Katy Lions R.F.C v Alamo City. 11/10/2012 – 2pm Katy Junior High

Katy Lions RFC 26 Alamo City 30

The 0-2 record after 2 quality performances is a tough pill to swallow.  This time the Katy Lions didn’t run out of time, in fact with 2 minutes to go we were in front having been down 5-25 at half time.  The lions dominated the first 20 minutes of the game but trailed 5-8 due to tough try-line D from Alamo city.  Eventually Payner got in for a try after 15 minutes injuring himself in the process which meant one of three Kiwi’s in the squad on the day Steve macrae had to come into the action from the bench very early.

From 20 minutes in until half time the Alamo backs ran riot and Katy looked down and out at half time.  Charlie pulled the troops in behind the posts for a wee chat and moments later our performance improved.  Deano made a few adjustments at the half including The father and Son team of Neil and Sean Doherty both coming off, Sean due to a hamstring injury.  Due to the club rule of not having 3 Kiwi’s on the field at the same time Tony Durr came off to make room for Ashley Buist.  It took less than a minute into the second half, off the back of another great catch from the kick off by macrae for Katy to cross the whitewash, this time First xv Captain Charlie Brown lead by example picking up his umpteened try for the club.  Calvin Messias added a penalty a couple of minutes later and then a huge run breaking several tackles from Esteven Garcia led to a try from the young man after 48 minutes.  Calvin added another penalty after 64 minutes and he scored what looked to be the winning try with 10 minutes to play courtesy of another big run and strong hand off by Esteven.   Esteven might have had another try if he had hooked up with Rob Felegi when the Tiny Scrum Half made one of several of his big breaks.

The Game was officiated by the best referee in Texas Rugby Scott Green.  He gave players from both sides yellow cards midway through the first half and late in the game a red card to an Alamo player that decided to clean his boots on a Katy players ear.  Their was a decent number of folks on the side line, some of them to watch Craig Leslie make a welcomed return to the sport which was impressive to say the least.  He made more than his fair share of big tackles and got within an inch of the try line in the last seconds of the match.  A Rod who’d performed very well in the scrum and the loose all day picked from him juggled a wee bit and dove over the try line for what looked to be the winning try but Mr Green adjudged it to be knocked on and with just seconds to play there wasn’t another chance for the Lions. If Katy could have that back a scrum at that time might have been the best decision since they were down a forward as a result of the red card.

Our Club Doctor, Dr. Jefrey Garcia should be eligible for man of the match   Because Johnny Ziomek could could hardly pull on his jersey when he showed up but after the Doc’s handy work Johnny went onto the field played the entire game and had the highest tackle count of any player on the field.

Man of the Match Steve macrae – “Brilliant, tireless in attack, phenomenal engine on the guy and displayed his Aussie rules skills” said Coach Paul Deane.

KATY Lions 2nd side v Alamo City 2nd Side 11 v11.

Johnny Murray played his first Rugby match, along time coming for a Munster Man and he got his first Try in his rugby début  Andy Fielder got himself a try too and if you follow him on facebook he wasn’t slow about letting everyone know he had a good day out.  Tony Durr sold 12 dummies in the game and carried with the enthusiasm of a u-12 player every time he got his hands on the ball.  ElijahOmolo won’t be kept on the second side very long if he continues to improve at this rate and several people asked how come Ernesto Puche didn’t play first side after seeing a powerful performance by him.  Another come back worth mentioning was that of Andrew Doig  another former Houston Old Boy and had runs with Katy when we were West Houston He played scrum half for the B’s and looked to have really enjoyed himself.

First 15 Squad

1. A Rod
2. Neil Doherty
3. Charlie Brown Capt 
4. Hunter Nezat
5. Justin Kincheloe
6. Tim Payne
7. Kris Maanum
8. Sean Doherty
9. Rob Felegi
10. Calvin Messias
11. Tony Durr
12. Esteven Garcia
13. Johnny Ziomek
14. Adam Rodriguez
15. Timmy O’Gara
16. Will Beazley
17. Jasper French
18. Steve Macrae
19. Neal Hayes
20. Craig Leslie
21. Ashley Buist
22. Ernesto Puche
23. Andy Fiedler

H.U.R.T. V Katy Lions R.F.C. 10/20/2012 – 2pm Rice University Rugby Field

H.U.R.T.    19 V Katy Lions R.F.C.  18

 

This was a major step for the Club fielding a second side prior to the cup match.  Just 2 seasons ago we travelled to Austin with 16 players to play UT Grads in a D3 game and lost the game.  Now here we are competing for the win in the second division having already played a 2nd 15 game before kick off.

