SMRC Win 4 Games at LARC

The Dolphins traveled to LARC for four games (U-14’s opened the days action), and came away with four wins.

The U-14’s played beautiful rugby for 40 minutes in their match and were runaway winners. Cuddos to the coaching staff who have the squad playing a fast, skilled style of rugby that will be tough to contend with for other age grade squads throughout the season. The senior squad watched in awe as the youngsters passed the ball into space and counter rucked way ahead of their pay grade.

The Fighting Kelp took the field next, hungry for their first win of the young season. Lead by Robert Kremer, Loa Milford, and Brian Dargan the Kelp played the tightest defense as a squad they’ve ever played. Despite giving up three tries, including one more than 10 minutes into injury time to a much larger side, the Kelp rose from the ashes victorious 17-15 defeating LA’s threes (So Cal Blues).

The Barracuda started fast and kept their foot on the neck of the LARC II’s. The ‘Cudda raced out to an early lead and never looked back. Much like the U-14’s the ‘Cudda played fast, expansive rugby, running their opponents around the park en route to a 64-7 victory. The boys scored 10 tries on the day in just about every manner possible.

In the penultimate match of the day the Dolphins ran out 27-13 winners over a stubborn home side. With 4 starters from last weekends win unavailable or injured, the Dolphins started slow giving up 10 points in the first 15 minutes of play. After waking up, the boys scored two first half tries, both through tactical kicking, to take a 14-10 half time lead.

An early second half penalty to LARC brought the game to within a point where it stayed for much of the second half, 14-13. A Michael Hobbs penalty at the 70 minute mark, followed by a Hobbs drop goal at the 75th minute stretched the lead to 7. LA pressed and looked to close the gap, but the Dolphins earned a scrum deep in their own end. With the fullback and wing deep, expecting the kick, Hobbs ran out of his own try zone offloading near midfield. A bevy of ball carriers indued before a penalty was awarded on the LA 5m line. A quick tap by lock Aaron Davis ended with a Pat King try in the corner, 27-13.

Despite not getting their fourth try and earning the bonus point, the team was happy coming away with the victory on the road and with so many injuries.