2. RVBY-Rugby Turnier in Gröbenzell U12
23. Oktober 2016

U12:
Bericht: Gennaro De Lucia
For this tournament, the MRFC U12 Lions managed to come up with two full teams! The original groups, put together by Antoine and David at enrolment stage, had to be re-shuffled  on the day of the tournament due to last minute defection of a couple of players and the addition of others. In spite of all this, the MRFC presented two distinctive teams. Already at this stage, we would like to stress the fact that, playing for the MRFC I or II team made no difference when it came to share the glory or the sorrow, during the whole tournament. The MRFC had also the chance to make use of Lofty’s presence. Thanks to the valuable help of Fernando, he arrived at the pitch well in time to follow the MRFC youth and to support Antoine with his advice and technical expertise.
Other three teams were present: a Spielgemeinschaft made out of five clubs, including Gröbenzell, the RC Unterföhring and the RC Regensburg, which brought the total number to five teams.
The games started with the MRFC I playing against the RC Unterföhring. The U12 Lions of the MRFC I had an easy run and won 45-0. The top scorer was Basile with 5 tries, followed by Alexis with 2 tries. Giorgio DC and Christian topped up the pot with 1 try each.
The second match saw the MRFC II playing against the Spielgemeinschaft. This game was more levelled and ended up with a 15-5 victory for the MRFC II Lions. The three tries for the Munich team were scored by Quentin, Connor and Patraic. After a break, the MRFC I came on the pitch to play against the Spielgemeinschaft and to test whether their initial victory had been just a lucky shot. It turned out that it wasn’t and they won 30-0. This time “Speedy Gonzales” Alexis switched his turbo booster on and scored 4 tries. The other 2 were scored by Basile.
The first part of the tournament finished with the match MRFC II vs. RC Regensburg. After a slow start, while we saw the Lions going behind by two tries, the Munich team got the game back in their hands and feet and finished with a victory 40-25. This time, the top scorer for the MRFC II was Giorgio L with 4 tries, followed by Quentin and Connor with 2 tries each.
The second part of the tournament for the Lions teams started with the MRFC I vs. RC Regensburg. It seemed that this group of the MRFC Lions was well determined not to concede any try to their opponents. The final result was 25-0 in our favour. The scorers in this match were Basile and Christian with 2 tries each and Leander with 1.
In the following match the MRFC II played against the RC Unterföhring. By now, towards the end of the day, tiredness started to show its effect on the legs of our Lion’s cubs and the first half saw the MRFC II being 2 tries down. Thanks to their determination not to let their opponent win, with a fierce roar, they entered the second half with the intention to make up the difference and surpass the RC Unterföhring. The match ended 25-20 for the MRFC II. The scorers were Giorgio L. with 2 tries; Emilia, Quentin and Connor with 1 try each. It was a beautiful, full of emotion and well-deserved victory for our MRFC II team.
After having played against all other teams and having won all the matches, the time had come now to decide who was going to win the tournament. Finally, the MRFC I and MRFC II teams had to play against each other. We could have not hoped for a better final match. Probably due to their last strenuous game against the RC Unterföhring, the MRFC II Lions lost the game to their brothers of the MRFC I 20-5. However, it has to be said that the MRFC II (Giorgio L.) scored the only try conceded by the MRFC I, in the whole tournament. The scorers for the MRFC I were Giorgio DC and Leander both with 1 try and Basile with 2.
This tournament in Gröbenzell was an eventful one, under many accounts. The main ones: we had the pleasure of experiencing Lofty hands-on and the München Rugby Football Club could participate with two full teams and the teams arrived first and second! We would also like to remind everyone the mantra of the day given to the boys by Lofty: catching and passing; passing and catching! Last but not least: every try is a team try.