Having dominated possession and position for the first 5 or 6 minutes it was a tough pill to swallow conceding a try the first Time HURT got into our half.  Even though our pack were dominating in the scrum the ball ended up at the back of their scrum on our put-in and we were caught off guard when their blind side flanker broke from the scrum with their winger in support, the winger scored in the corner and Big Scotty converted from the touch line.  We converted a penalty to get our name on the score board but 1 minute later we conceded a very soft try to put our selves behind 12-3. Hurt scored another try just after 30 minutes and converted to put us 19-3 down.  Timmy took 3 shots at Goal before the half missing 2 of them including one from point blank range. So Katy went in 19-6 down at the break.  Katy’s forwards came out in the 2nd half with real determination and dominated the opposition in scrums, lineouts and rucks and at the hour mark Charlie Brown ran in a try from #8 running over 2 tacklers and bringing a third with him over the line, Sean Doherty converted to put us back in the contest 19-13.  Dave Furniss made a couple of big runs in the second half when he switched into the center and Calvin Messias continued to keep his opposite number very quiet crushing him with tackles every time he carried.  

With just one minute left on the clock Katy were awarded what must have been the 30th penalty for the same infringement at the ruck against HURT and Katy went for the Line-out.  A Rod who looked to be broken in 2 and out on his feet refused to be replaced and took his place in the line-out, and when big Sean Doherty got his hands on the line out ball A.rod helped drive him over the line for what will be the first of many try’s this season for the former Barbarian, Greystones and Aggie player to put Katy one point behind.  Calvin bravely stood up to take the shot at goal that could win the match from the touch line – a little dizzy from a boot in the head but the well struck kick drifted just right of the upright and 1 minute latter the game was over.

1 bonus point is all Katy get for all the effort but plenty of satisfaction knowing that we are good enough to compete in this division and come back from 19-3 down to almost take the win.

Man of the Match Charlie Brown

Squad

1 Deano 2 Neil 3 A.Rod 4 Sean Doherty 4 Kyle Wittenbraker 6 Kris 7 Tim Payne 8 Charlie Brown (captain) 9 Juan Di Bello 10 Timmy 11 Dave Furniss 12 Calvin 13 Johnny Z 14 Felegi 15 Adam Rodriguez

Subs; The Falcon, Justin, Jasper, Hunter, steve macrae, Mauro, E-Steven and  Tony Durr.

Second xv

 Rice University V Katy Lions 2nd XV 10/20/2012 – 12 noon Rice University Rugby Field

Rice University 12 Katy Lions 2nd XV 22
Right from the start of the kick off the Katy took control of the game getting the ball out to the back to get huge gains on the edge shortly after turning over the ball to rice the forward did a good job of getting it back to the back Danny Daniel O’Donnell with a huge break up the middle and then a wonderful pass to Esteven Garcia to get the try after the try Katy moved it all the way back to rice’s try line with a big break away from Justin Kincheloe and Dan O’Donnell finished it off with a try of his own on the edge
In the second half Esteven Garcia had a huge pass to Riley Mason who broke away for a 60 yard run to put Katy up 17 to 0 Katy
Rice managed to get two tries late in the second half but in the third and final half after a almost come back by rice Juan Di Bello had a huge truck to score a try and make rice lose all momentum Katy would take control of the ball for the rest of the third half and put away rice 22 to 12.
Thanks to Esteven – Captain of the 2nd side for writing the match report.

 

Katy Lions V Horde 3/31/2012 – 2pm George Bush Park

Katy Lions 38 V Horde 0

On a day that felt more like August than March having a full squad with impact players on the bench was vital.  The Horde showed up with only 14 men but proved to be tough opposition despite their results this year.  Some strong forward play saw Katy pick up a pair of tries in the first half through Kris Maanum and new boy Neal Hayes. In the second half Katy and the heat proved to be to much for the visitors.  Luke, Riley, Frenchy and JC all crossed the try line with Frenchy’s try coming courtesy of a 70 yard run after some exciting play from Randy James.  Randy had already crossed the try line when he very unselfishly and a little dangerously decided to pass out of the try zone back to Frenchy for the score. JC converted 4 of the tries to give him a tally of 13 points for the day

The forwards out scrummaged a far heavier Horde pack and the highlight of the game came in the 78 minute when the ref decided to ignore the Horde players that came in not just from the side but through the far side of a ruck on the try line and then awarded Horde a five meter scrum.  The Katy pack drove the Horde off the ball and took the scrum against the head showing once again why Katy have conceded less points than any team in any division in Texas rugby.

Man of the Match awarded by the Horde Kyle Alvarado playing 8 man

 

Katy Lions V Galveston 3/24/2012 – 1pm George Bush Park

Katy Lions 59 V Galveston 0

This was the first time the Katy Lions got to play on the Rugby Field at George Bush park and also the first hot day of the year.  The humidity combined with the pollen from the freshly cut grass tested everyone’s fitness.  The scoreline doesn’t reflect the strong first half effort from the Islanders especially from their pack of forwards. A couple of breakaway tries against the run of play put Katy 14-0 in front after 30 minutes followed with 2 more just before the break for a 24-0 scoreline at the break.   We lost both centers in the first half, Ashley Buist pulled his hamstring after just 15 minutes which gave Calvin Messias a chance to come an and have a very impressive performance playing center then fullback and finally a 20 minute run at fly half.  The front row of Rob Felegi, Neil Doherty and A.Rod out scrummaged the big Galveston trio from the first scrum to the last.  Will Beazley had a stellar performance in this his first game for several months since injuring himself at the start of the season and in 2nd row for the first time for Katy. Kyle Alvarado (2) Charlie Brown (2) Riley Mason (3) and the new boy Calvin Messias (2) were the scorers of our 9 tries on the day, but it was the tackling rather than the touch downs that were most impressive on the day.  3 times in the first half, try line tackles denied the visitors from avoiding the goose egg on the score board and their big ball carries were smashed all day especially by Tim Payne which regularly prevented them from even crossing the gain line.

