In the fourth round of the National Touch Rugby Championships at the South Sound Rugby Ground last Saturday an early pitch inspection was given the all clear and the games kicked off in the drizzle.
In the first match, Heineken Brew Crew took on the Mighty Maples. The start was slow and ponderous as both teams tried to deal with the conditions of wet ball.
The Brew Crew, unbeaten so far this season, were missing a few players and looked off the pace, especially when Maples took the lead with a superbly worked try for Emily Davies.
She glided round the outside of the defence to score out wide. This was followed up by a second when Andrew ‘Dogger’ Dean, in his first outing of the season, sniffed out the try-line and dumped the ball across the whitewash for a try. Maples have a team packed with experienced touch players and were doing the basics very well – keeping the ball, taking the touches and not doing anything daft. But it was Heineken who won, 5-4, in a close and exciting game.
DART beat KPMG 9-5 then Heineken Brew Crew beat Team Black 6-5 before Walkers won 5-3 against KPMG. Team Black bounced back with an 8-2 victory over DART but it was DART who were voted team of the week.
DART are one of the main sponsors of all forms of rugby in Cayman and their commitment to touch rugby is unquestionable.
With a hard core of DART staff at the centre, the team was pulled together by captain Stacey Ottenbreit. By securing the sponsorship early she was able to recruit players quite easily with many culled from the Summer Touch League. What she may lack in touch rugby experience she makes up for in enthusiasm and is a firebrand on the pitch with or without ball in hand.
DART have had some mixed results thus far but the motivational half-time team talks of Niall ‘Sully’ O’Sullivan are stuff of legend. Churchillian in both their tone and inspiration, these now famous half-time talks ensure that DART never lies down or surrenders. If only he said them at the start of the game!
Back Row: Lisa Bird, Michael Mulligan, Niall O’Sullivan, Mark Robson, Al Lum, Iain Blackwell. Middle Row: Sonya Sherman, Kelly Fiebig, Riley Mullen, Stacey Ottenbreit (capt.) Front Row: Debbie Strassburg
Missing: Fiona Brander, Ross Connerton, Phil Coley, Siobhan O’Sullivan, Nic Schwartz
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