Rugby Football Club Basel

03.10.09 / 1st team

RFC Basel - RC Bishops St Gallen 38:6

2 from 2 this weekend for the 1st team. In the league against St. Gallen, the boys recorded a comfortable 38-6 bonus point win. Then in the second match the spare players/subs recorded a 29-0 win against the COBS. St. Gallen came to town with Tibor, who has moved back to his hometown to play due to work commitments. And it proved to be an unsatisfactory return as we controlled the game from start to finish.
Benji made an impact in attack and defence early on, slotting a penalty that came as a result of Luki chasing his own clearance kick and putting the receiver under pressure. And defensively he made a last ditch try saving tackle on the SG hooker. The ball squirted out the side of our ruck and the hooker picked and went, but Benji’s tackle was solid and we managed to protect the line well. Wieland was then harshly called offside at a scrum. In reality the opposing SH was just slow (suppose he would have to be if Wieland caught him ;-)) but the penalty was given and the scores were level.
Penalties were exchanged to make it 6-6 before we finally got the score to relax the team. On 15 minutes a text book planned move from the 22 had Ian driving hard for the line but just held up short. Stevie came charging for the next phase and crashed through the tackle for a great forwards try. This gave the team the confidence to really kick on. 5 minutes later, after great approach work by the whole team, quick ball was gained on the 5m line and Manu picked and went down the blind side, and went through the lone defender to score. Mark slotted the difficult touchline conversion. The pressure continued, but we could not score further. So half time came round with a comfortable 21-6 lead. One change was made, with Morgan replacing Mark at fly half.

The second half started brightly, with a great break from Luki, but was spoiled when the cover went off their feet.. Tim and Luki together had been a thorn in the SG side most of the game and for the second time they chased down the receiver of a long kick resulting in a turn over. But the backs where not hogging all the defensive limelight. Danny nailed the hard running number 8 in a text book tackle, then a minute later ripped the ball out in another tackle. Changes were made which disrupted things for a short while. Kai came on for Danny 10 mins into the second half for his first appearance in the front row and Josh replaced Wieland at SH. But things soon returned to normal. Tim F. took a scrum against the head and the ball was shipped quickly to Tim who loves running at a ragged defence. He went through the line and got under the posts to make Benji’s conversion a formality. 28-6. The remainder of the subs then came on with 20 to go. Luki was sinbinned shortly after for what the ref judged to be a dangerous tackle. But we were on the hunt for the bonus point. Matthias made a great break and went 40meters before being brought down. Fast ball was fed out for Tim to stride in for his second. Then Tim fielded a poor defensive kick and went through a couple of weak tackles to score his third. Benji missed with difficult conversions, so the game finished at 38-6.

Match points this week. Tim could have claimed another 3 points with his hatrick, but he got MOM last week and his opposite number was all over the place so unlucky. 1 goes to Danny again for great efforts in defence especially. 1 point also to Kai for his first match for stepping up to the front row, even if most of the scrums were unopposed. 2 points go to Luki. He may have got the 3 points if he had not been yellow carded. But the 3 points go to Manuel, who is steadily becoming more of an influence in games and scored a great pick and go try. The villainous actions come from the second game against the COBS. Josh gets one for hitting the crossbar with a drop goad conversion from right in front. Juan also for kicking a conversion off the floor rather than a drop goal when also right in front. Do we give Kai a minus point for not returning the ball for an opposition kick off. The ball was sat a meter away from him and he made the SG 10 come and collect it. Bad sportsmanship some might say. Funny others might say. I think we need a vote. It would be sad for Kai to lose his well earned point. But then again it would be amusing.

Next week we travel to Lugano for a vital game. Lugano is a difficult place to go and win, but this is a must with Fribourg breathing down our necks. We want to consolidate second place in the league.

1. Danny Wyss
2. Thimon Fürst
3. Bruno Baltes
4. Ian Carvell
5. Eugene Carr
6. Matthias Gysin
7. Manuel Schneider
8. Stevie Lazarus
9. Wieland Schmid
10. Mark Love
11. Fabrice Jourdain
12. Lucas Quintillan
13. Tim Ginz
14. Christof Liennert
15. Benji McGuiness
16. Kai McArthy
17. Greg Allen
18. David Allgöwer
19. Henrik Haerden
20. Julien Krumrey
21. Morgan Cooney
22. Josh Ray