The W put the Lions out of reach at the top of D3 central which means we’ll be in Dallas for the play-offs.

Man of the Match (awarded by Galveston) O’Gara not sure why – should have been Riley for the Hat-Trick

Yum Yum of the day Charlie Brown for throwing a bucket of left over beans all over poor Rob Felegi who wasn’t impressed.

 

San Antonio v Katy Lions 3/3/2012 – 1pm Olmos Park

San Antonio 12 v Katy Lions 15

The old cliché of Really good sides win when they’re playing badly or win ugly was never more true than yesterday with our performance.  An error filled first half meant we were down 12-0 at half time but at no point did we think we were on the field with a better side than us. A quick line-out by San Antonio 15 yards out and an offload to a fat prop who barrelled his way over for a soft try put them into the lead and not to long after a string of mistakes by us led to another soft try.  At half time we had a chat about hitting the rucks with more bodies and that improved our game in the second half.  Within 4 minutes San Antonio handed us a a soft intercept pass and 2 quick passes later and Ashley Buist crossed their line in the corner for our first score of the day.  Our Line-out functioned without any trouble with accurate darts from Neil Doherty and the Scrum having being under a little pressure in the first half drove San Antonio back in just about every scrum in the second half

The momentum continued to swing our way due to some big tackles by Luke Nenes , Kyle Alvarado and several by Liam O’Donnell which made them a little timid after that.  We kicked a penalty into the corner for a line-out and the entire pack and both half backs drove the maul over their line with Chris Makselon downing the ball for our second try of the day and even though we were still two points behind the result was no longer in doubt.  In the 74th minute after a series of quick ruck balls thanks to the introduction of our skipper Charlie Brown on one good foot, a couple of quick passes found Carlos Rogers Former Barbarian 12 or 13 yards from their try line and he dragged two defenders over the goal-line to score the winning try.  San Antonio gave away a couple of penalties late in the game which left O’Gara with a total of zero from seven with the boot and three warnings from the ref to shut his mouth.

Fielding a B side game was also an historic first for the club which went very well too with our side scoring a total of 5 tries to San Antonio’s 2. Tony Durr received a well timed pass from Danny O’Donnell on the scissors to pick up the opening score and Rene Ortiz finished the scoring off having played at full back, both wings and in the center on the day and he ran a Zulu at the pitch side social.

Yum Yum of the Day O’Gara for missing 7 Kicks, for getting everyone lost and for whinging the whole game.

Man of the Match Liam O’Donnell for making massif tackles all through the second half on a suspected broken foot.

http://gallery.me.com/greenbottle#100710 Photo’s from this game

Katy Lions v McAllen 2/25/12 – 2pm – Katy Junior High

Katy Lions 83 V McAllen 19

In the clubs 5 year history the McAllen games are the ones that stand out every year.  We’ve scored plenty of tries every year against them but they’ve always out scored us.  We’ve gotten three monkeys off our backs in three weeks, prior to this season we had never beaten Alamo city, The Woodlands or McAllen.  Neil was super confident going into this one but I was having flash backs from last seasons, 2 black eyes and a broken nose in McAllen doesn’t lead to bold predictions.  Again 31 players were available for selection which brings us to another first for next weekend we are going to play a first and 2nd side game in San Antonio to accommodate all the extra numbers.

Going into this game the team had scored a total of 83 points in 5 cup matches and managed to double that in 80 minutes.  The first 4 or 5 minutes of this one were a real forward slog with every back and spectator screaming at Timmy to let it out wide.  Once we let the backs loose on McAllen they had very little answer.  They had a player sin binned and we scored 3 tries over those 10 minutes.  Our Super Dynamic back row set such a tidy platform for the backs to work from the rest was easy.  Kyle Alavarado carried the ball an average of 30 yards every time he touched it, Santino Puppo smashed their biggest men whether he was carrying or tackling and steve macrae’s tackle count was phenonomal. Everytime we ran the ball we had overloads in the back line as a result of all their hard work, you’d hardly notice that we were missing our starting 8 man and skipper Charlie Brown.  Charlie took the role of coach for the day due to a broken foot.

