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KO Sportswear Dallas Rugby Football Club
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Dallas takes Shreveport for spot in Western playoffs |
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Friday, 30 April 2010 08:16 |
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With a riveting 25-24 win over Shreveport, Dallas RFC not only clinched a playoff berth, but also moved up a spot in the West-South, from fourth to third. To do the latter, they needed a little help from the Austin Blacks, who beat the then third-place Austin Huns 58-13 Saturday. Therefore, the Huns and Dallas swap seeds, sending Austin to Aspen and Dallas to Glendale May 8th for the DI West crossovers.
It was all on the line for Dallas Saturday - if they lost, it would have created a log jam in the middle of the league table, and they, the Huns and Shreveport would have shared identical records, leaving playoff aspirations and destinations in the hands of tiebreakers. But as long as they took care of their own business and beat Shreveport, they knew they had a ticket to the playoffs waiting for them, they just didn‘t know where it would take them.
“We looked at it either way,” said Dallas president Jeff Kolberg. “If we won and went to Glendale or we won and went to Aspen, we looked at it as a real opportunity to play somebody good.” The key part of that equation was Dallas winning, but visiting Shreveport, with playoff hopes in tow, wasn’t going to make it easy.
Dallas attacked quickly, extremely quickly, scoring just 23 seconds into the contest. “We noticed something a little irregular on the return side,” said Jeff, “so (Matt Rawle) kicked it to the short side and Kelly Kolberg caught it on the fly and ran it and put it right under the pole.” Rawle nailed the coversion, putting the home team up 7-0.
Kelly, playing wing, asserted himself again shortly thereafter for Dallas’ second score, racing one in from beyond 50 meters, and with a failed conversion attempt, Dallas held an early 12-0 advantage. However, Shreveport would roar back, scoring two converted tries and nabbing a 14-12 halftime advantage.
Rawle opened the second half with two Dallas penalty kicks, giving them an 18-14 lead, but once again, Shreveport’s forwards responded, scoring a go-ahead try around the 70-minute mark. Shreveport missed the conversion, but led 19-18. That was until Dallas got the ball back in the hands of Kelly Kolberg for their final try, something Shreveport made a concerted effort to prevent after his two first-half scores.
“They really couldn’t handle Kelly. When he got the ball they had their hands full. Basically, after the second score in the first period, they pretty much did everything they could to not let him have the ball, and just try to shut him off because they couldn’t stop him,” said Jeff. “Last week against San Antonio, he put three on the board over 50 yards, too. He’s pretty hard to handle.”
Rawle nailed the conversion, which would prove to be priceless, putting Dallas up 25-19 with less than 10 minutes to play. The Huns would again answer back with a try, but they scored near the touch line and with no time left on the clock, leaving their playoff destiny on the leg of their drop-goaling kicker.
“They probably made a big mistake in not trying to take some more time and try to push the ball into the middle of the field and score then,” said Jeff. “I knew what they were going to do, and I knew they were going to put it over in the corner, and I knew if they did that we were going to win, because there was no way they were going to convert from the touch line.”
Shreveport’s kicker missed, and Dallas won by the narrowest of margins, 25-24. The May 8 West crossover matches are now set in stone. The pairings are listed below.
Aspen (North #1) vs. Austin Huns (South #4)
Glendale (North #2) vs. Dallas (South #3)
Houston (South #1) vs. Denver Highlanders (North #4)
Austin Blacks (South #2) vs. Kansas City Blues (North #3)
Article reprinted from Rugbymag.com |
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Texas RFU Division III play-offs |
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Friday, 30 April 2010 08:03 |
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Texas RFU Division III play-offs were held in Austin, the 2nd XV met top seed Saint Thomas of Houston, at noon. The first half was very even, with St. Thomas getting on the score forst at 23 minutes. At 35 minutes, after several misssed tackles, St. Thomas scored again to led 10 to 0. Just before, #10 Andrew Jaeger cut threw the St. Thomas to score under the post, but he was unable to convert his try. The half ended, 10 to 5. Ten minutes into the second hald, #9 Jose Aguilar evened the game at 10 to 10. After seveal subs by St. Thomas, they came back to score three tries in the second half to defeat the Dallas II team, by a 25 to 10 score.
