Blacksburg Rugby

In Blacksburg’s last game of the scheduled Fall season we entertained local rivals Roanoke RFC at home.

Both teams were prepared for a gruelling match and so the tempo was set from the first whistle. Blacksburg started playing uphill and into the wind, but with a ton of heart. Roanoke opened their account early with 2 trys in the far right corner but Blacksburg replied competently by a hard fought try by Mark Mazzochette. McCarthy put in a penalty to bring us close. In the second half Blacksburg again maintained much possession and began to exert control over the scrums. Roanoke scored again with an overload try but Blacksburg answered through Lou Madsen with a forward-grinder try. We headed into the last 10 minutes down 20-15. However, Roanoke prevailed and ended the match 27-15. Blacksburg rued their lack of subs but played with heart throughout the game. Mark Mazzochette deservedly earned Man of the Match honours for his stubborn defending, incisive running-lines and support-play throughout the game.

Blacksburg now look forward to Saturday practices and a Christmas 7s tournament at James River.

15 Blacksburg players travelled to the bastion of Charlottesville and engaged Virginia Men’s in a hearty game. Blacksburg opened the match with huge intensity, especially our “retired” Man of the Match, Russell Modlin, who bravely stepped in at wing and helped lead the backs. The defence in both backs and forwards was stellar, and we had some near breakthroughs for trys. Matt McCarthy put in a dead center kick from 30m out and midway to the sideline at about the 20 min mark to make the score 5-3! The backs did a great job of shutting down their backs and forcing a huge number of knockons. Scrums were very good throughout, and we pushed them back on several occasions and forced errors. Blacksburg finished the first half only down 8-3.

In the 2nd half, our lack of subs (and their 6-7 capable fresh subs during that half), caused our “ironman” 15 players to let things slip a little, especially in the last 10-15 min. Our intrepid scrumhalf put in another long kick to put us on the board in the 2nd half. Blacksburg’s possession was at least equal but we weren’t able to convert time to points. Final score was 37-6. Blacksburg had VERY few penalties, and really kept the ball in hand well, showing we can play with intensity without losing control.

Next game will see Blacksburg host Roanoke RFC at home for the last scheduled game of our Fall season.

An impressive number of Newport News players travelled to Blacksburg last Saturday and were well-worthy of their victory after a long journey. From the first contact both teams demonstrated their hunger for the win with aggressive running from all positions. Newport kicked opportunistically with the wind in the first half letting the ball doing the running and forcing Blacksburg to cede ground. Newport’s kicking game tested the Blacksburg back-line many times and soon they had scored. The second half saw the home side retaining the ball well and continuing to attack. Despite several occasions when Blacksburg should have converted position and possession to points, Newport’s defence and handling errors denied them. Newport scored again the second half to finish the match 33-0. Blacksburg’s Man-of-the-Match was named as Big-Jim Wahmhoff for his tenacious defence, aggressive running and general brute-ish-ness!

After the initial game, Blacksburg and Newport played a 7’s game. Blacksburg’s experience was matched well by a very quick (though un-blooded) Newport team. Both teams enjoyed some success and the play was predictably very open.

Blacksburg would like to thank both Ian Ray and Jimmy Ivory for officiating the 15’s game and the 7’s game respectively.

The next match will see Blacksburg travel to Charlottesville to play Virginia RFC.

After the long journey to the coast, 17 players from Blacksburg found fortune in a win at Virginia Beach. Superb defence throughout the match was demonstrated by the home side nil-point scoreline. Allan Rhodes opened things up in the first minutes with a 60+ meter run through many opponents to score. Big hits and a blocked kick were made by man-of-the-match James Pinkston, with Ty Hopkins charging down a try after that block. Backs Brett Keyes and Nate Gaertner put in the other two tries after skilful plays in the backs. Final score was 22-0 Blacksburg.

The next match will see Blacksburg welcome Newport News to The Rosegarden on October 15th.

Blacksburg hosted their second MARFU D3 game against Blackwater RFC last Saturday, 24th September. Both teams arrived with first game losses the week before and predictably entered the game initially with intensity. Blackwater scored first and converted successfully to put the home team under pressure immediately. An injury to linch-pin Spike meant the pack had to shuffle positions but Blacksburg came back to score 4 times within 15minutes (converting one). Blackwater finished the first half with a converted try in the last minute to go into halftime ahead (21-19).

Following a fiery half-time team talk Blacksburg finally found their pace and turned on the charm. The pack performed well and not only attacked with intensity but also presented some excellent attacking platforms for the backs to exhibit strong running. Blackwater gave away a number of penalties and also suffered a sin-bin infraction. Of the resulting six tries scored, three were successfully converted resulting in a final score of 58-21.