Riley Mason former barbarian started the try fest after just 5 Minutes and finished the day with a hat trick, Luke Nenes former barbarian crossed the line after 13 minutes and also finished the day with a hat trick. Liam O’ Donnell, Timmy O’Gara, Rory Matthew, Rob Felegi, Randy James, Carlos Rogers and J.C. all picked up tries before the day was over Carlos former barbarian try was particulary enjoyable as a result of two huge hand offs.  Mostly backs getting on the scoreboard but the platforms to play from made it simple, The tight 5 won 2 scrums against the head and off the top line out ball was in abundance all afternoon.  With the bonus point secured and legs getting tired tactical substitutions were made early and often.

Our problem of not scoring in the second half in cup matches was blown away with 6 tries coming after the break with 2 of those coming from super subs.  The social at Southland Icehouse went very well, Daniel put on a great feed for us and the beer was flowing like wine.

Yum Yum of the day goes to Michael French for leaving “Bear / Larry” our Lucky Lion mascot at home.  You’re lucky Frenchy we didn’t blow this one because we’d have made you shoot the boot all night.

Man of the match Riley Mason yet again – When the opposition individually come up to the man at the social to say how impressed they were with him, you know he was on fire.

A special ” Thank you” to Tony Durr for keeping the score card, he was the businest man in the club yesterday.

Galveston Mardi Gras Tournament 2012

Katy Lions 1st place winners

Katy Lions 48 V Galveston / Scallywags 0

Galveston’s big Irish prop was missing from this game while they were carrying 4 or 5 of their old boys and Katy made 13 changes at half time.  The back row of Cochrane at 8 Sean Schicker former Barbarian and the new boy Kyle Alavarado made life very difficult for Galveston in the first period.  Kyle had 2 tries in the first half and somehow got away without having to do a Zulu later on at the Melrose Pub.  Liam O’Donnell Former Barbarian got himself a brace in the first half too in his first official game for the Katy Lions.  Luke Nenes Former Barbarian and Randy James were the only players to play in both halves, in fact Luke played every minute of every game except the couple of minutes the ref made him sit out.

Katy Lions 17 V Woodlands (Div 1) 12

We started with 14 of the same 15 that started the first game but into a strong wind and against a very talented 1st division side our hard working players were down by 0-12 at the half.  Heads never went down and the starters took the task very seriously. Luke played fly half and captained the side for the first period and the troops gave their all for him.  Again John Cochran at 8, Santino Puppo at 7 and Kyle at 6 kept our club in the game with big tackles and big carries and all 3 ran themselves into the ground.  Luke, Randy and Liam O’Donnell were retained for the second half, with 12 sets of fresh legs coming on at the break.  With the wind at our backs we scored 3 top class tries in the second half and Tim Payne playing 6 converted the last of them from the far left touch line with the wind blowing accross the field into his face at this point – what a kick.  The only time the woodlands made it into our half Riley Mason made a wonderful tackle on their strong centre.  They ran a move identical to our horses and their heaviest player ran straight at O’Gara playing 10 and Tim Payne hit the guy so hard he knocked O’Gara out for the count – Neil said he knew it was a big hit becasue it was the only time Timmy shut up all day. Again the back row impressed in this one with Neil at 8 and Captain making life very easy for J.C at 9 with Santino and Tim Payne pushing each other to win the tackle count.  It’s worth noting that we kicked this game off with 2 father and son partnerships on the field;  Gerry and Sean Schicker & Michael and Jasper French.

Katy Lions 29 V Deadwood 14

We looked like we might be in a little trouble in this one with Deadwood looking quick and talented but their over confidence bit them in the arse when Luke shot up and intercepted a pass between their three quarter line while running a flashy counter attack.  He got what was his 3rd try of the day but having missed a club record 7 conversions in one day already he let J.C. tap this one over for him.  With the scores all level at half time, rolling on 12 sets of fresh legs was way more than Deadwood could handle.  The Back row trio in both halves were way better than the opposition; Cochran at 8 was particularly sharp today running horses for a gain every time.

The win over deadwood left us the only undefeated club at the Tourney but as a formality we challenged the Woodlands to a final game where we would boat race their 8 toughest men.  With Gerry Schicker in our line up everyone was able to take their time because Gerry’s beer defied gravity as it fell down his throat quicker than gravity could get it out of the glass.

Every player that made the trip deserves a mention for their performances in helping us win our first Silverware under our new Brand (Katy Lions RFC).

Will Beazley, Roberto Navas, Gerry Schicker, Sean Brown, Brad Hofstetter, Kyle Alavarado, Sean Schicker, John Cochran, Michael French, Luke Nenes, Jaryd Hankins, Liam O’Donnell, Carlos Rogers, Randy James, Rob Felegi, Jasper French, A.Rod, Kris Maanum, Hunter Nezat, Tim Payne, Santino Puppo, Neil Doherty, J.C., Timmy O’Gara, Luke Nenes, Riley Mason and Dave Steer.

Yum Yum of the day Jaryd Hankins for dropping the first 5 passes of the day but he did play well and didn’t drop another ball once he found his old form.

Man of the Tournament Gerry Schicker for his performance in the boat race

And a big thank you to Irma Rodriguez Former Barbarian Team Mom for cooking delicious venison sausage sandwiches and hot dogs for us.

