YSC Match Report by Kevin Sullivan – Finding your Matching Half: Berkeley 48, Beantown 10, and both still single? [VIDEO]

View the complete 2011 WPL Schedule and Results here.

By Kevin Sullivan of Rucking Insurance:

Treasure Island, San Francisco – Saturday afternoon, The Berkeley All Blues broke up Beantown 48 to 10 in a match featuring four distinctive squads in two 40 minute halves…Ever wonder if your ex had Quadrophrenia?

The two recent National Champions clashed just a 100m away from a previously fateful meeting.  Saturday’s match had the All Blues typical blue collar forwards providing ball for the white collar backs.  Pressure both from up and unders, and 5 separate line breaks by the backline, provided AB tries at the 10th, 20th, 27th, 37th, and 40th minute of the first half.  The first try:  #3 Georgi Ellis p’n’g’ed over after a stolen lineout.  Beantown was on the verge of an immediate answering try, but conceded turnovers and a penalty.  The 20th minute try saw #10 Ashley English drive through two defenders and pop to #13 Kelly Griffin for a 60m dash.  The ABs might have scored 2 or 3 more from deep kicks and up and unders, but the GAA Pitch was hardened from summer heat and long use.

Beantown seemed to melt away.  No line breaks.  Not a one.  They had possession, but couldn’t keep the set pieces consistent, and lost a good deal of ball in their own rucks.

They didn’t maul.  Let me retype that in case you missed it:  Beantown didn’t maul once in the whole half.

Halftime, 31 to 0, 3 converstions to #15 Jaymie Schulke.  Ms. Ellis got a second, and #11 Nathalie Marchino and #12 Lucy Croy added fivers.

Five minutes later, and an entirely different set of players came on the pitch.  I have no idea what the Beantown coach said to his squad, nor the AB discussions.  I fear to speculate.

The second half Beantown dominated the relationship.  Tries came at the 25th and 32nd, the second from a pushover scrum.  #15 Katie Dowty started the break up discussions with a spun ball wide right off a perfect long throw lineout.  1st phase tries shouldn’t happen at this level, but considering the ABs conceded 8 penalties, 4 turnovers in the loose, a lost scrum, and 33% of the lineouts not going to hand, it’s a miracle that the Beantown side didn’t add a few more.  It’s important to note that the ABs also had two in the bin, playing a woman down for 20 minutes.  And, Beantown mauled…well.

Beantown’s second try literally folded the opposition over in a scrum pushover.  #8 Rachel Milligan got credit for the tight five’s effort.

Unfortunately, that second try came with only 8 minutes to go.  Beantown commited a penalty off the restart, and the kick found touch.  The ABs rallied with a basic two forward moves up, go wide, two forward moves up, go wide, and the last ditch tackle at the 5m line wasn’t enough for a series of p’n’g’s giving #6 Alex Boskovich a box of chocolates.

AB Scoring rounded out two late ones, as Beantown realized it was over, and softened up at the base of the breakdown.  This allowed #9 Jossy Tseng a 30m break from studying, some loose ruck play, and a spin right to #11 Marchino to do number 2.  Replacement Ruth Bryson added another deuce in the 80th minute.  Strangely, the game kept going, and #5 Hillary “Got Some Good News That Night” Hegener scored at the 86th minute.

Two halves, and four distinct teams.  Despite the final 48 to 10, one bounce or a switched half would have changed the game outcome.  Berkeley and Beantown have another date scheduled this coming Saturday.  Whichever side cleans up the most, and finds consistency, wins.

Match Videos

View the complete 2011 WPL Schedule and Results here.