It's always sunny in Accokeek, or at least that's what the Irish were hoping this past Saturday. The Irish were to host Western Suburbs and need to take five points from them to climb to the top of the MARFU ladder. The clouds parted and the sun was shining as the boys readied to receive the opening kick off.
Kick Off. Nate man catches the ball and rumbles up the sideline for a good opening run. The ball works its way to Hansen who clears from the 22. . Suburbs wins their line out and attacks back the Irish 22. The Irish steal the ball off of a beauty of a ruck by Jamal Milani. Hard Irish rucking follows and causes Suburbs to take a bad penalty. Roark swings the ball wide through the backline and into the nimble hands of Pat Fritz. He charges forward to score the opening try. Hansen converts. Irish up 7-0
Kick Off. Hansen catches and passes to Morgan Connelly who is in great support. The Irish attack goes forward. Loose play goes on, ending up in a line out. Connelly has a nice run leading to a line out at the WS 15. Hansen gets tackled at the try line and WS steals to kick clear. Scrums ensue and the Irish wheel to take possession and win the following scrum. The backs take the ball into the WS 22. The forwards not to be out down hammer the ball, beating holes into the WS defensive line. Sev sees one of these holes gets the ball and breaks for goal to score a nice 'Shake n' Bake' try. Hansen converts. 14-0 Irish.
Kick Off. There is a scrum off the kick off. Irish take a penalty for an early engage. Milani makes a thundering Rugby League type tackle on a WS player. Irish back 10 again. Irish recover to clear. Irish win their own put in and the ball works back to Hansen. He makes a great run, working through 3 defenders, to score. Irish up 19-0.
Kick Off. Justin Brandenburg has a nice take off the kick off. Loose play leads to line out at the WS 22. Suburbs wins the ball and attacks all the way down to a line out at the Irish 5 meter. Pat Sanford is binned for pulling down in the line out. Suburbs maul in a forwards dominated try. Irish up 19 - 7.
Half Time.
Kick Off. Irish lose a scrum, but steal the ball back and string together a series of great phase play rugby capped off by a hard run by Colby. The Irish continue to knock on the door, but fail to open it. Nate Mann gets the ball and kicks in the door on the WS defensive line to score a great try. Irish up 24 - 7.
Kick Off. Loose play off of the kick restarts the clock. Sev has a nice chip and chase where he smashes the WS player who catches the ball. This is followed up by a big hit from Chris Brandenburg. Mann takes a punch in the nose and is off for blood. Ian Pope, the proud owner of a ne Hyundai truck, is on as a blood sub. Irish kick to clear. The Ref bins a WS player and Nate comes back on with his nose plugged up. Suburbs try to maul, but the Irish do a nice job of stopping it before it could really get rolling. A series of scrums follow. Box passes to Head who passes to Pat Sanford in support. Sanford has a great pass back to Box who scores. Irish up 31 - 7.
Kick Off. Hanly, Moriarty come on. Hanly has a nice run to start things off. A scrum follows, Irish win and clear. A Lineout at the WS 22 follows. Irish run a pod play off it and the ball works it way to Mann who truck a group of three defenders and passes to Sev to score. Irish 36 - 7.
Kick Off. Chago on. Loose play follows. Kick to Irish 22. Hanly breaks the gain line and passes to Colby who races 70 meters to score a great try. Irish up 43 - 7.
Kick Off. Sammy on. Loose play. Moriarty has a great tackle after a series of rucks. Ball is kicked out of bounds. Full Time. Irish win 43 - 7.
B Side
The Killer B's literally beat Western Suburbs into submission. Suburbs gave up and called the game after being out scored a lot to a little. The game was marked by chippy play, but the Irish rose above it to play some great rugby and get some pay back for a very chippy first half. 'Lady Killer' Pat Christy, not Pat Sanford(obviously) had a good game with some nice runs and a couple big hits. Jay Baker earned his paycheck doing what he does best. The ghost of Doug Daniels was also spotted to be running with the boys in the second half. Scrum Half Forrest was a solid field general directing his pack all day. All in all it was a great day for the Irish and the rain held off until the final whistle blew. Killer B's 60+ish to 5.
Irish eyes are smiling. Up next... PAC.
A special thanks to Jes, Tiff and Emily who helped us out with Ladies Day and to Jon Hansen for Reffing the B side. Many Thanks to all.