Katy Lions v Alamo City 2/4/12 – 2pm – Katy Junior High

Katy Lions 16 V Alamo City 05

The game location was moved due to heavy rain for several hours prior to kick off and the make shift field was put together thanks to Neil, Tony, Steve, Ed and Hunter for showing up so early to make that happen.  The selectors had their work cut out for them yet again with a squad of 30 to choose from.  With everyone so eager to wear a Lions jersey on the day it meant we were dressed warmed up and well drilled before kick off and our club doctor took care of any little niggles some of the guys were worried about.

Concern over the opposition watching us use all of our options in warm ups before kick off was quickly vanquished when we discovered they had no answer for any of them. They on the other hand had only one game plan which we were more than ready for.  2 on one tackles again served us well in defence, and Santino’s rush up tackles didn’t require any extra help, the bigger they were the harder Santi hit them.  Alamo city ran the ball well in the early going but turned it over in the red zone and with the wind behind our backs we kicked our way back into their 22.  A penalty for not releasing was easily converted by O’Gara for first blood.  That trend of turn overs continued and Katy’s purple patch also continued.  The Lions dominated the lineouts and kept possession through several phases with Rory Matthew making a quick break and linked up well with the hard running Luke Nenes and from 20 yards out Luke got himself a nice try under the sticks which made for an easy conversion.

Alamo city got their only score of the game from a serious of pick and goes, combined with quickly taken penalties.  Some of their heavier pack members proved to be to hard to stop from 5 yards after a series of attacks in our 22.  When they cossed for the try not one head went down and not one player spoke negatively, we remained positive and felt confident that we would continue to keep the score board ticking over.  We landed another penalty goal before the break and went in 13 – 5 in front.

We had some concern that with the wind at their backs they would kick behind our defence or produce a couple of Garryowens in the second half but they kicked very poorly and sent the ball dead from 40 – 50 meters when they did kick which resulted in scrums from where they kicked.   There were a couple of goal line situations and 5 yard scrums to defend which were bravely defended but once we started to send in fresh legs Katy produced another purple patch and managed to get into their 22 for the 1st time in the second half at the 66 minute mark.  Alamo city’s discipline let them down again and O’Gara slotted over the penalty kick from less than 20 yards. Ed, Taylor, John Cochran, Ben Jones and Tim Payne came off the bench for Charlie, Jasper, Hunter and Felegi and the flu stricken steve macrae and made life very difficult for the visitors who were clearly tiring in the pack.  Dustin came on for J.C. who’d been solid at the back for an hour but had taken a very bad knock and limped off to make way for his buddy. Rob Ware came in for Dave and Michael French came in for Sunshine to help close the game out and not a moment too soon, frenchy had to make a tackle on one wing and seconds later made one on the other wing.

Other noteworthy highlights of the game were, the srumagging of A.Rod, the work rate of Neil Doherty and some scintliating runs by both Riley and Felegi. The Schickers deserve a mention for playing their part too. Gerry was the referee’s assistant and took his roll very seriously and Sean kept stats and was the first guy all year to do it right.

Men of the match goes to both Tony Durr and Sean Brown, Tony showed up 3 hours before kick off and did everything to make sure the field was playable. Sean ran around like a man possessed to get water to his team mates at every stoppage and anything else he could do to help.

YumYum of the day goes to Riley for asking me who was going to be yum yum of the day and for not wearing his polo.

Corpus Christi Crabs V Katy Lions 1/28/12 – 2pm – Hass Middle School

Corpus Christi Crabs 05 V Katy Lions 14

The Katy Lions Rugby Football Club remains undefeated in their new strip  and for the third cup match in a row they failed to put a score on the board in the second half (I’m predicting that there’ll be fitness training this week).  The first half was played at a hectic pace with an abundance of handling errors due to a combination of windy conditions and a shyte ball.  Our Captain Charlie Brown changed the momentum of the game with a big pick and go from a scrum just inside the Crabs half, he barged passed the first couple of defenders and found himself facing just the full back about 10 meters out and he gave Luke Nenes former Barbarian a try scoring pass.  Dave Steer picked up the second try for the Lions by supporting by supporting O’Gara after a simple line break due to weak tackling by the Crabs – both tries were converted, simple tab overs due to some hard work and quick thinking by both try scorers.

The second half was a very different story into the wind and the opposition left wing gave our back line plenty to think about.  He got around his opposite number on 2 occasions and turned one of those line breaks into a  try which was Corpus Christi’s only score of the match.  They missed the conversion right in front of the posts with the wind behind them which meant they had to score at least 2 more times to trouble the visitors.  A ton of  hard work on the floor by young Neil Doherty and plenty of bone crushing tackling by our latest recruit SANTINO PUPPO denied the crabs very much possession or penetration for the remainder of the game.

Larry the Lion watched over his second victory and must now be deemed to be a lucky mascot indeed.  Hopefully whoever finished up with him feeds him well and remembers to bring him out on Saturday.

