| THE STATE FINAL |
| A state final between two unbeaten teams, there is no better billing than that. Last Saturday the men's rugby teams from Xavier and ONU faced off and delivered more than just a great game. Every ruck and tackle was a fierce contest, with bodies crashing into each other with blatant disregard. All thirty players on the field fully wanted the win, and fought hard to get it. The underdogs from ONU had the best of the game in the sense of possession and territory. An unlucky bounce of the ball, however, gave the men from Xavier the deciding five point advantage on the scoreboard: 11-6. |
| Rumbling |
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The weather might have bared a cold and dark look, the faces of the Ada team looked very bright indeed. The players had left the nerves and jitters that come naturally with the play-offs on their home field after last week's semi final. The confidence of the men in Black and Orange shone through at the early exchanges. After receiving the kick-off the Black Rose packies picked up the ball and started their rumble and tumble. As the backs took over and ran and stepped, the tireless forwards followed, hungry for more work. The real battle of this game would be at the breakdown, and the ONU team out-fought and out-willed their counterparts in this area all day. So eager were the packies that they did concede several penalties while rucking. Xavier's fly-half punished every one of these errors with long kicks-either aimed for the touch line or the goal posts.
With a game dominated by sturdy defensive work by both teams, it only made sense that the only points came from the boots of both team's kickers. The Black Rose men were put in front by an excellent kick from scrum half Brian Mulvany. And after the score was equalized by Xaviers number 10, Brian again used his boot to put the Roses up in points. |
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| Brian Mulvany kicking |
| Bad Bounce |
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As the men from Ada grew impatient at the end of the first and again at the end of the second half, the structure of their game began breaking down. The fight was still there, but the better organized team from Cincinnati began to take charge.
The ONU backs had effectively shut down any running plays with excellent tackling, so the Xavier backs were left to resort to kicking to gain territory. It was from one of these kicks that a cruel bounce fell in the hands of an onrushing Xavier player. Great cover tackling led to a maul that was held up, and almost driven out of the Black Rose try zone. With a last gasp effort Xavier collapsed the maul. From under a pile of bodies a cry of victory rose. This cry was echoed and multiplied in strength by the home fans as the Sir, helped by the eyes of the touch judge, awarded a try. |
| Final minutes |
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With ten minutes to go there appeared to be enough time left to score. The Black Rose packies continued to dominate in the scrum, but even with good runs by their backs, were not able to turn the game around.
When the final whistle sounded the disappointment was clearly readable on the aching bodies and scratched faces of the Black Rose men. As the wounds heal, they will realize this was the best match the Roses played all year. If the team can keep this form over the winter, the spring looks very bright, indeed |