Trainer: Antoine Miguet, David Clegg
Manager: Martin Kerschensteiner,  Gennaro De Lucia
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC I:
Basile De Broissia, Giorgio Delli Colli, Timoté Dupuis, Max Rumary, Alexis Kerschensteiner, Christian Pearce, Leander Ross, Lucas Hess.
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC II:
Quentin Moughty, Giorgio Lombardi, Connor De Lucia, Francesco Uber, Martin Jäth, Noah Eiselt, Mathis Closs, Emilia Di Bari, Patraic Hollow.
Ergebnisse:
München RFC I – RC Unterföhring: 45:0 (Tries: Basile de Broissia 5x, Alexis Kerschensteiner 2x, Giorgio Delli Colli, Christian Pearce)
München RFC II – SG TSVN/RFCA/FFB/StuSta: 15:05 (Tries: Quentin Moughty, Connor De Lucia, Patraic Hollow)
München RFC I – SG TSVN/RFCA/FFB/StuSta: 30:0 (Tries: Basile de Broissia, Alexis Kerschensteiner 4x)
München RFC II – RC Regensburg: 40:25 Tries: (Giorgio Lombardi 4x, Quentin Moughty 2x, Connor De Lucia 2x)
München RFC I – RC Regensburg: 25:0 (Tries: Christian Pearce 2x, Basile de Broissia 2x, Leander Ross)
München RFC II – RC Unterföhring: 25:20 (Tries: Giorgio Lombardi 2x, Emilia di Bari, Quentin Moughty, Connor De Lucia)
München RFC I – München RFC II: 20:05 (Tries: Giorgio Delli Colli, Basile de Broissia 2x, Leander Ross, Giorgio Lombardi)

1. SAS-Rugby Turnier in Heidelberg U12
Heidelberg, 9. Oktober 2016

Bericht: Gennaro De Lucia

The “tournament mode” began on Saturday 08.10. with car and train transfers and an overnight stay in Stuttgart and Weinheim. The away tournaments create a special bonding amongst the children, the trainer(s), the managers and other accompanying supporters. Also the fact of playing ten-a-side makes a big difference.
Full of excitement, we left the hostel on Sunday morning and arrived in Heidelberg at the pitch of the RGH-Rugbyabteilung well in time for the final preparations and the captains’ meeting. The game plan for the U12 matches foresaw two pools with 5 teams each. Due to last minute changes, some clubs formed “Spielgemeinschaften”.
In spite of the relatively more challenging pool of opponents and of the fact that the composition of the MRFC U12-team had changed considerably, since last season, the MRFC Lions started the first match with confidence and showed their potential immediately. A strong defence and ruck action lead by team captain Connor, enabled the fast and sly runners of the MRFC to score. Basile, with his experience and in his role today as scrum-half, often picked up the ball from behind a scrum or a ruck and deposited it behind the opponent’s try line five times. When the ball reached Alexis, on the wing, he showed all his speed and swerving abilities, leaving even the opponents’ supporters at the side of the pitch speechless. In his first match of his first SAS tournament, he managed to score three times. Since Sunday 09.10.2016 he is aka: Speedy Gonzales. Esther, Giorgio DC and Timoté added their fantastic tries to bring final result in a 55-0 for the Lions.
In the second match we met the reigning U12 German champions, SC 1880 Frankfurt.  It’s a great experience playing against such a strong team. Their players are disciplined and move forward as a team, making use of the full width of the pitch. They pass the ball quickly to the next teammate. In defence, they support and cover each other very effectively. Nevertheless, we were delighted when Giorgio L. scored a try, which resulted in a final 5-35 loss for our team.
The third match started promisingly, with an early try by captain Connor, who came out of a ruck with the ball in his hands and ran powerfully through the lines of the HRK 1 team.  Unfortunately, mainly due to inexperience, our players committed a couple of mistakes in defence and missed a couple of good opportunities while attacking. The HRK 1 made best of use of it, fought back and managed to win the match 15-5.
The last game of the pool was against the Stuttgarter RC. We never met this team, so we did not know what to expect. However, the unknown did not seem to scare off our players and they won confidently the last pool match with the result of 25-5. Following advice from Trainer Antoine the Forwards played an important role in the dynamic of the game. They defended the ball when in their possession and quickly supported each other on the ground. Very few rucks were lost. This allowed a fast passing of the ball to the Backs, who crossed the try line five times. With a second victory we finished third in the pool A, which allowed us to play for the 5th place overall.
After lunch our opponent was TSV Handschusheim. The long day spent on the pitch and the first rain did not affect the morale nor the strength and determination of our team. An early try by Giorgio L. opened up the way for the third win out of five matches. Relentlessly, the MRFC players kept pushing and running, passing and tackling aiming to score tries. Between them, the two Giorgios scored four tries and our fast “Road Runner” Bruno crowned the team effort to result in a 30-5 win. This gave us overall fifth position (out of ten teams).
Last, but not least we would like to thank and give a big round of applause to Martin J, Noah, Christian and Eudes, who with their support and active involvement allowed their teammates to score. Everyone showed commitment, engagement and put as much energy as possible in the games. Let’s not forget that every try is a team try.
Until the next tournament.