Hit of the Game Luke Nenes when he exploded on their lanky center

Yum Yum of the Day for the second week in a row goes to Timmy for the abundance of shyte that came out of his mouth during the match and an equal volume of puke from the same orifice on the way home.

Man of the Match Awarded by the opposition to Riley Mason Former Barbarian who played a blinder

Katy Lions V BARC 1/21/12 – 2pm – Katy Junior High

Katy Lions 29 v BARC 14

30 players were available for this friendly game with our cross town rivals which was a milestone in itself for our young club. Denise Wardwell of Wardwell Insurance A farmers agent one of our 2 lions level sponsors made a guest appearance for the pre-game photo and what a photo – We looked like a professional outfit in our new kit courtesy of Denise’s sponsorship and Steven S. Toeppich & Assoc. The starting fifteen well bossed by Rory Matthew in the 10 Jersey got off to a very good start and drew first blood by the 2 minute mark with a well taken penalty kick by the starting fly half.  The score board was kept ticking over by another one of Dustin Rosen’s trade mark trys. BARC out weighed us accross the field but our 2 on one tackling nullified their crash ball tactics.  And our scrum half Brent Mecham making his first appearance in a Lions jersey and his first match in several years played like a half back that hadn’t missed a game in his life.

We made wholesale changes for the second period of 4 sets of 20 minutes and maintained the upper hand with some big hitting ball carries by Luke Nenes Former Barbarian and our Captain Charlie Brown which led to another Riley Mason Former Barbarian Try.

Dustin and J.C. both scored in the second half, J.C.’s try came from a well worked 8 man pick and pass to 9 and 9  to the winger and Dustin’s second try came from a quick tap and go by the scrum half, then 2 quick passes for an easy try in the far corner.

We played the 2nd half in the same fashion as the first, we rang in the changes between the quarters and regardless of the 15 on the field we played our game plan for which the opposition had no answer.

A founding member of the club made his first appearance of the season Larry Tripp and it was great to have him, he slotted in seamlessly and had as good a performance as ever.

Yum Yum of the day went to O’Gara for making half the crowd at the club house look for his car keyes only to find them in his knickers.

Hit of the Day goes to Ed Griffith running a perfect Blue right into the torso of the ref and knocked the snot right out of him.

Man of the Match goes to Ben Jones Former Barbarian for putting in a phenomenal tackle count without a single missed tackle.

Katy Lions V University of Texas Graduates 12/03/11 – 2pm – Katy Junior High

Katy Lions 12 V UT Grads 0

Half the starting pack for this one were former Barbarians, A.Rod, David Watson, Rob Felige and Luke Nenes making his first official appearance for the Lions.  The Lions were starved of possession for the first 9 or ten minutes but once we got our hands on the ball and ran our black and whites a few times we quickly forced our way into their half and we crossed their try line only to be stripped on the line.  They counter attacked from their line up to the 22 but some  how A.Rod got his hands on the brand spanking new match ball and stormed over from 25 yards by side stepping 3 Katy players that were still retreating and 3 defenders that couldn’t handle the big man’s jukes.

The UT backs ran the ball several times for a loss in both halves with our quick rush and drift defence proving to difficult for them to get around or through.  Every time their winger got the ball he was smashed into touch by Dave Steer who was particularly agressive on the day. Another Katy purple patch at the half hour mark led to Luke Nenes demolishing the UT defence from 20 yards out, breaking as many as four tackles and carrying two tacklers and a team mate over the try line for what could only be described as a great individual effort once that was converted that concluded the scoring for the day but not the quality rugby.

A serious of Black and whites early in the second half led to a maul and once Charlie Brown got his hands on the pill as he likes to call it, accompanied by only as many as 3 others, Charlie called for ready ready drive and we walked 25- 30 yards before the opposition illegally pulled it down.  Well we know what we’ll be working on in practice between now and our next cup match. Murray Hunkin Retired made an appearance with his camera and will send the photos to me and I’ll post under the Pictures tab. Sean Schicker former Barbarian made his first cup match appearance for the men’s club as a supper sub and Carlos Rogers another former barbarianin an an effort to break the Texas third division record for most yellows in a season made it 3 from 3 within 2 minutes of arriving on the paddock.  The starting 15 stayed in place for 65/70 minutes – either we’re getting fit or we got selection right or both.

Yum Yum of the game must go to our Captain Charlie Brown for crossing the line not once but twice only to spill the ball.

Man of the Match was awarded by the visitors to A.Rod for shutting up their whining Aussie prop.

Galveston V Katy Lions 11/19/11 – 2pm – Burnett School

Galveston 12 v  Katy lions 5

31 players were considered for selection for the first time in our clubs history which led us falsely to believe that we were going to dominate this one.  Writing a match report for such an upsetting result is very difficult.  However, A Rod former barbarian did score a powerful try in the first half only to realise that the ref had yet to arrive within an asses roar of the touch down and by the time he showed up the ball wasn’t in his control.  Thankfully Galveston were blooding a full back that had never heard of rugby prior to the game and ran from the ball instead of to it in the in goal area and Ashley Buist never needing a second invitation to such an opportunity pounced on the ball for the softest of tries. When Steve Ballard came into the front row the Irish prop causing so much trouble was neutralized and that was the highlight of the second half. Another super sub was Alex Blaque at scrum half, he got hammered on his first possession but caused their half backs plenty of trouble for the last 10 minutes.  Playing on a 125 meter long and only 40 meter wide field obviously doesn’t suit our style of play.

