Welcome to Unicorn Tales Issue # 6 - 17th May 2007, the official newsletter of the Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club. Presidents Report G’day Fellow Unicorns, Well what a week in Rugby. Some wins, some loses, and some injuries A big thank you to everyone who came on down to Fawkner Park to cheer on the boys. Unfortunately we will not be back at Orrong/Romanis until mid June - so fingers crossed that actually happens. We are away this weekend - check out below for details. See you all at the game, Jed Macartney This Weeks Games 1st Grade - Power House vs ICS Melbourne Unicorns @ 3.15pm 2nd Grade - Power House Green vs ICS Melbourne Unicorns @ 1.30pm Grounds 14 & 15, Aughtie Drive, Albert Park (Melways 57 J6 or 2K G12 ) Colts/Thirds at Endeavour Hills Endeavour Hills v Clearview Melbourne Colts @ 12Noon PLEASE NOTE LAST MINTUE CHANGES: Power House vs ICS Melbourne Thirds @ 3:00PM Frog Hollow Reserve, James Cook Drive, Endeavour Hills (Melways 91 H8) Travelling south east on the South Eastern Freeway exit at Heatherton Rd and turn left Travel along Heatherton Rd for two KM to Hallum North Rd and turn right around the roundabout James Cook Drive is approximately 1 KM south on the right This weeks Junior Games are at: Under 12s - Moorabbin v Melbourne @ 9.00am Keys Road Reserve, Keys Rd, Cheltenham Nth (Melways 78 B9) Under 10's - Power House v Melbourne @ 9.00am Under 8's - Power House v Melbourne @ 9.00am Langshaw Reserve, Fifth Av, Altona North (Melways 55 B1) Around the Grounds from last weekend Pillar Cup: No Games player - Season starts 30th June. ICS 1st Grade: Melbourne 45 (James Wark, Dogga Dougherty, Tyrone Mitchell, Andy Castleman, James Horton, Tom Lucas tries; Tyrone Mitchell 6 goals, penalty) def Northern 5 No full match report. ICS 2nd Grade: Melbourne 44 (Mike Brown 2, Will Gillespie 2, Tom Robertson, Charlie Bowler, Tim Clark, tries; Alex Ivory 2, Bruce McConnell goals; Alex Ivory penalty) No full match report. ICS 3rd Grade: MWyndham City 35 def Melbourne 12 (Anton Pilli 2 tries, goal) No full match report. Clearview Colts: Melbourne 15 (Zac Bittendag, Chris Birch, Charlie Cruikshank tries def Harlequins 0 After the disappointment of loosing to what appears to be the competition front runners, Melbourne University last week, Melbourne Colts were determined to get their season off to a positive start against a newly reformed Harliquins Colts side, with whom we played recently in a trial. From the kick off Melbourne established ascendency in the forwards after following the game plan and providing quality ball and room for the backs. The pick and drive worked very well with Quins stretched in defence and unable to stop the efficient use of the ball from the Melb forwards. Countless inroads from the forwards saw Melbourne march into Quins territory. After sustained periods of pressure, Charlie Cruickshank eventually scored a try after coming on as a replacement for Matt Sterling in the front row. This was a just reward for Charlie's efforts as he is playing without match fitness. Leading up to half time, Gerdus Buittendag (Zac) completed the first half scoring with a try. Neither try was converted, with Melb going to the break leading 10-0. The second half continued in similar vain to the first, but as injuries and tiredness set in, mistakes crept into our play. A try from broken play to Chris Birch created the final score of 15-0. Full credit should go to the forwards for following the game plan, as well as encouraging signs in the backs after being thrown together on Thursday night with a very sound defensive structure and positive phases of attack. With a bit more time together, we know that the offensive will match the defensive. Encouraging signs across the board, but plenty to work on. Points for best and fairest 3. Will Renton. 2. David Geen 1. Daniel Corcoran and Charlie Cruickshank Mark Under 12's Power House 42 def Melbourne 0 The second home match of the season was again at our temporary home at Faulkner Park. The boys were pumped up after our win against Eltham however Power House turned out to be a different kettle of fish. We started the match one man down after a couple of late withdrawals. After 10 minutes we were 17 points down and that was just the start. Powerhouse had a few big, well-developed, fast boys and this proved too much for our smaller but equally committed team. I have heard of leagues where each age group has a maximum weight limit irrespective of age and I think this is an idea worth perusing. By the end of the match we had one boy in hospital, two being treated by the ambulance and two more temporarily off for treatment. This is in no way a criticism of the way the opposition played, just a comment on the size discrepancy. I was proud of our boys despite the unflattering score line. They never gave up despite never really being in the match. As usual in these circumstances our systems tended to go out of the window. We will practice hard this week and work out a way of combating the bigger teams. See you all at training! p.s. Ben Kennedy (our player taken off to hospital) is ok, having spent the night in hospital for observation and just a few tests - there was a concern he had ruptured some internal organs. Mark Chew and Peter Leahy. (Joint Coaches) Under 10's Another convincing win by the Boys, 19 tries to 0! The try scorers were: Hastings 3, Hutch 4, Will Bracegirdle 4, Jordan 1, Andreas 2, Benjamin 2, Kaiaha 1 and Nicholas 2. The greatest achievement was that we did not allow them to score a single try, our tackling was "solid" and we finally dominated the breakdown with quick and effective clearing. Some of the Boys are still running too long and are not passing when they should and getting isolated; excusable though when you are 10 or so tries to nil ahead! It was great to see structure in their game and finally the backs are lining up and are not overcommitting to the breakdown- awesome display of Rugby when you consider that they are U10's! We hope that both Felix and Ben are feeling better this week and hope to see them on Thursday night. This Saturday we have a game against Powerhouse at Powerhouse (Langshaw Reserve) on field 1 (red). Thanks to you all for making the trip to Eltham and for ensuring that all the boys get to training on Thursday. The Coach. Under 8's Under-8s Blues vs Box Hill The second game of the season for the young Unicorns took place at Eltham last Saturday, and although beaten by a bigger and older team, the boys once again demonstrated that they punch above their weight. The boys started slowly letting in two early tries but man of the match Hamish McIlroy started to impose himself on the opposition and, well supported by Josh Groves and James Iakavidis, Hamish twice tore through the packed Box Hill defence to level the scores. The Box Hill boys regrouped and scored two more tries before Hamish completed his hat trick to leave Unicorns down by one score at half time. The young Unicorns lifted their work rate in the second half, helped by some great tagging from James Tarpey and Nicholas Fergus. Hamish rounded off another great move by scoring from a pass from Hugo Hayman, before Will Cameron went over for a great try in the corner. Box Hill again lifted and scored two more tries, but James Iakavidis finished a great move helped by Cameron and Will Morris, which was q quickly followed up with a great individual try from Hugo. A great performance from the youngest Unicorns, who showed some great tagging and passing skills, and kept it going until the final whistle. Final score: Box Hill 10 - Melbourne Unicorns 7. Scorers: Hamish 4 tries Hugo 1 try Will 1 try James Iakavidis 1 try The team was: Josh Groves Hugo Hayman Hamish McIlroy James Tarpey James Iakavidis Nicholas Fergus Cameron Morris Will Morris Colm Tarpey