St. Louis Hornets Rugby Club

Next Match

Previous Match

Man of the Match

» read game recap

Royals Tournament

09/12 at 10:00 PM

Opponent

Royals Tournament

Home/Away

home

Location

Buder Park

Score

Recap

The Hornets participated in the 2009 Royals Tournament at Buder Park again this year. The tournament included teams from all over St. Louis and the Midwest. Thanks to all the fans, family and friends who came out and cheered us on. Their support is always a key to our success! The weather was beautiful and the rugby was encouraging as the Hornets faired well, improving throughout the weekend and gained valuable experience for the rookies.

With 28 different Hornets playing over the course of the weekend, the games were split with two wins and two losses.

The Hornets opened the tournament with a 22-10 loss to the Springfield RFC. Springfield rucked hard all day taking the Hornets ball too many times and used their speedy backs to run for a few long scores. The Hornets battled and Brandon Voges converted a penalty kick and scored a try to stay competitive.

Eager to avenge the loss, the Hornets came out strong against the KC Rogues which featured some very young players and showcased two outstanding backs at scrum half and center. However, despite a couple of trys from the Rogue backline, they were not able to match the veteran play of the Hornets. Wing Jeremy Rose led the Hornets with two early scores. The second half was highlighted by a 70 meter kick return in open play from Fullback Brian Saak. Brandon Voges and Nick Kalist added scores as well. Voges also added a penalty kick and completed two conversion kicks. Final score 32-10.

As day one concluded, the Hornets qualified for the Consolation Bracket of the tournament to be played on Sunday.

The Hornets opened up against the Royals Gold and won 29-5. Kalist and Voges had two trys each and star Scrum Half PA Tom Potteiger was able to push one through for the Hornets. In addition, Voges converted two kicks.

The Tournament closed with the finals of the consolation bracket against the KU Jayhawks. Sloppy ball and missed tackles allowed some easy early trys to the Jayhawks. The Hornets battled the entire game but could not overcome the deficit and were defeated 22-12. Jason Gorenstein scored in the first half and Kalist added a late try at the end of the match.

Tournament Notes:
Steve Pfleeger saw his first extended playing time and proved equal to the task with good tackling and some great runs.
A number of players including Brandon Voges, Paddy Dalton and Caleb Tufts were extremely banged up but stayed on the pitch the entire tournament.
Lots of intensity was supplied by the forwards including Rob Hite, Chris Fadler, Lance Crowell, and Jeremy FLOWBEE Vancek.
Big thanks to Bryan FSU Carey, Paddy Dalton and Jim Crouch, who were going on NO sleep to play in the tournament because of work.