Spring 2005 Matches:

reported by Bill the Bull

March 5, 2005 Lewiston Warrior Fest

The bus showed up just in the nick of time to travel 200 + miles to play......the damn Jesters! Lewiston had some teams back out and had to shuffle the brackets, so we were ultimately stuck with 2 Montana teams and Boise Lions. We started out slow with set pieces being a standoff vs. the Jesters. We had a tough time getting clean ball later as our scrum was finding its legs, and when we did secure ball, it was promptly spilled away by road weary little backline players. Scooter (Scotty) Miller dotted down for the loan try of the first half and Blakey hit a penalty. Some Jester made a penalty kick on a bullshit call to goto half-time at 8-3.

We lost Scotty the rest of the day and maybe for a couple of weeks when he pulled his liver during his game winning try. Against the 43rd State Crimson Lions, it was all Black! We mixed the side with some younger players, but it had no effect as we put up 35-0 half-time score. Brent Meyers had 856 yds. rushing in the first half and nearly returned a punt for a touchdown! Ty Ketterling set Lance Osler up for a nice try and then put Blake into space moments later. Bill Merrill took a long pass from Brent Meyers and dished to JT Wensman (rookie sheep-lover) as JT crashed over for his first try in Black. Bill then pop one up to a hurdling flying Brian Briske who scored easily from 10 Meters out. Blakey didn't miss a kick and ended 6-6 converted trys and a penalty kick.

Against a depleted Bozeman side, We started out strong but were penalized by Wags for repeatedly diving over. I'll be damned if we weren't doing it too!! We finally decided to keep our feet at the breakdowns and began to exploit their weak side. Brent Meyers went weak side on a pop pass from Tory during second phase of a penalty play to score his first try and then found the gap on an inside crash to finish his brace for the day. Blakey was steady on the kicks and Smoothy pounded one home in the second half to put the final score line at 24-3 Maggots. We looked better as the day wore on and are looking forward to a tough match against Spokane next weekend who also went 3-0 at Lewiston however had a Genie and a Magic lamp on their shitty bus and cashed in a wish to NOT play the Maggots. No such luck next weekend.

March 12 Maggots defeat Spokane

We bussed up at the Ox as it began to snow. We had 22 on the bus and were meeting 8 players to round out two full sides. Number 1 met us at the Ox and jumped aboard as Briske had coerced him in the bar the night before. We headed down the road, got to Spokane, and took an alternate route to the pitch due to some parade. We arrived and began warming up, with no balls as no one remembered. Laird hadn't made it yet, but the rest of our boys who drove got there. We started the game with Bob Maki subbing gamely at wing until Aaron could arrive.

Right away we established a good flow with forwards winning ball and backs making some inroads. The scrums all day were very good as Meat Roll stepped into tight head and anchor us due to injuries. We had them on the back foot and took 3 or so balls off the head while steadily winning our own ball. Blakey ran plays in the back line and about 8 minutes in, BP went wide to score one around the corner. Blakey missed the conversion. We again played between the 22's for a bit before sustaining some nice pressure in their end. We went to a five meter scrum on their line with a wheel call on. Brent Meyers picked and went weak planting their wing to score our second try. Blakey missed the conversion. No other real opportunities in the first half, but Spokane never really threatened and looked disjointed at times. We went to half time up 10-0.

The second stanza began with more Maggot pressure, when about 10 minutes in Blakey found a seam and headed for pay dirt. Smoothy scissored off a great dummy by Blake and scored our third try. Blakey made the kick, but the touch judge had cataracts apparently and did not award the conversion. Missoula led 15-0 at that point. At about the 60 minute mark, the first match of the season began to take a toll on all of us. We began to lose territory and concede some dumb penalties due to fatigue. Spokane took advantage and mounted a serious attack that was thwarted for only a moment. They scored between the posts on a quick-tap penalty play and aptly converted to build some pressure on the leaders. Maggots 15 Spoklahoma 7. The Maggots were still in the midst of a breather when the Razorbacks again began to pressure and push to the five meter line. The Defense picked it up a notch and luckily cleared the ball after a Spokane ball carrier was held up in-goal. The close call lit a fire and Missoula never looked back. Brent found space on an inside ball from Blakey and scooted 30 meters for his 2nd try of the day. Blakey missed the conversion. Brent nearly went for the hat trick late in the match with a quick pick, but 70 meters proved to far as the #13 (Polypanesian type fella) for SpoCaine reeled Brent in at the 22. That kid for Spokane is only 17 and has some wheels! We collectively decided as a club, that we need to get him a job at the green house.

Full time sound shortly there after with us pressuring just outside their 22 to give us the 20-7 decision. We did get the bonus point for MRU standings for State. Four Trys, no conversions. Line outs were UNGOOD. Stay tuned to see if that gets better. All in all a great day.

