The Rugby Club travelled to the USA for this year's Rugby Tour. The tour took in San Fransisco, Sacramento, Yosemite, Los Angles, the Grand Canyon, Phoenix and Houston and saw the boys play against five clubs in Sacramento, San Fransisco, LA and Houston.
More Photos
To view photos of the game against Lamorinda in San Fransisco click here.
Match Reports
Scotch vs Lamorinda
Lamorinda is a club side that draws players from the picturesque Orinda Valley about 45 minutes North of San Francisco. The game was played on an artificial pitch that is also used for American Football.
Lamorinda started the game strongly and played their bigger and stronger pack in the first half while Scotch played a mixed team. Lamorinda's scrum was very strong and their lineout work slick. In the first 20 minutes of the firts half Lamorinda got on top and won good ball and ran it wide. They scored 3 first half tries and were looking very strong. However with 10 minutes left in the first half Scotch started to stiffen their defense and get back into the game. Scotch started to win and maintain some ball and began to get some continuity and Captain for the day Ed Melville kicked two penalties and snuck in for a try in the corner. At half time Scotch was down 11-17.
At halftime Lamorinda took off some of their more experienced players while Scotch made 9 changes to ensure that everyone got a run.
Lamorinda started the second half strongly and scored after barging over for a try from a 5 metre penalty. This seemed to spark Scotch. Ben Hales made a charging run and set up the ball in the Lamorinda 22. Chad Thompson then threw a deceptive cut out pass and Ed Melville stormed through a hole to score under the posts. Ed converted his own try and the score was 18 -22 and Scotch was back in the game.
Then in another twist Lamorinda came back and scored a converted try to take the score to 18-29 and with ten minute sto go Scotch looked beaten. However Scotch did not give up and after another forward surge Ed Melville score his third try after again coming in at pace from fullback. The score was now 23-29 and there were about five minutes left. Scotch again made their way back upfield and after a flowing backline move Callum Tuckey scored in a corner to take the score to 28-29. Under huge pressure to kick the sideline conversion Ed Melville just missed. There were 30 seconds left in the game when Lamorinda kicked off. Scotch regathered the ball and made their way to within 35 metres of the posts where they were awarded a penalty. Ed Melville calmly kicked teh penalty to make the score 31-29 to Scotch right on full time.
This was an excellent start to the tour and the game was played in tremendous spirit. Ed Melville was outstanding scoring 26 points (3 tries, 3 penalties and a conversion) while Callum tuckey got the other try.
Rhys Ferguson -Gander and Sam May had lively games in the forwards while Sean Fraser made a good job of halfback in the second half. Dan Balfe and Lewis Edwards made the most of the limited opportunities they got out wide.
Overall this was a very exciting and close game and kicked off the tour in a positive way.
Man of the match: Ed Melville
Scotch vs Davis
Davis is a university town about 20 minutes from Sacramento. We had heard that they were not very strong but we quickly found out that this was not true, and that Davis had recruited a few local players and that their boys were significantly older and bigger than ours.
The first half was a bit of a grind although the smaller Scotch pack defended stoically and held Davis out. Lachie Stewart was handed the kicking duties and he kicked three penalties in the first half to give Scotch a 9-0 lead at halftime. Gordon Smith-Gander had a strong first half and was heavily involved in stopping the bigger Davis players. Tom Wallace who filled in on the flank also had a strong first half.
In the second half Scotch started to out run their bigger opponents and Captain of the day Chad Thompson was controlling the game with some sensible passing and incisive running. Both he and Ed Melville made some scything tackles and the Davis backline were beginning to crack under the pressure. Eventually Scotch's period of dominance paid off and a hard running Dan Balfe scored the first of Scotch's two tries. Minutes later after some good driving play from the forwards and crisp passing from the backs Lewis Edwards scuttled over for a try. Both conversions were kicked by Lachie Stewart who had a 100% success rate on the day. At 26-0 with 15 minutes top play Scotch looked like they would run away with the game, but Davis were not rolling over. Their bigger pack camped inside Scotch's 22 metre area and Scotch had to defend bravely. Scotch did well to hold them until the very last minute when Davis deservedly scored a try near the posts. The final score of 26-7 flattered Scotch a little, but while our lineouts and scrums struggled, our ability to snaffle loose ball and effect turnovers was the difference on the day.
