July 28, 2018

The regular season is now over, as the Pigs came away from Eglinton Flats with two victories.

1st XV defeated Dragons 40-10, having trailed 7-10 at the half time break.

After a slow start where both teams failed to amount any significant pressure in their opposition's 22, Bay Street finally retained the ball for more than a few phases, and subsequently broke the deadlock to go up 7-0. It didn't take the Dragons too long to hit back though, as they capitalized on some loose lineouts and uncustomary weak Pigs defense. A penalty goal in front of the posts just before the break gave the Dragons a well-deserved lead.

The second half was all pink and green, as has been the case throughout most of the season. The loss of David Reilly early in the game meant the Pigs had to find another way to break the Dragon's front line of defense. This came in an unlikely source, as Sam Stamp's continual darts from the back of a ruck, or chip kicks into open space, meant the halfback kept the opposition on the back foot. This allowed the backrow of de Ree, De Lallo and (de) Pinto, to make metres at will on the second and third phases of play.

The only blight on the second half performance, was the finishing of Stamp's last effort. From a quick tap after a Dragon's infringement, Sam ran past some tired props, over a backrower whom easily had a 15kg weight advantage, then out-sprinted the covering defender. Unfortunately after crossing the try line, he then dropped the ball cold as he circled under the posts to seal the victory. Footage has already been uploaded to the FaceBook page, so this "brain fart" will not soon be forgotten.

2nd XV defeated Dragons 41-38, in a high-scoring, nail-biting affair.

Even though the 2nd XV line up changes significantly each week, the winning performances remain the same. The 2's made it 8 bonus point victories from 8 games this season. A phenomenal effort by all involved, and a sign of the player quality and depth the club has this season.

The Pigs started strongly in this 1 v 4 fixture, making multiple line breaks with the ageless Jordan Laurin leading the pack. In the centres, Peter Gregory continually won the battle to get over the advantage line in attack, and worked well with Danton Ivanochko in defense to shut down the Dragons' dangerous 13.

In contrast to the side's performance in attack, their defensive structure in open play allowed the Dragons to score several long-range tries and eventually give up the lead with only a few minutes to play. With a perfect season on the line and two points down, captain Douglas Henderson decided against taking an easy 3 points from a penalty in front of the posts, much to the dismay of those on the sideline. Another handling error close to the try line gave the Dragons the ball and hope of an upset (yet well-earned) victory. The Pigs managed to work their way back up field from a lineout within their own half, before Thomas Schwitzer charged through some flat-footed defenders from 5 metres out, to seal the win.

3rd XV combine with Muddy York versus a strong Pagans side.

After two fixtures against Muddy York earlier in the season, the two sides amalgamated to play a predominantly 2nd XV team from Peterborough. The Pigs made up much of the backline in the first half, which proved to be the best method of attack, as the Pagans were kept to only a 22-14 lead at the break.

The second half saw the flood gates open, so to speak, with Peterborough showing their superiority in both attack and at the breakdown.