Tries were scored by; Nathanael Weigel (also Man of the Match), Mark Mazzochette, John Pierce, Ty Hopkins, Michael Conrad and Jonny Smith. Brett Keyes converted 4 tries.

Next week sees The Black and Blue making the long journey to Virginia Beach to compete against the Falcons.

Blacksburg would like to thank the referee for officiating the game.

After the long journey to Richmond, Blacksburg were looking to secure their first win of the MARFU D3 season – as were their hosts James River RFC. Both teams approached this match looking to set the pace for the following games and were contesting everything from the first whistle. Despite best efforts the going was tough for Blacksburg who found themselves down at half-time, 0-10. Although intention was good, executions of plays were plagued by handling mistakes and subsequent knock-ons were numerous, only confounded by the drizzle that continued for most of the game. Despite coming close on a number of occasions Blacksburg did not close the deficit and James River took advantage of their momentum by scoring 3 further tries in the second half, finishing the game 0-32. Disappointment was palpable and Blacksburg rued their opportunities lost through errors.

Next week will see Blacksburg host Blackwater RFC at The Rosegarden, Blacksburg.

Blacksburg would like to thank James River for hosting the game and after-party.

Blacksburg travelled to Highland Park, Roanoke to scrimmage against Roanoke RFC. The scrimmage was broken into quarters to allow for different configurations to be tried and to give all players opportunity to play.

Blacksburg started well and dominated during the first three quarters with tries scored by Jonathon Smith, Brett Keyes, Tom Peterson and Ty Hopkins. Special credit to Ty who scored 5 times! In the last quarter Roanoke rallied well and capitalized upon their momentum to score a number of times and hold the Blacksburg score-line in check.

Blacksburg would like to thank Roanoke for hosting the scrimmage and the after-game social event. We are also grateful to Matt Rea who officiated throughout.

Blacksburg participated in an Alumni 7s mini-tournament hosted by and with the involvement purely of Virginia Tech Rugby. The tournament was originally scheduled for Friday evening but weather prevented anything more than one half of play and the games were then re-scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Blacksburg competed in the social category playing against the Pirates, Lemons and Alumni social. Blacksburg 'Briskets' enjoyed the three games and competed well against the other teams (3-0). Victories prevailed each time through good possession, opportunistic attacking and skilful off-loading.

Blacksburg would like to thank Virginia Tech for hosting the tournament and the referees who over-saw the fair play.

Blacksburg Brisket Roster:

Nate Gaertner
Ty Hopkins
Matt McCarthy
Preston Stoakes
Jim Wahmhoff
Sanjay Basu
Martin Sexton
Matt Rea

The 2011 seven-a-side season drew to a close for Blacksburg with a creditable appearance at the Asheville Rugby Club's Bele Chere 7s tournament in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Blacksburg finished 2-3 at the tournament and finished as runners-up in the bowl bracket.

After a long drive to the venue, the day opened slowly for Blacksburg with a pair of losses in pool play, but Blacksburg righted the ship and picked up a win over Western Carolina to finish 1-2 in pool play and advance to the bowl rounds. In knockout play, Blacksburg got by Johnson City in the bowl semifinal before losing the bowl final to Asheville, the tournament's hosts.

Having wrapped a sevens season that began in June but was punctuated by a number of cancelled and rescheduled tournaments, Blacksburg will now enjoy a brief respite before training begins for the 2011-2012 competitive season next month.

Blacksburg roster at Bele Chere 7s Tournament:

Sanjay Basu
Ben Hackworth
Brandon Jeffery
Lou Madsen
Matthew McCarthy
Florent Merian
Russell Modlin
Sam Shea
Preston Stoakes
Jim Wahmhoff

Blacksburg got the offseason summer sevens season got off to a good start by entering two sides in the inaugural "Blue Plum" tournament hosted by Johnson City. Sixteen representatives from Blacksburg and area colleges made the trip to Tennessee, which allowed Blacksburg to enter both "blue" and "grey" sides into the tournament.

Blacksburg's blue squad managed to make the tournament's grand final, losing to the hosts by a narrow 21-19 margin after a previously unblemished record on the day. Several players from the grey squad also contributed to the blue side's success thanks to the tournament's liberal substitution policy, and when not helping the blue side along the grey representatives also notched a draw and several more creditable performances in pool play.

The summer season will continue with at least one more tournament in June. Interest is currently being assessed for a possible trip to Fayetteville, NC, for a tournament hosted by Fort Bragg 11 June. If a sufficient number of players is not available to travel to North Carolina, the next item on the itinerary will be a tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, hosted by Triad.