The B's The B's kicked ass 17-7 with Momma, Smoothy, and Seattle Dave putting trys across for the Killer B's. We fielded 15 fresh faces and Smoothy only got in after Marky Mark tweaked his back. Haywood and Alex, both rookies played well at second row and # 1 (Scott something) got some time at wing. Rock City picked up where he left off at State and dropped another break away try late in the game. I shit you not. He dropped another one. Brownie Cakes played nearly 40 minutes of rugby too. Sorta....... The Drink up was at Fat Tuesdays for Pizza and free beer. No dictators as Momma missed the turn, but bus beers and fresh porn from the rookies in Post falls. We had drink stops in Wallace and St. Regis. Rookie Alex can not be defeated in the pit it seems after he whooped Snowden in Lewiston and Matty Clark on this trip, along w/ BP, Haywood, and anyone else dumb enough to challenge him. Glow Sticks lit up the bus on the ride home and #1 came out of his shell to a very annoying degree. He quickly became a pit toy for Rich and a couple others to curb his new found enthusiasm for the Maggots. No court charges were filed.....yet.

March 26 Maggots def. Bozeman 31-17

Bozeman rolled into town w/ 25+ players for the contest. They had good numbers but hadn't had a lot of repetition outdoors due to snow and winds in the Gallatin Valley. Bozeman won the toss and elected to take the wind and the sun in the first half. Bozeman took ball, but after a few phases the Maggots pilfered and began to attack. The good rucking from prior weeks continued as did scrummaging, but we had way too many hanlding errors and turned ball over in both the forwards and the backs. The game was played between the 22's for the first 20 minutes, but Missoula began to mount pressure. After several phases of nice build up Fatty Matty went week side and set Brent Meyers away for our first try of the game. The conversion was wide from Blake in gusting winds. We took the restart and fumbled it away inside our own 22 but played some stellar defense to clear the ball and begin attacking again.With 8 minutes left Gordo took a nice pick and drive week. Bozeman forgot to tackle and Gordo went in to give us a 10-0 advantage as Blake missed the corner kick. Just before half, Smoothy committed his trade mark sin and stepped in to snake an errant pass for a try under the posts. Blakey nailed the conversion and we went to halftime 17-0. Lucky Smoothy, very lucky....The next 20 minutes was some of the best rugby all season. We recycled ball and looked very dangerous with Laird and Lance counter-attacking. Our mid field tackled like hell with Smoothy and Momma wrecking whoever had the ball. We ran crash ball down inside their 22 meter line and pressured for a good while before Blake set Gordo in from 15 mtrs. for his second try of the day. I told you he was way better at Flanker! Blakey converted and we were out to a comfortable 24-0 lead. We took the restart and immediately pressured as Bozeman looked tired. We scored but it was waived off and we had to take a 5 meter attacking scrum. It didn't matter as Blake is now "Mr. Power Guy" and blew through 3 Bozo defenders to score and convert his own try with the big stiff arm. We're laughing at 31-0, but that didn't last long. Bozo caught a second wind and began hammering the fringes and wearing down the forwards. We began to get tired and didn't fan out all that well on defense. At 15 minutes left, Bozo scored w/ a Black Maggot injured (not sure who was down, pick a number). We thought we had a minute, Kostecki thought otherwise and we watched their lock roll in for an unconverted try. It got worse. With 10 minutes left, Meat Roll pulled out his Pasadena Wrestling Mask and vinyl boots to Suplex some Bozo guy. The guy went limp and Bart took exception and jumped in. Squeeky Joe Williams and Bart vs. Billy Bull and Meatroll in the cage of death!! A credit to Bart, he didn't actually throw a punch, but Jimmy was pissed and Meat Roll and Bart both went to the bin for the rest of the game. It was all Bozo for the last 9 minutes as we just tried to get to Miller time in touch. Bozo's Paigey snuck a quicky between Andy and Billy Bull to give Bozo another converted try and they scored once more in the corner while we sucked diesel fumes. Final score was Maggots 31 Bozo 17 the hard way.

The B's The Killer B's continued to roll up the points in a 34-5 win over the Baby Cutty's. Ashby and Seattle Dave directed a furious assault complemented by the scrummaging of Chaddy and Brownie Cakes to boot. Bishop set up some nice breaks and even Flipper got in on some of the action. Smoothy, Dave, Lumpy, Ashby, Rookie - little "Cousins" Dalgren, and Rookie Brandon all got trys. Cheers to new Grizzly wannabe White shows Gilbert for showing up and putting Brandon away for his Zulu try. Taber and newest Osprey Marky Mark also turned out to help fill out the b's in that one. 2-0 Killer b's....Keep it going.

