure out how we were going to pull it off.

The players on the sideline knew it, the fans knew it, the coaches knew it, and in the end, the players on the field knew it too, Agen couldn't just tie this game, we needed to win. There was a missed drop goal with 3 minutes left by Gloucester, which took the breath out of everyone watching. Gloucester quickly had the ball in their possesion again and were playing in our half of the field waiting for a penalty and ultimately a game-winning 3 pointer. However, with 20 seconds left on the clock, they conceded a penalty and it was our ball. With almost no time, our Fly-half quickly kicked the ball to touch in order to gain territory just before the buzzer sounded. Then, with no time left, we were still allowed the lineout, but the next turnover or penatly against us would end the game. The lineout was won, and the forwards began mauling (in Leyman's terms, the two teams were in a big group pushing in opposite directions), from there it looked like the Red Sea opened and our earlier try scorer, the #8, peeled off the back of the maul and went for it. The giant of a man, with his deceptive speed broke one, then two tackles, he was still going and with just 5 meters left, his last advesary would finally bring him down. After being tackled his momentum carried him 1 foot from the try line and as he reached his hand out to touch the ball down the ball got caught up and it almost looked like he lost it.  But he just continued his motion and touched the line with the ball. Impossible for the ref to see it perfectly and with no time left, it was either a try, or no try, and he had to go to the video ref to answer that. Looking at the slow motion was painful, it honestly could have gone either way, but we could only hope it would be our way. Just one minute later (which is very fast for the video refs), they awarded the try and the kick was good...Agen 26 - Gloucester 19.

Having the weekend off, I didn't take part in the match. However, this weekend I'll be starting on the wing as we take on la Rochelle in our second Amlin Cup  match.

Clermont - Kevin scores only Try in loss

Agen played Clermont today, the defending Top 14 Champions in their home stadium. I was not at the game, but apparently Agen played great for the first 50 minutes of the match, before letting the game run away from them in the second half.  Kevin scored the first and only try for Agen in the 8th minute of the game which hushed the stadium and stunned the Clermont team. Our center did a grubber kick in front of Kevin's territory which sent both Kevin and Clermont's full-back racing to the ball. They both arrived at the same time, but the full-back apparently moved out of Kevin's way to avoid a collision just as the ball bounced into Kevin's hands. He ran it in for a 20-30 meter try. From there, Kevin said it was one of their best defensive games of the year as they only trailed 19-13 at half-time. But 10 minutes into the second half, the game started to go downhill and the score closed at 45-19.

Hopefully the first half performance will stick in their minds and will give them motivation to keep pushing forward and work on their weak areas. They have a break from Top 14 matches for 2 weeks as they compete in the Amlin Cup starting next Friday against Gloucester. This break could be very beneficial as it will give the team some time to iron out weaknesses and hopefully return to their next Top 14 in better form. The coaches might also rest many of the starters, which will give players some time to heal nagging injuries.

 

Picture from last week.