Back with a Bang in Birmingham
by: Jonny Rea
Your Atlanta Old White Rugby Football Club has officially begun its 2022-2023 rugby season! After just 5 full training sessions under new Head Coach Lucas Baistrocchi, the boys travelled to Alabama on Saturday to take on the Birmingham Vulcans in a pre-season friendly. The visitors knocked off the rust and came home with a solid platform to build from with a 25-7 victory.
From the opening kick, it appeared as though the game was going to be a high-scoring, high-flying affair. After a couple rounds of trading kicks back and forth, Old White received a kick inside their half and carried it to Birmingham’s 22m line. Some quick ball and good alignment in attack saw wing Tim Acker dot the ball down just 2 phases later, and Old White found themselves on the scoreboard less than 2 minutes into the game. However, the fireworks were put on hold as both teams settled the early frantic pace and continued with a more defensive - albeit mistake-laden - battle on the pitch.
It would be the 16th minute when a second try was scored, this time by the home team. Directly following a miscommunication error in an Atlanta lineout, the Vulcans took the opportunity to spread the ball wide and managed to turn the corner and score near the middle. With the conversion, Birmingham took the lead 7-5, but these would be the last points for the home crowd to celebrate, even with the help of a second-half Atlanta yellow card.
Continued pressure with strong scrums, good defense, and quick ball kept the ball inside Birmingham’s half of the field for the next 10 minutes, ultimately leading to a second try for Acker in the 28th minute, this time cutting through the center of a scrambling defensive line. Despite playing the remainder of the first half on the Vulcans’ end of the pitch, handling errors prevented the visitors from adding to their lead, and they entered the half up 10-7.
Atlanta kicked off to start the second half, and within seconds forced a knock-on with pressure, snatched it and moved it wide to gain advantage. After earning the stop about 12 meters from the try line, Birmingham was penalized for entering the ruck from the side. Fullback Zach Miller took a quick penalty and snaked his way through the confused defense to score in the 41st minute, then converted it to stretch the lead to 17-7. Old White continued to pile on the pressure, playing the next 10 minutes deep in Birmingham’s half again, this time resulting in a turnover and quick ball straight to the outside where outside center Kimani Archer would score in the 51st minute. Atlanta would dominate field position for the remainder of the match, but only come away with 3 more points with a penalty from flyhalf Jarryd Dick.
Atlanta was about as dominant as a club could be in the scrums, winning all of their own scrums and about half of Birmingham’s. Lineouts, on the other hand, were less impressive. A miscommunication, an errant throw, a blown call, dotted among a few good, quick, crisp executions. When it looked good it looked very good, but we should expect the forwards are going to attack lineouts at the training grounds and come out much improved as the season continues.
Both teams looked, well, like they were playing their first game of a season. Both tended to be more shallow than they would hope in attack, both had several moments of post-mistake strategy discussion in-game, and both had some timing errors with called backline plays and lineouts. Despite all that, both teams showed their experience and showed potential to be forces to be reckoned with in the Southeast over the next 7 months. One thing is for sure: both teams are excited to be back out on the rugby pitch!
Tries were scored by Tim Acker (2), Zach Miller, and Kimani Archer. Zach Miller was 1-for-4 on conversions and Jarryd Dick slotted his only penalty.
The lineup for Saturday was as follows:
CJ Anderson
Mitch Shea
Tim Moody
Jonny Rea (vc)
Randy de la Rosa
Jose Barrera
Zach Price
David Rogers
Alejandro Ospina
Jarryd Dick
Tim Acker
Jon Garbin
Kimani Archer
Gerson Blaise
Zach Miller (c)
Brayan de la Rosa
Rafael Dominguez
Harrison Duncan
David Goossens
Mauricio Mafla
Benjamin Simone
Q Oliver
UP NEXT: A match at Charlotte RFC on 10/1 has been postponed due to Hurricane Ian, so Atlanta Old White hosts the Augusta Maddogs on 10/8 for a D3 friendly.