April 2 Maggots def. Moose 52-3

I caught the bus in Big Fork with 16 other lads. We had another dozen guys that car pooled or drove themselves. We ended up with 28 players counting 3 Coaches that all got in on the action. We got to Whitefish to find a very short, very narrow, very wet field. I think it would've been alright size wise had there not been so much standing water on the Pitch which limited the touch lines and the try zones. We had plenty of time to get warm and find our hands which is always nice. We gave the Moose a home game (should've been in Missoula) and we gave them a 4:30 p.m. start time (should've been 1 or 2) so they could get their front row there in time for kick-off. We'll be in Missou for this one next year come hell or high water. Cheers to the Maggot orginization for accomodating. Cheers to Cousins, Charlo, Uncle Buffalo Head and few other assorted fans that made the trek. Hopefully we didn't dissappoint. One also for former Joker, psuedo Maggot Taber for stepping into Prop for Flathead. Not really his fortay, but he helped them out quite a bit in the loose even though he was a whippin' boy in the scrums.

We lost the toss-shocker, (we're 1-8 on the toss this season. That odd-even things screws me every time) and kicked off into the wind with what little sun there was in our face. The tone was immediately set as Kalispell chose to keep it in tight with a very experienced pack. Both Troops, Kenkel, Taber and a few other old reliables for the Moose rucked and recycled ball nicely for a few phases until we pilfered at a breakdown. We immediately spun it wide to the Original Bob Maki who rounded the corner and scored one of his two trys on the day. Held onto the ball the whole way too, just like one of the big kids! Blakey converted. We got the ball again and went wide the other way and I believe either Lance or Smoothy-I forget, scored. (Lance looks like Smoothy w/ Hair so I get them mixed up). Blakey converted and we're out 14-0 very quickly. However Colby nailed a drop kick penalty for the Moose after some substantial pressure from Flathead. The score was 14-3 at that point and it stayed that way for the next 25 minutes as both teams spilled a wet ball and committed heinous offenses at the breakdowns. Missoula couldn't find a rhythm and the Moose couldn't find the other half of the field due to Maggot pressure. A fair bit of kicking ensued ALA Super 12 style as we jockeyed for territory. The Maggot scrum dominated all day as we took all our ball and 5 of their puts as well. We finally got back on track with two quick trys towards the end of the first half. It happened so fast I don't remember who scored, but we were up comfortably as our fitness and 9 matches this year, began to wear the Moose down. We started the 2nd stanza much like the first. Laird scored a nice try from Smoothy and Brent took a stolen scrum ball to the house for another dot down. Nicky got in the try zone once or twice too. The backs really did have an exceptional outing running great lines with all kinds of support. They rucked well for themselves and didn't drop much of anything, especially in the 2nd half. Additionally, the tackling in the midfield from Blake, Smooth, and Laird was again a sight to behold. Hope that holds up for Billings in 2 weeks boys! The forwards motored around the short paddock and were at all the break downs in numbers providing quick ball for the backs rucking well and spoiling lots of Moose ball. And every time the pack recycled, the backs quickly made the gain line and usually went the distance for the score or made deep inroads into Moose territory. A great match with the exception of line-outs. AGAIN!! We'll be reviewing "Line Outs for Dummies" this Tuesday and Thursday at practice. Players of the match could easily have gone to the backs for a great outing. The shit work was done by Mother, Matty Clark and Snowden. Nothing fancy but hard rucks, quick balls and nothing off the fringes but hard black tackling. Cheers Boys. The Villain of the match was Gordo for getting hurt and having to leave. Take it easy this week in practice Gordo, I mean easier than usual. Stretching before matches may be something you wanna look at too. We subbed in all 7 reserves I believe and finished with a couple more trys. Well done Black!

The B's The B's took the field with Tory at the helm and Rookies Haywood, Alex and Big Brandon in the pack. Little Dalgren, our other rookie got some more crucial minutes at the wing. Two shorter halves were played due to waning daylight, with the Maggots getting much ball and scoring the lone try. The Moose Old Boys kept it close though. Hats of to them for putting out a side. Cheers to Sika, our new friend from SAMOA who paired w/ Smoothy in the Centers for that game and played very well. Nice job Charlo Bill for recruiting Sika. Ashby and Momma also gave a good account of themselves in that match as did a much fitter and wily Matt Brown anchoring the scrums. The Killer B's are 3-0 now and keeping us in contention to retain the B-Cup at State. Men of the Match were the few A-side players that laced 'em up for more Rugby w/ the B's, and our Rookies, who continue to get better each week through practice and games. They'll be pushing for first XV spots in no time. The Villain of the match........Chris Troop of the Moose. Troop was red carded late in the game after stomping on Briske's head away from the ball at a ruck. That came after the he neck-whipped and threw down our rookie Alex during a dead ball for another penalty, not to mention a warning for stomping (again) in the A game. Bush league Troop.

Cheers to the Moose Old Boys who filled them out for a B-game and to Dan Troop for the long drive from Fort Benton to play. Cheers also to Kenkel, Brazinsky and a few others who are breathing new life into that club to keep it on the map. Thanks for the Keg at the field and good luck the rest of the season Flathead. Thanks also to the Moose for a good feed and drink up at the Bulldog in Whitefish afterwards.