NOOGA RUGBY

Nooga Red opened the 2013 portion of their Division II Matrix campaign beating the Birmingham Vulcans 32-13.

For the first match of the 2013 season, Nooga Red traveled to Birmingham for what was a highly anticipated match for us. With the Vulcans making the Regional Final 4 in 2012, this provided the Red Side a great opportunity to gage see where we stood against some of the best clubs around. It should be noted that prior to kickoff, Birmingham dedicated their field to Ed Krebs, one of their club’s founders who was instrumental in promoting the spirit and the game of rugby throughout Birmingham. The dedication and the story of Mr. Krebs was a great reminder how beneficial rugby can be to a community.

Once the game was underway, Nooga was able to demonstrate some of the hard work we’ve been doing in the off-season with two scores out wide through winger Steven Jones, the second of which was a great diving effort to avoid a knock-on and instead score a try! Jones, in addition to the other members of the back three (Wiley Davis and Nick Bateman), would have a busy day as they fielded kicks and counter-attacks regularly. Inside center Tom Snow had several strong runs and flyhalf Luke Collins made several line breaks offering great attacking platforms for the Reds. Nooga gave us a penalty kick at the end of the half to go into the break up 10-3. The 2nd half saw Steven Jones scoring 3 further tries to another penalty kick & try from Birmingham to finish the match 32-13.

Positives on the day in the backline included the play of the back three, including 3 conversions from Fullback Wiley Davis, multiple line breaks, & good defensive cover. In the forwards, lineout play & solid ruck defense helped too. While Steven Jones had a superb day, lock Josh Jones was chosen as the Southern Comfort "Man of the Match" for his strong defense and fabulous efforts at the lineout.

The next Nooga Red match is this Saturday (2-2-13) against the Knoxville Possums at Montague Park, directly following the first Black Side match of the season (Black Side vs. Huntsville at Noon EST).