Up front Lachie Stewart, Nick Beacham and Jack Burrell were prominent while Tom Gatti and Sam May had significant impact coming off the bench. Ben Hales in particular made several powerful runs which drew in a number of defenders which created space for the backs. In the backs Sean Fraser was again showing promise at halfback, while Andrew Taylor and Lewis Edwards were reliable sharing the full back role, and both were brave under the high ball and returning Davis' kicks.
Man of the Match was Chad Thompson whose confidence grew as the game progressed, and his ability to control play was a significant factor in Scotch's victory.
The match was tough, but played in a good spirit and Scotch was treated to a huge after match barbecue.
Scotch vs Fullerton
Fullerton (a suburb in Southern L.A near Disneyland) were missing some of their team but they still had some good individuals who cut through Scotch's defence early on and only last line tackles by Andrew Taylor and Nick Bannan saved Scotch. Scotch dropped the ball a lot early in the game but eventually settled down. Nick Bannan, who made a break down the left hand side of the field, made the first try. Nick then drew in the last defender before throwing a well-timed pass for a flying Dan Balfe, who beat the cover defence and scored.
The second try came from Captain of the day, Ben Hales. Ben took a quick tap and ran 40 metres pinballing through Fullerton defence before being brought down 5 metres short of the line. The forwards cleaned out effectively and a quick ball was given to Chad Thompson, who threw a pinpoint pass to Paul Kaner who scored the try and kicked the conversion.
At half-time Scotch was up 12 - 0 and we were worried about complacency. After the break Fullerton put a kick through the line that took a sharp right and angle turn when it hit the ground totally bamboozling the Scotch defenders and setting up for the Fullerton winger, who gathered the ball and raced 50 metres to score a try.
Scotch came back minutes later as Ben Hales scored a try after Ben Wilson cleared the ball quickly from a ruck set up by Ed Melville. The conversion was missed but at 17 - 5, Scotch had re-established their half time lead.
From the kick off, Fullerton put the ball out on the full so a scrum was set on half way. Mr Bridle pointed out at halftime that Fullerton was short on the blind side. Tom Foulkes-Taylor, who made several strong runs, picked up the ball from the base of the scrum and ran blind. He cantered in for a try without a hand being laid on him; Lachie Stewart converted and took Scotch out to 24 - 5.
From this point on Scotch players got "white line fever" and became greedy, each player trying to score tries on their own. Dan Balfe was on hand after a good clean out by Lachie Stewart, to record his second try. Lachie Stewart made Scotch's sixth try with the final score 34 - 5.
While we lost some structure in the second half there was some pleasing performances, particularly from Ben Wilson and Tom Foulkes-Taylor who were returning from injury. Man of the match was Ben Hales who scored one try and set up another. Ben dominated the lineouts, and gave the team great go forward with some bullocking runs.
Our next game is against St Thomas' in Houston and Scotch will need to play as a team if they are to continue the winning run.
Tries to Dan Balfe (2), Paul Kaner, Ben Hales, Tom Foulkes-Taylor, Lachie Stewart. Conversions to Paul Kaner and Lachie Stewart.
Scotch vs St Thomas
St Thomas is a private Catholic School about 5km from the centre of Houston. The game was played on their school pitch which is also their American football field. Unfortunately we played their 2 nd XV as their 1 st XV have two crucial games this weekend.
Scotch started slowly and dropped a lot of ball in the first ten minutes. St Thomas forwards provided good ball for their backs but Scotch backs put the opposition backline under huge pressure. Eventually Scotch clicked and a strong run from Chad Thompson set up fullback Andrew Taylor for the first of Scotch's 11 tries. The second try was started by Tom Foulkes-Taylor who ran hard all game, and then quick passing from Chad Thompson, Ed Melville allowed Captain of the day Lachie Stewart, to score a well worked try. Lachie Stewart kicked 10 out of 11 conversions to take his match total to 25 points, and his physical game ensured he finished as Man of the Match. The other try scorers in the first half were Ed Melville, George Atkins, Ben Wilson (from a Cottesloe move, an old Scotch favourite).
In the second half the flow continued. Dan Balfe scored the first two tries including a clever double switch move involving Paul Kaner and Edward Melville changing angles at pace. There was pleasing improvement noted with Scotch's game. In the last match in Los Angeles, Scotch players were very greedy, but against St Thomas the selfish one out running was replaced with a genuine effort to set up their team mates and wingers Callum Tuckey and Louis Edwards scored goo team tries after a series of good passes. Tom Foulkes-Taylor, who made a good job of prop in the second half was well rewarded with a good game with the next try. The final try saw Jack Burrell crash over to score on full time.
