Weekly Update

<![CDATA[

Last Week in Sum

Fletcher’s was awash in white and blue this past Saturday, and it was great to see many of the Nomads teams (and alumni!) out at the pitch, bonding, carousing, playing and cheering. Here’s a recap of the day for those who missed out:

Nomads 3rds came up against Nomads U/18s after Oshawa struggled to bring enough players for two matches, let alone three. It was a case of the exprienced versus the fit and nimble, and when wing-come-flyhalf Aussie Phil crashed over for the first try of the match, it appeared the experience would prevail. The young lads had other ideas, and in a compliment to their development over the past few years, put on several unanswered tries to show just how bright the future is for the Nomads. The heat played its part in defense in the end with tries being traded like a tennis warm-up, the aforementioned experience of Chase “The Ace” Winters, Mat “Chew” Leray, “Major” Tom Lindlar and Andy “Doughboy” Stuart crossing for five-pointers. Final score 33-25.

In the 2nds match, the Nomads were keen to avenge last month’s loss to Oshawa on their club day. The first half played out very tightly: Texas’ try helping level the scores at 5-5. An investigation is surely to follow the second half as the try scorer then missed several key tackles and was later revealed to have drawn himself in the first/last sweeps. The only thing more dubious was hooker Roman’s first half kick that went nowhere helpful. Credit to the forward pack for putting up with 1000 scrums in what felt like a sauna in Suva. Definitely a lot of positives though (i.e. Christian’s solo 50m maul) in a match that just seemed to slip away in the final minutes. Final score 22-5 to The Shwa.

Match of the day, fittingly was left for last, with the 1st XV looking to bounce back from a heart-breaking loss to leaders Waterloo two weeks ago. It didn’t take openside flanker Loggsy to show his former backline talents with a run that would have made Tim Horan blush to score under the posts. Not to be outdone by his fellow backrower Captain Ron went over for a try, replicating his heroics in the previous meeting with the Vikings. Confusion in the tackle and some dirty play from Oshawa caused Eddie Vegetables and Jerome (No Use for a Nickname) to spend 10 minutes in the sin-bin. A close first half gave way for a fairly one-sided second, with the visitors’ lack of numbers taking its toll. Scuba Steve moved ahead of the absent J.Lo as leading try-scorer, and the clubs No.1 nine Manto added five points from a handy scoot from behind the ruck. Second efforts from Loggsy and Ronan and a well executed attacking quick lineout by Scuba and Young Glover ended in the latter crossing for the final try. All this with Fish in the bin late for 10 minutes for what was a pretty good offside tackle. Final score 41-7. Interesting fact: Despite sitting 6th on the table, the 1st XV has the 2nd best defense in the league.

The women played a hard fought match against the Markham Irish, who are one of the leaders in their league. Despite some impressive tries scored by Maddy Biggs, Laura Russell (times two) and Natalie Rosecki, the Irish clinched a strong win with a final try in the last five minutes of the game. The girls left the pitch with smiles on their faces, despite the loss, seeing a vast improvement compared to their last face-off against the Irish, who had previously blown the Nomads women away. The final score was 43-29.

Next Week

It is a bye weekend for the 1sts, 2nds and women’s teams. There may be a 3rds game on the docket, but it has not yet been confirmed.

]]>