Vinterserie 2008 start

<< report by Joe

Bergen Lions vs Bergen Bulldogs

Bergen’s weather did not fail to grace us with its presence, as torrential rain greeted those attending. Two evenly matched teams took to the field, set to battle it out against each other under difficult conditions. Hervé proudly took the honour of refereeing the opening match of the inaugural season of the “Bergen Vinterserie”.

In spite it being the first match of the season there was good open play, tackling and commitment; neither side was willing to give under their opponent’s pressure. Performance in the first half tended to be limited by conditions, but as the rain lifted play became more expansive leading to wealth of quality movements and tries.

After some heavy running from the opposition and pushed back the confines of their own try line, Mick, Gregor and Nikolai managed to steal the ball and set up a ruck. A sneaky run close into the ruck allowed a thunderous gallop to the line by “Ricky the Bull”. A first-class team effort.

In response, Ian powered near to the line and was carried over with shear momentum of his force, “Oupa” seemed surely to have grounded the ball only to be controversially denied for double movement. His questioning glance to the referee was met with a classical French pout, a shrug of the shoulders and “no try”.

The Rugby Gods swiftly replied. Stian seeing an opening in the defensive line charged through like a hoard of Vikings, only to be brought down millimeters short of the line by a booming tackle from Gregor. Realising the ball had not yet crossed the line “Conan” cheekily extended his fingers rolling the ball over the white and the try was awarded.

“Oupa” who, at this stage of his career might be getting sick of references to “fine wines” and “mature cheeses”, did in fact prove that like a fine wine the body improves with age. He silenced doubts from his previous disallowed try, by using the strength of a well-aged cheddar to muscle through a tight defense, this time grounding the ball effortlessly.

Language barriers also played a role in this match. Mick, by means of what can loosely be described as English, was thought to have declared “I’m fecked” telling teammates to “Teck tings ez-e”. Before twice, in short succession, single-handedly opening up the opposition like a can of worms and then sprinting three-quarters of the pitch to run-in excellent individual tries.

Ivar in his first competitive season displayed his growing knowledge of rugby with powerful runs and retention of the ball in contact, setting up stable bases from which to play. From one of these Karl was seen confounding the defense with darting, terrier like, angles. “Ricky the Bull” tried in vain to tackle him on the line, but with excellent body position Karl moved underneath and grounded the ball

Kjersti showed “No Fear” and took on her male counterparts with bravery only matched by Boadicea, the queen of the Iceni. Making tackles against men four times her size; not least in a gallant one-on-one try-saving tackle against Nicholai(2). Her prowess in attack was shown by a scurrying run down the blindside, leaving a wake of out paced men in her path. Minutes later Nicholai(2) proved his worth, slipping through a tackle, and sauntered over the line like a dog that’d finally got his bone.

Right at the close, Collum, who had shown typical Gaelic flair all night, broke through with an elusive run. His gazelle like moves, and the match itself, were only brought to an end, one meter from the try line by the jackal like Kjersti, tenaciously grabbing his foot, allowing Nikolai enough time to drag Collum, fighting, into touch like a lion with its prey.

All agreed it had been a great game of rugby.

The next game is in 2 weeks' time. So if you want to play, get off the sofa and come along, don’t just wait at home for something to happen…..
……Carpe diem!!!!

Best Player: Kjersti, for a gutsy performance

Thanks again to Hervé, and all players.