While it was a pity that we couldn't take on the St Thomas 1 st XV, their second teams forward pack kept trying all game and pushed Scotch off the ball on a several occasions. Inside backs Ed Melville, Chad Thompson and Paul Kaner had strong running games and broke St Thomas' line regularly while linking well with the outside backs. Up front Rhys Ferguson-Gander was lively and took a couple of tightheads and did well to drive into touch a much bigger player who tried to run over the top of him.
After the game there was a big after match function which included a big meal of Cuban cooking in their main hall which was attended by a large number of players and parents.
Overall this was a pleasing performance as we maintained our effort and played a very entertaining game. We play Strake Jesuit College on Thursday in our last match and we are hopeful we get to play their 1 st XV not their 2 nd XV.
Man of the Match: Lachie Stewart
Tries to: Andrew Taylor, Lachie Stewart, Ed Melville, George Atkins, Ben Wilson, Dan Balfe (x2), Callum Tuckey, Lewis Edwards, Tom Foulkes-Taylor, and Jack Burrell.
Conversions: Lachie Stewart 10/11
Scotch vs Strake Jesuit College
Strake Jesuit is a Catholic Boys School in Houston Texas, and a fierce rival of St Thomas', the team we beat on Tuesday. Our host realised that it was Anzac day back in Australia and so we delayed the start of the game for a minute's silence. They had seen us play on Tuesday and had strengthened their Junior Varsity side.
Scotch were again patchy in the first ten minutes and there were a number of handling errors. Although the Scotch boys were tired being at the end of a tour, they started to put things together. Eventually Paul Kaner ran the short side after Tom Foulkes-Taylor had made good ground through the middle. Paul linked to Ben Hales who drew in the last defender before throwing a well timed pass to Dan Balfe who scorched down the sideline to score the first try. From this point on Scotch scored regularly, and probably could have scored more but blew a number of chances through dropped ball and forward passes.
In total Scotch scored 11 tries of which Ed Melville kicked 3 conversions and Lachie Stewart 4 conversions. (Lachie finished the tour kicking an impressive 21 goals out of 24 shots at goal for an 87.5% success rate).
In the forwards Ben Hales and Tom Foulkes-Taylor had impressive games, while Tom Gatti had his best game on tour and was responsible for turning over a good deal of Strake Jesuit's ball. Rhys Ferguson-Gander, who shared the man of the match award, set up Dan Balfe for a try with a clever short pass, as well as taking three tightheads a memorable side step. Tom Lind had a field day in the lineouts while Nick Bannan made a good fist of playing in the forwards on the flank.
In the backs quicker passing from Ben Wilson at halfback provided the backs with good front football with which to attack. Captain of the day Paul Kaner had a lively game, but at times needed to straighten the attack more. Ed Melville made some abrasive runs, while Chad Thompson who came off the bench in the second half added real zing, including two try saving tackles in the same movement to keep Strake Jesuit scoreless. George Atkins tidied up some loose ball and also ran hard at the gap, but the pick of the backs was Andrew Taylor. He scored two very good tries after injecting himself into the backline from full back, and so shared the man of the match award.
The match, like all the matches on tour, was played in good spirit and was very entertaining.
Tries to Dan Balfe (2), Paul Kaner (2), Andrew Taylor (2), Ed Melville, Jack Burrell, Tom Foulkes-Taylor, Chad Thompson, Gordon Smith-Gander.
Conversions: Ed Melville 3/6, Lachie Stewart 4/5.
Men of the Match: Rhys Ferguson-Gander and Andrew Taylor.
In conclusion this has been a very successful tour both on and off the field. The squad of 24 gelled well despite many players were asked to play in positions they were unfamiliar with. Apart from the Fullerton game in LA, where we played as individuals, some of the inter-passing was exciting to watch and created a high number of tries. The boys return to trials on Tuesday for the 1 st XV, 2 nd XV and U16s but all players had their fair share of game time and all players improved.
Many thanks for the generous assistance from Jon Stewart for his very kind fund raising effort as well as in making the Houston leg of the tour such a success. Also thanks to Jon Edwards for his help when we got to Houston. We were also very grateful for all the support of parents particularly at the game.