Dan O’Donnell was winner of yum yum of the game giving everyone a good laugh when the ball ran between his legs on it’s 3rd bounce.

Galveston awarded one of our guys man of the match but we drank all their beer and a bottle of Sambuca so I can’t remember who that was.  10 out of 10 to the hosts for always putting on a great feast and all the beer we could drink.

Veterans Day Tournament

Katy Lions v BARC 11/12/11 – 10am – HASP Game one

Katy Lions 21 TX 3rd Divison v BARC 10 TX 2nd Division

Chris Parker & David Watson both former barbarians made their first appearances for the men’s side, Chris was part of the original group along with Gareth Jones that founded the Club. There was a total of 8 former barbarians in our squad of 29 for this tourney. Our goal was to send a message to the 2nd division clubs, they know we’re coming. Ray Davis a life long football player discovered what he’s been missing and rugby discovered what we’ve been missing welcome to rugby Ray.  Ray had a little run at 13 in this one but spent the rest of the day wearing 6 where he put the rest of the clubs back rowers on notice.  Dustin Rosen scored one of his signature tries where he breaks a dozen tackles and runs it in from the half way line, can you imagine how good he’d be if he came to practice. Peter Lancaster  our virtual director of rugby will be delighted to know that steve macrae took a white ball after a series of black and whites in for a try from outside the 22, the opposition had no answer for the black and whites or steve’s blinding pace.  Our Captain and fearless leader Charlie Brown aka mayhem made himself available at the 11th hour while his wife Ashley kindly held off going into labour for another day so he could be with us. With just seconds on the clock and the W in the bag J.C made a run from deep inside his own half which resulted in a penalty try which put the final nail in the Divsion 2 side’s coffin.

Chris Parker was Man of the Match by a country mile and “Later Today Rod” also a Former Barbarian was Yum Yum of the match for keeping up his attendance record.

Katy Lions RFC V Austin Black 11/12/11 – 12pm – HASP Game Two

Katy Lions 5 TX 3rd Division v Austin Black 24 TX 1st Divison

Sean Schicker a former Barbarian and his old man Gerry started this toughest of contests in the front row together. The Schickers are the fifth family in the clubs short history to field a father and son Combo. Neil & Sean Doherty, Dan & all three sons Timothy, Liam & Danny O’Donnell, Michael & Jasper French and Mike & Ben Jones were the first four families. Sean Schicker made a try saving tackle in one corner and then Kenny Wilson made one in the opposite corner as the Blacks ran at us from all angles. The Starting 15 all deserve a mention because they held the mighty blacks out for as long as any Texas team could. 1Gerry Schicker, 2Sean Schicker, 3 Rob Felegi, 4Erin Hughes, 5Jonathan Hostler, 6 Ray Davis, 7 Ben Jones, 8, John Cochran, 9 Michael French, 10 Rory Matthew capt, 11 Alex Blaque, 12 Dave Steer, 13Rob Ware, 14 Kenny Wilson 15 Dustin Rosen. The Blacks scored all their points in the first half, the starting 15 had worn them down and Jasper French when he came on made a huge difference in the front row in his best performances so far this year which was matched only by A. Rod’s impact coming off the bench just what the team has been waiting for from this pair.  The side that took the field for the second half managed to out score this champion 1st division side by 5-0 over the second period and walked off the field feeling 10 feet tall.  Riley Mason The Former Barbarian’s try was the only score of the second half.  He would have added a second if O’Gara could learn to pass to his right.

Ray Davis former football player won “Man of the Match honors for producing a massif tackle count and Dustin was phenomenal defensively in the second half playing in the center. Michael French put in a wonderful Ronan O’Gara style cross field kick from under his own goal posts to an unmarked Austin Black for the simplest of tries for which frenchie hands down won the yum yum of the match award. In Fairness to Mike that was the only blemish on an otherwise stellar performance under severe pressure.

