News

Reno vs East Palo Alto

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:50:00 -0500

RENO 39 – East Palo Alto 32 Referee: Don Pattalock

AR’s: C. Lusiani, K. Hudson (S. Lau @45)

This was one great match. Both teams play a similar style of rugby; straight ahead and never backing down. The first half was all EPA, all possession, all pressure and all the points. It was a classic one sided affair with Reno struggling to gain possession and defending virtually the entire half. Reno did get one try against the run of play with a stolen ball in a tackle that went 70m the other way. Off an EPA error, Reno was awarded a 5m scrum. The first put-in was contested and ultimately came out the channel. On the reset, Reno feed the scrum and was appropriately sanctioned for feeding. One of the spectators then commented loudly that he hadn’t seen a feeding call since 1948. The half ended with another EPA converted try at 29-7.

The second half started with EPA pushing deep into Reno’s end and scoring a penalty. From there, Reno went through a metamorphosis and started to play dominating rugby. Minor mistakes by EPA, like kick-offs directly into touch (2), fed the Reno attack that was relentless for the last 30 minutes of the game. Reno scored 5 trys, converted 2 and kicked one penalty to win the match 39-32. Quite a game. Both teams exhibited great sportsmanship and played extremely hard.

Seconds: Reno 10 – EAST PALO ALTO 22 Referee: Craig Lusiani

A time-shortened match due to similar personnel planning in both the aside and beside matches.

The first half was played cleanly and equally with half time score of 5 to 5.

The second half had the Zephyrs competing well in set pieces but suffering from a lack of speed. The Razorbacks used their speed to move the ball wide and produce several long runs resulting in tries under the posts.

Reno Vs Bay Barbarians

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:29:00 -0500

Reno 17 – BARBARIANS 29 Referee: Don Pattalock

AR's: W. O'Hara, Rich Boyer (R. Wilkening @40)

Reno appeared to be shaking off the rust from the couple months of snow that has been on the ground. Reno had the better pressure and possession but were denied several times right on the Barbarians line.

The Barbarians host many familiar faces and were dangerous on counter-attacks scoring 2 trys against the run of play. This was a hard-hitting opener with some strong rugby on display.

The final warning on high tackles was issued at 12 minutes resulting in Reno playing 20 minutes of the first half down a player. Despite being a man down, Reno closed out the first half ahead 12-10. Reno backed themselves with 3 quick penalty taps right infront of the Barbarians poles rather than taking the points. Both teams should have a strong season.

Seconds: Reno 7 – BARBARIANS 17 Referee: Rich Boyer

The majority from each team played in a physical A game, so halves were shortened. Both teams played with spirit. The game was played cleanly, without incident. Several instances of good sportsmanship were noted. The game was physical, and Bay Barbarians prevailed 17-7.

Chico Holiday Classic

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:24:00 -0500

RENO ZEPHYRS 45 – Santa Rosa 0 Ref: Akroyd

In contrast to the previous game, the pace of play was quite astounding. Reno came out with amazing power and speed and blasted into Santa Rosa. The captain and open side (Lo?) got most of their tries – I counted five of their seven coming from him. The power and speed was present throughout the whole team and forced Santa Rosa into capitulation. It has to be said that Santa Rosa were by no means a bad team. They, too, were actually very good but could not match the Zephyrs in terms of physical size and speed. They even asked at one point if Reno could “bring on some slow white guys”.

RENO ZEPHYRS 12 – Chico State 7 Ref: Akroyd

This was an interesting game. It was not on the schedule but both teams really wanted to play each other so we squeezed it in at the end of the day. The light was fading fast, and the beer that had been consumed throughout the day by the spectators was making itself heard. We managed to get in forty minutes of non-stop play, with three tries scored in that time, a number of instances of players getting to know each other off the ball and more chat than Instant Messenger. It would have been interesting to see how this worked out over eighty, but I’m pretty sure it would have ended with fewer than thirty men on the field but with lots of fast, physical rugby displayed. Overall, a very good little tournament.

RENO 22 – BA Baracus 5 Referee: Rich Boyer

Reno played a very physical, expansive game. Baracus were brave, but unable to match Reno's pace and power. Reno #7, #13 and #15 were especially impressive on the run.

Reno Ruggerfest 2009

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:21:00 -0500

Sorry for the very late update, but here it is:

RENO TOURNAMENT

Nine Pelicans found Mira Loma Park bright and early on a perfect Saturday morning, fresh snow adorning the summit of nearby Mount Rose.

This year’s tournament was dedicated to Tevita ‘Dave’ Valu, a long-time Zephyr who passed away recently. Ruggers of a certain generation will remember Dave for his permanent smile and the fact that he played Prop barefooted, even on frozen ground.

The women’s bracket consisted of Nevada, the Provo Steelers, Sacramento State and the Sacramento Amazons, who went 3 – 0 to win the honors.

The social bracket was won by a brand-new team, Redwood Empire, who will be competing in D3 this season. The other teams were Sierra College, who fielded two sides, and the Zephyr Development squad.

Redwood was coached by Afa Wolfking, who acquitted himself well when injuries necessitated his participation, despite being older than the rest of the players by a factor of three.

The top bracket was contested by the hosts, Hayward, the Sacramento Lions, and two teams from Utah: the Spartans and Provo.

Final: RENO ZEPHYRS 14 – Provo 6 Referee: Bruce Carter

ARs: Rod Chance, Bruce Anderson

Provo took advantage of a yellow card to Reno for an up-ended tackle to go into the halftime ahead by two penalty kicks. Ten minutes short-handed out of a twenty-minute half can do that to a team.

[Editorial comment: The length of sin-bins is intended to be worth an average of one try with evenly-matched teams. This works out to ten minutes in fifteens and two minutes in sevens, and this calculus is not affected by shorter halves – or by longer halves.

[We’ve always been appalled by referees who shorten the length of suspension merely because tournament games are often less eighty minutes.

[Ask yourself: does the sin-bin last two-and-a-half minutes in a Sevens final of ten-minute halves? When the pitch is shorter or narrower than normal, do we accordingly shrink the requirements for back ten meters at penalties or line-out throws having to travel five meters?

[Proportion is a beautiful thing in human physiognomy and architecture. Leave it out of the sin bin.]

But Reno’s power running game resulted in second-half tries, one from the forwards working it in by inches, the other by Nelo Lui setting his backs free to put the game on ice with no time left.