Quick background for this post: I play rugby for the Portland Rugby Club. Yeah, I know, it's hard to believe after reading my last post. But it's true. I have been playing with the team since back in 2004. The fall season of rugby just started back up, and so I've decided to do a little reporting on the matches for the team.
Our first match of the year was against our cross-town rivals, ORSU. It stands for Oregon Rugby Sports Union or something stupid like that. I don't know for sure what it stands for. But starting out the season playing them, is like Michigan playing their first game of the year against Ohio State. Or the Yankees playing their very first game of the season against the Red Sox. Or the Blazers starting out the year against the Lakers. They are our bitter rivals.
Anyway, in my experience playing against this team, they are a bunch of pricks. I think they might actually practice being huge losers in their spare time. There is always at least one or two scuffles when we play against them. They're always running their mouths. We play rugby in the same town, which probably doesn't help. And both teams go after recruiting the same players as well. Let's just say that our teams just don't get along.
Contrary to what many people think, rugby is a pretty civil & organized sport despite the rough physical nature and look of the game. Not so with these ORSU guys. They always want to throw down. The crappy part is that they are actually a really good team. Or at least they have been in years past. Previous to this win, I have never been a part of a win against ORSU in any of my three years of playing.
Things are definitely changing.
So due to some other things I had going on, I wasn't able to attend this match to watch, let alone play. I heard that we beat them pretty badly, even though the score doesn't reflect it. The game wasn't as close as the score indicates. And even though I wasn't there, it feels so good to know that my boys finally got over the hump and beat those a-holes down.
So I understand that all may not be as intersted in rugby as I am, but most of these reports will be a bunch of cool photos of stuff that happens during the games. Cuz if you don't care at all about the actual game itself, or you don't really understand the game, at least you can look at some cool photos, right?
So anyway, here is the match report:
This was an exciting match played with heart and spirit on both sides. It was the first league match of the year for both sides and a bit ragged around the edges. If this was what we will see this year, we will have good season.To put this victory into proper perspective, this is like the Yankees beating the Cleveland Indians ALL year long (6 wins and no losses) and then the Indians breaking through and beating the Yanks 12-3 (like what happened tonight). It's like if the Oregon Ducks win the Civil War game for like seven years in a row, no matter how good Oregon State is. And then, Oregon State finally breaks through and beats the Ducks 50-3 or something like that. That's what this game meant for us. We beat them and we beat them pretty bad while we were at it.
To put it simply, we've been hammered on by this team for about 5 years or so, and we finally got them back on Saturday.
It's a pretty big deal people. Next up: Portland v. Snake River in Boise. Saturday, October 6th.