Katy Lions V HARC II 11/12/2011 – 2pm – HASP Game Three

Katy Lions 21 v Harc II 12

This cities premier club 2nd side was our final contest of the day and what a day for the club.  Dan O’Donnell was selected to start at 10 and then abandoned us for the referees association if you can believe that. We got ourselves in a bind due to some good forward play by the opposition, powering their way over our line very early in the match for a 5 pointer.  And then for the Yum Yum play of the day our captain for the day Rory Matthew put in a goal line clearance that travelled all of 30 yards upwards and straight back down to a HARC player for a soft try.  Some very poor defending and worse attitude from the Houston club led to a very easy try for O’Gara who wasn’t even chased from the half way line to score against his former club. Dustin Scored another one of his trade mark tries as did Riley Mason Former Barbarian. The Referees association must be operating under the theory that it takes one to know one because the ref for this game is a former villain who spent his playing career going around chop blocking players off the ball which led to our former captain Barclay Harper missing half a season due to an injury coming form one of those off the ball incidents. O’Gara doing the exact opposite (Former Referee come Villain) was sent to the sin bin for unsportsman like behaviour, came out of the sin bin along with Alex Blaque been sprung from the bench to arrive just in time to double team a gigantic prop just shy of the try line which must have been entering the field illegally even though time was up on the card and the ref waved us on, a penalty had already been taken quickly. With another W already in the bag J.C. would have really killed them off if he hadn’t knocked the ball on crossing the try line after running 80 meters.  Roberto Limped off after this one – one more injury and he’ll have to take over the Mayhem tag.

Horde V Katy Lions 11/05/2011 – 2pm – Huns RFC Land

Austin Horde 10 v Katy lions 34

Horde kicked off at their new field in what was the 1st cup game of the season for both teams. A beautiful afternoon for a game. Katy ran the ball well with Taylor Burkhalter Former Barbarian running strongly and breaking tackles. pressure from a ruck led to quick pass out and Rob Felegi Former Barbarian sold a dummy and took the ball in from 15yds for the opening try after about 5 minutes. Neil’s drop kick conversion hit the bar but missed. Katy kept up the pressure and on 13 mins Neil grabbed a loose ball from an Austin line out and took it over for a score. He made the difficult conversion to make it 12-0.  Austin started to get into the game and after a series of good rucks they were awarded a penalty after Katy strayed offside one too many times.  Kick successful 12-3.  Within 10 mins Katy were moving the ball well to the wing and Rob Ware scored, conversion was missed. 17-3 at the half.
2nd half got underway and Katy were down to 14 men within 3 mins when Carlos Rogers former Barbarian got a yellow card following a dump tackle. The Horde took advantage of the extra man and drove in for a forwards try after a series of pick and goes. Conversion was good so 17-10 despite Katy having most of the possession.  Katy restored the margin within 2 mins when Dustin Rosen sold a dummy and scored. 22-10. Following a good break less than 10mins later from Ben Jones former Barbarian and an offload to Mike French, the ball made it to Taylor Burkhaltor who scored, Neil made the conversion. 29-10. Katy kept up the pressure and from a quick tap penalty Charlie Brown our club Captain aka mayhem scored on 71 mins.  34-10  Another Katy score by John Cochrane aka cheap shot was disallowed and John went off with a bad cut over his left eye. In the last 5 mins Austin put a lot of pressure on the Katy goal line but the defense held firm with some solid tackling. Ben made a hard hit to stop a try in the corner and the Austin player was down for a while. In injury time  Carlos managed to pick up a 2nd yellow which unfortunately means a red and a potential suspension after failing to wrap in a tackle. The play of the game happened from a maul in the last minute when an Austin player broke away with A.Rod’s (Alex Rodriguez) former barbarian jersey, but wait, the ball was in the jersey and the wrapped ball made it out a pass or 2 before ball and jersey separated and play eventually was blown dead for the end of the game.

Katy was well hosted by the Horde with some cold carbonated beverages and grilled sausages and chili, the Lions look forward to returning their hospitality. Taylor Burkhalter was deservedly picked by the Horde as the Lions man of the match.

Submitted by Mike Jones - President of the Katy Barbarians Rugby Club

St Thomas v The Katy Lions RFC 10/29/2011 – 11am – HASP

The great Peter Lancaster took charge of us for this game and inspired us to a narrow loss.  Last time out we lost 58-8 to the same oppostion and nobody was sure what the result was but the consensus was 19-15.

Mayhem ran into a little trouble and left for a minute or two to catch his breath and got back in the action as quickly as possible.

Our first try, Riley Mason, a former Katy Barbarian ran in a cracker.  Clean line out ball won inside our 22 and Rob Ware trucked it up to their 10 meter line and quick ruck ball resulted in a try under the posts, which was easily converted.

Our second try also from a former Katy Barbarian, Taylor  Burkhaltor playing number 8 called for a quick penalty to be passed to him and he bossed his way over from 5 yards but he will tell everyone it was 20.

O’Gara almost missed a penalty infront of the posts but luckily the wind forced it over.

When the going got tough we dedicated the rest of the game to the clubs founding member Gareth Jones and his presence and his family’s attendance certainly improved our performance over the last 20 minutes.

When the punch up broke out we tried our very best to break their hands with our jaws and our ribs – not a great plan.

Most importantly we hugged and kissed and made up and drank all the beer and ate all the pizza that St. Thomas were kind enough to put on.

Tim Payne won man of the match. Irving Aguirre was involved in the hit of the match – not sure if he won the collision.

Yum Yum of the match was a 6 way tie……… you know who you are.

Ashley Buist – our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family – hope to see you at practice on Monday.