Date: Saturday, October 4, 2003
Philadelphia-Whitemarsh 6
Maryland Exiles 5
Site – Maryland Exiles Field

Maryland – Thank you to the hardcore nucleus once again for turning up and playing hard – winning the match with after arriving with the minimum 15 was a specious proposition at best. Maryland was low on numbers as well, and we were very fortunate not to have to play two matches and further stretch our depleted regulars.

A quick summary of the match – We won on the strength of two Derek ( Man of the Match ) Tully kicks i.e. an alert drop goal and a clutch penalty kick. Derek is a beacon of hope for our future as a playing side. The hit of the match was made by Bobby Cassidy playing flanker who planted their “go to” big hard running forward, right at the end of the match, by coming “off the fence” and stuffing him before he got untracked! The other big tackle in the match was made by Donnie Foy running hard at his opposite fielding a “Garryowen” under pressure in front of his own goal.

Along with some clutch tackling by “Jumpin’ Louis Tulio, we managed to effectively stifle most of Maryland’s movements.

We generally showed that we were the better side in terms of constructive play, but THREE major things affected our game – One, very little practice time together. Two, a failure to properly implement what it is we do best when knocking on our opponents door at goal. Three, a similar failure early in the match to be patient – we get frenetic and hysterical rather than patient and methodical. Early in a match we MUST take “gimme’ penalty kicks at goal, and implement “Direct Attack” as well as simply follow our game plan. We constantly go for the kill early – always have the odds against you early in a match when we haven’t deconstructed their defense. Even disorganized sides can maintain significant energy to clean up defensive mistakes early in a match – such was the case on Saturday. God help us, I ‘m not trying to discourage “quick strikes” and early leads – what I’m saying is that our talents and system are based on the approach that scoring for us is most often a “process” rather than a “one shot” “big break” event!

Hey, once in a while, in the process of running our plan of attack we DO rip off a big chunk of real estate early – witness Mark Sanders huge run off a rocket in the first half – even with that, after he was tackled and the ball off loaded, we rushed a pass in our urgency to score in one fluid movement instead of regrouping and having confidence that we’d eventually take advantage of our newfound field position inside their 22! That was the story of the day – here and there our periodic handling mistakes, looseness with the ball in contact, or lack of more immediate support to the ball carrier, all resulted in turnovers, and we had to end the match dodging bullets – we kept them in the game – thankfully, we mercifully ended the match on top.

It’s always better to get the “W” and we DID do a variety of things in our repertoire very well – our centers, Joey and Jeff ran hard and pounded hard into the belly of their defense – had we utilized them more we’d have broken down and punched bigger holes in their midfield. We ran only three rockets that I can recollect ( mark sanders, spanky, and bobby c. ) all were timely and effective.

When we countered their kicks and ran back to support we were effective – we also had a lot of support near the ball but underutilized it by not converging on our ball carrier in the tackle – we once again saw little leeching in heavy traffic. Whether it be in the tight or in the loose – we have most everyone looking for, and calling for the offload, and either not committing to the ruck OR even when the offload was appropriate, we amateurishly drift away from the potential passer instead of “running back at the ball” – we constantly do this all over the pitch.

On that note – it seems our players have been bred in their early years that as a pass receiver, one runs into space – We take that way too literally, we often initially call for the ball at whatever our distance from the potential passer then, as he’s poised to offload and has a “bearing” on where to target his pass we start to drift laterally – so many of our passes fall to ground or are difficult to catch for that simple reason. Our first duty is to freakin catch the ball, and to do that we step TOWARD the passer first, making it easier for him to target you. This simple adjustment also straightens up running lines, and although you may not find yourself in as an advantageous position in terms of open running area, you’ll find yourself accelerating harder into what space is available as you take that hard step off the outside foot to ‘cut” back in the direction of the ball. On top of that, most of you underestimate the fact that you can often adjust to regain the open space you found earlier by changing the angle of your run after receiving the ball.

At the end of the day, we were happy for the victory, and we did eliminate many of the nagging offsides penalties – we had many calls go against us, but most were for “good reasons” at least from my viewpoint – we made many attempts at poaching and the ref blew us up illegitmately time and again – that shouldn’t discourage us, as we were in the right virtually every time – where we need to improve in that area, is recognizing that he’s going to call us and even if it isn’t legit on his part, we have to “play him” (do it HIS way) especially near our own goal.

Finally, what it’s all about is using these opportunities to learn and grow from – So far the big plus of this season is sizing up the areas that we need to help players develop in and to see our young players get plenty of match time – it’s what we take away from these matches that will be the barometer of our growth and development as a playing side.

Thanks to those of you who made the trip – It’s on these occasions that we learn who it is that we can really rely on week in and week out – that’s become quite evident this season – I gotta admit, it is those of you that make up the hardcore of this club that I really enjoy coaching and being around because ya’ll are what this game is all about – it truly begs the question as to whether or not our structure in USA Rugby, with Super League, Competitive Sevens, Div I and Premier League, competitions, etc. is something that diminishes club rugby and engenders a notion that players must “pick and choose” their spots in order to play this sport as pure amateurs on virtually a year round basis.

Mark Frey and I had the conversation before the match – He’s taking the season off from the Exiles as he’s so overextended at a personal and career level that he can’t devote the time especially after a Summer Sevens season so full of events.

Food for thought and discussion –

Joe Kelly, Head Coach