Dallas II played DARC for 3rd place, and the right to advance to the Western Play-offs. Both teams missed penalty kicks early in the game, but DARC scored a try from a driving maul, 15 minutes into the match. At 23 minutes, lock Chris Thompson was "yellowed carded" for "stomping", and DARC took advantage of the man advantage to score two tries, and the half ended, 15 to 0. Seven minutes into the second half, Joe Carter leaped over to score a try, that Chris Thompson converted, and Dallas II was back in the game 15 to 7. However, at 30 minutes DARC was able to score a try, and DARC ended winning by a 20 to 7 score. |
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Dallas drops 2 games to Huns |
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Friday, 30 April 2010 07:51 |
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The Club traveled to Austin to meet the Huns. The 2nd XV started the day, and jumped out to a quick lead, when Andrew Jaeger, put Kisa James away for the try, just 2 minutes into the game. At 10 minutes Garrett Mueller scored the second try of the day, and Dallas II lead 12 - 0. However, the Huns came back strong, and took the lead at the half, 19 to 12. Fifteen minutes in the 2nd hald, Casey Page bullied his way in for a try, that A. Jaeger, but the Huns II won the game 27 to 19.
The 1st XV came out to play the Division I, both Clubs were tied for 3rd place in the Texas RFU. With members of the 1st XV carrying multiple injures, the Huns proved too strong, and beat the "good guys" 5 to 5. Kelly Kolberg had the high-light run of the game, late in the half, when he took the ball 10 meters from his goal, and out-paced the entire Huns back-line to score the length of the field |
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Dallas drops San Antonio in mud |
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Friday, 30 April 2010 08:02 |
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First, a congratulations to the San Antonio team for a hard played game and for their efforts to find a field that was playable. With all of the San Antonio area under water, the SA Club found a soccer field close to the old Alamo City pitch, converted it to a rugby pitch with temporary posts, kicked off grazing wildlife and hoped for the best. Following a late kickoff due to the venue changes, the SA forwards drove the ball against Dallas scoring with their 8 man in the 15th minute of play. San Antiono led 5 to 0. A blocked Dallas kick, and a long grubber by the fleet SA wing scored the try, the conversion was good, and SA led 12 to 0. In the 30rd minute, Dallas challenged with a set piece at the 10 meter line which culminated
in a Spike Kolberg try, and the first half ended 12 to 5, in SA's favor. The second half provided good footing for the Dallas side, and two minutes into the half, Spike, countering from full back, weaved througt the SA defense for a 50 meter try. The conversion was wide, but SA led was cut to 12 to 10. Six minutes later, Spike scored again from the mid-field area following a great inside pass from Aussie Bubbles Williams. #10 Aussie Pockets Rawl made the conversion, to put Dallas ahead 17 to 12. In the 25th minute, #13 Ryan Bloom scored a great try, but the referee failed to see Bloom touch the ball down, and no try was awarded, but five minutes later, he did it again from 35 meters, touching in mid-goal this time.
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Wednesday, 07 April 2010 09:29 |
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 The Club pulled off one of its most important wins of the"cup" season, defeating #2 ranked Austin Blacks by a 23 to 22 score. In the first half Austin had a strong wind to its back, and scored first, 7 minutes into the game. A couple of minutes Dallas missed a penalty kick, but at the 12 minute mark, Curtis van der Heyden nailed a 25 meter PK, and the "Blacks" led 5 to 3. At 25 minutes the Austin F1/2 was able to kick a PK, to increase the Austin led to 8 to 3. Just before the end of the half, F 1/2 Matt "Pockets" Rawle was able to sneak over the try line, and the half ended tied, 8 to 8.
Dallas now had the strong wind to its back, and wasted little time as Curtis van der Heyden scored a try, to give Dallas the led 13 to 8, 2 minutes into the half. At 20 minutes Pockets Rawle kicked a PK to increase the Dallas led. Austin came back strong to score at 24 minutes,and cut the led to 16 to 15. With 11 minutes left in the game, hooker Danny Torrez was "sin-bined" for playing the ball on the ground. Austin took advange of the man overload to score a converted try, and the score was 22 to 16. With just a couple of minutes left in the match, Pockets Rawle, kicked a high ball that the Austin F/B mis-played. Kelly Kolberg was able to get to the loose ball, but was tackled at mid field, he was able to flip a pass to center Ryan Bloom, who ran 40 meters to score under the posts. Pockets Rawle kicked the conversion, and Dallas won 23 to 22. Dallas RFC last beat Austin in 1999.
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