ZEPHYRS

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.