Another Milwaukee rugby showdown at the 2009 Oshkosh 10s rugby tournament

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Written by Ben Nirschl

Sunday, 19 July 2009

It was a great time had in Oshkosh yesterday. We were, as expected, scheduled to play the first match of the tournament at 9am.

We played Ripon College and although we had a few confused travelers that were unable to make it up in time and keeping our roster a bit restricted we prevailed with a 17-12 victory. The scoring began a few minutes into the match with a wise play from Joeseph Kloiber stealing the ball from a scrum and putting it in the oppositions try zone for our scrumhalf and brother Thomas Kloiber to fall on for the try. Fiji converted the kick as we went ahead 7-0. Ripon returned with a crafty try through an overload in the back line and the score was tied 7-7. Towards the end of the first half Fiji broke through for a try of his own and although he was unable to convert we went back up 12-7. Another loose play overload gave Ripon the opportunity to tie things back up as the half ended, 12-12 at half.

The second half was alot of back and forth play with no scoring until the final minute when we broke through and got the ball to our speedy Kenyan, Darkness to put it away for the victory. Conversion unconverted but it did not matter as the whistle blew before another restart was allowed.

Scoring:

Thomas try, Joeseph assist, Fiji converts 7-0
Ripon try, converted 7-7
Fiji try, unconverted 12-7
Ripon try, unconverted 12-12
Darkness try, unassisted, unconverted 17-12
FINAL 17-12 Harlequins

After our lost puppies found their way to the park we regrouped and got prepared for our next match against Muskego HS team that consisted of a variety of players from there both past and present. As in the first match we continued to score the first try with a beautiful pass from Joseph Kloiber to Vinny "the one eye" Kelly for the early 5-0 lead. Muskego was given an extremely questionable break towards the end of the first half in what appeared to be a great defensive play from Fiji in the far corner of the goal line that the Sir determined to be a high tackle or maybe just too agressive. A penalty try was awarded and with the center post conversion made we went into the half down 5-7. Joseph Kloiber took a try in himself early in the second half to put us up 10-7. Fiji continued the scoring with a couple nice moves to extend the lead to 15-7. Muskego was able to muster another try in the final minutes to close the score to 15-12. Team captain Ben Smith put the game out of reach for Muskego in the final minute with a try to end the game 20-12.

Scoring recap:

Vinny try, Joseph assist, unconverted 5-0
Muskego penalty try, converted 5-7
Joseph Kloiber try, unassisted, unconverted 10-7
Fiji try, unassisted, unconverted 15-7
Muskego try, unconverted 15-12
Smith try, unassisted, unconverted 20-12
FINAL 20-12 Harlequins

Heading into our final pool play match we really wanted to get things going as we prepared to head into the semifinals. We played Fox Cities and it was really our best showing of the day thus far. The overall fuzzy to me but it consisted of a whole lot of tries on our end and shutdown defense that didn't allow them into our house at all. We had Doyle stealing kickoffs like knowbodies business, Fiji playing like a mad man and knocking some kid back to last week with a powerful run and even Tobin changing it up a bit and passing the ball to a wide open Reagles for a try.

Scoring recap (in no particular order):

Fiji try, unconverted
Doyle try, converted
Penalty try awarded, converted
Reagles try, Tobin assist, converted
Fiji try, unconveted
Doyle try, converted
FINAL 38-0 Harlequins

With the pool play complete and our continued improvement throughout the day we went into the semifinals with an expanding confidence. It also didn't hurt that our ace in the hole Leon the Growler joined our team at a perfect time to take things up a notch. We were matched against WRC who had also gone 3-0 through pool play. We had a couple questionable calls from our favorite 13 year old Sir but regardless we allowed Madison to score first and take the lead 5-0. Fiji returned the favor with a try of his own through a wise pass from Vinny to tie the game at 5-5. Things stayed at that score until the crafty veteran Jimmy took his 23" bicepts and muscled a try down over his head. I am also pretty sure he even threw a little smack talking "What ya gonna do brother, when the Colonel runs wild on you!!" out there. Fiji converted to put us up 12-5. As the second half was coming to an end we put the game in hand with some very good ball movement down the line as Danny Kurth was able to setup Vinny for a try in the corner to end the game 17-5

Scoring recap:

Madison try, unconverted 0-5
Fiji try, Vinny assist, unconverted 5-5
Jimmy try, Fiji converted 12-5
Vinny try, Danny assist, unconverted 17-5
FINAL 17-5 Harlequins

This set us up for a finals showdown against Milwaukee. They had roleld their way through pool play and through the semi's against Oshkosh with very few complications along the way. The match was a battle throughout as expected. We shocked everyone but ourselves with an extremely heads-up play by JP Kloiber early in the first. Milwaukee tried a sneaky line out throw on their own 5 meter line that JP stole immediately and pounced into the try zone for a quick 5-0 lead. Milwaukee used their speed to their advantage and whenever possible were looking to spread the ball wide and see what holes they could find. To their surprise the defense played very tough and did not allow them to break through the line with ball in hand. This led to Milwaukee trying to use their foot and chase game to see what they could find. To our dismay that attach worked out well for them. They put a big boot to space and were able to chase it down, get a nice bounce and fly into the try zone and take the lead with the conversion 5-7. A second time they were able to find similar success before the first half ended and extend their lead, 5-14 at the half. We regrouped at halftime, made a couple substitutions and kept fighting to the finish. It was a stalemate in scoring through the first 5 minutes of the second half until we used our field position very well and beat them with a weak side play out of the scrum. Fiji, Vinny and I took it week and with smooth passes down the line and getting the defense to commit to Vinny, he was able to offload to me for the try. We were unable to convert but tightened the score to 10-14. From then on out it was all defense on both sides and we were unable to get the ball back with any space to break through and take home the championship. The final whistle blew but we held our heads high with the performance, teamwork and fun that was had by us all throughout the day.

Scoring recap:

John Paul Kloiber try, unconverted 5-0
Milwaukee try, converted 5-7
Milwaukee try, converted 5-14
Nirschl try, Vinny assist, unconverted 10-14
FINAL 10-14 Milwaukee

Once again I want to thank everyone who committed to playing and making this a great time. By far this was one of my favorite tournaments I've played in years. Thanks as well to all the support we had from all the girlfriends and wives that came up as well as Papa Joe and Julie and the teams best water and beer man Peter Kloiber. The only glitch out there was the MIA of Kelso for the day. What else can we say but OOPS, Sorry!!!

Roster included: