The Hounds took the pitch against visiting Boca Raton on Saturday April 30 with a trip to the USA Rugby Sweet 16 on the line. Home field advantage was apparent as the Hounds were greeted by seemingly every former Wolfhound and a raucous crowd of supporters.
The Wolfhounds immediately pressured the Buccaneers deep in their territory. With the wind at the home team’s backs Boca was penalized and Shaun Grobler kicked for points after missing an earlier attempt. With a strong showing in the line-outs and impressive power in the scrums, the Hounds retained possession on Boca’s half of the field. When Boca made mistakes Grobler kicked two more to put the Hounds up 9-0.
The resilient Boca “bend but not break” defense finally succumbed to the Wolfhound attack late in the first half. Off a line-out, the Hounds broke free down the touch line when Jeremy Anderson had a great off load to a streaking Jim Pelton who advanced it near the try line. After a few punches a determined John “Rocket” McCafferty touched one down to put the Hounds up 14-0. With Grobler kicking another penalty as time ran out, the Wolfhounds went into halftime in front of the Bucs 17-0.
As with any playoff rugby team, Boca showed no signs of quit and came out in the second half and put a converted try on the board, helping to remind the 15 Hounds on the field that the game was far from over. The Hounds were able to play through a few mistakes and mental errors to go up 26-7 with about 10 minutes to go, thanks to 3 more penalties from Shaun Grobler. Boca was able to touch down under the posts again with 5 minutes left, but with fresh legs on the pitch, the Hounds were able to stop a last minute surge from the Buccaneers before stealing a ball from a ruck and kicking to touch as the final whistle blew with the Hounds on the right side of the score board, 26-14.
A big thank you to everyone that came out to cheer the Wolfhounds on to the Sweet 16 in Manassas Park VA on May 21 and 22. The Wolfhounds will face the Norfolk Blues, the #1 seed out of the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Union. More info on travel and specifics for that weekend will be available soon. Stay tuned.
Cincinnati Wolfhounds 23 Man Roster
1. John McCafferty 2. Jim Pelton 3. Jeremy Anderson 4. Kyle Merk 5. Tony Schenke – Captain 6. Richie Columbus 7. Johnny Warner 8. Daniel Schultes 9. Gareth Little 10. Ryan Frentzel 11. Ryan Grote 12. Bob Deck 13. Shaun Grobler 14. Meki Betomakita 15. Gareth Morgan 16. Nick McCauley 17. Josh Goldsmith 18. Ferd Schneider 19. Paul Rettig 20. Nate Kosman 21. Jordan Kleinhenz 22. Jason Kleinhenz 23. Toby Taylor
More- Midwest Mows Over South- from www.rugbymag.com