Trainer: Antoine Miguet, David Clegg
Manager: Gennaro De Lucia, Martin Kerschensteiner
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Basile De Broissia, Giorgio Delli Colli, Connor De Lucia, Timoté Dupuis, Noah Eiselt,  Martin Jäth,  Alexis Kerschensteiner, Giorgio Lombardi, Christian Pearce,  Esther Pearce, Eudes Vermersch, Bruno Zamola.
Ergebnisse:
München RFC – RG Heidelberg/Heidelberger TV:  55 : 0 (Tries: Basile de Broissia 5x, Alexis Kerschensteiner 3x, Giorgio Delli Colli, Timoté Dupuis, Esther Pearce
München RFC – SC 1880 Frankfurt I: 05 : 35 (Try: Giorgio Lombardi)
München RFC – Heidelberger RK I: 05:15  (Try: Connor De Lucia)
München RFC – Stuttgarter RC: 25:05  (Tries: Giorgio Lombardi, Basile de Broissia, Alexis Kerschensteiner)
Spiel um Platz 5
München RFC – TSV Handschuhsheim:  30:05 (Tries: Giorgio Lombardi, Giorgio Delli Colli, Bruno Zamola)

1. RVBY-Rugby Turnier in Unterföhring U8, U10 und U12
2. Oktober 2016

U8:
Bericht: kein Spielbericht
Trainer:
Manager:
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Timeo Kerschensteiner, Joseph de Broissia, Lilly Rumary, Hannah Rumary, und 4 Spieler des SC Gröbenzell.
Ergebnisse:
München RFC – RC Unterföhring: 15:25
München RFC – TSV 1846 Nürnberg: 5:35

U10:
Bericht: kein Spielbericht
Trainer:
Manager:
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Mateo Déliz Nieto, Daniel Whitehead, Rupert Hollow, Loïc Miller, Victor Di Bari, Paul Leither, und 3 Spieler des RFC Augsburg.
Ergebnisse:
München RFC – RC Unterföhring: 10:25
München RFC – SC Gröbenzell: 10:20

U12:
Bericht: The first Bavarian tournament of the year took place on a rainy (miserable) Sunday on the pitch of the RC Unterföhring. This was the first time that the newly formed Under 12 team played competitive games and - as the results below show - the team acquitted themselves very well, clearly winning all games and finishing first of the four teams that participated in the tournament (the RC Unterföhring, as well as “Piratenmannschaften” of Bad Raichenhall/StuSta/Augsburg as well as Regensburg/Nürnberg in addition to the MRFC lions). More important than the pure results was that the whole team showed clear progress throughout the tournament and ameliorated their performance from game to game. While the first game against RC Unterföhring was largely dominated by “heroball” e.g. MRFC players using their superior physical ability to run through/over/around the smaller opponents, the young MRFC team adapted in the subsequent games against stronger opponents and started to defend and attack as unit rather than as individuals. As could probably be expected the more experienced 2005 kids (fresh of their strong showing at the German Championship) led the way throughout the tournament and the Big 3 of Quentin, Connor and Basile  turned in consistently strong performances: Quentin again justified his nickname “The Tackling Maschine” and wrecked havoc in the opposing backfield. Connor provided strong tackling and decisive runs, while Basile orchestrated the offense by clever running and passing. While the 2006 players were a bit shy (and maybe a bit disappointed that they did not see as much of the ball as they were used to) at the beginning, they became more and more involved and confident as the tournament progressed culminating in an excellent performance against the reasonably strong Regensburg/Nürnberg team in the last match. Timote and Noah supported the strong tackling and rucking of Leander and Francesco in the middle, while Bruno and Alexis showed their irresistible speed on the wings. A special shout-out to Martin and Patraic the new kids on the team, who made key contributions in their first tournament and both managed to get on the score sheet. Finally a big thanks to our coach Antoine, who stuck with the kids and got them to play motivated and clean rugby despite himself secretly longing for warmer (more French) weather conditions or at least a warm and dry table at the Oktoberfest – Merci !!
In summary, a promising start to the season and while there are clearly many aspects to be worked on in practice (passing, rucking and spacing come to mind), the tournament and in particular the last game provided a glimpse of what this team can be if all of its parts work together. Next up a first big challenge: the SAS tournament in Heidelberg, where we will face some of the best teams in Germany.
Trainer: Antoine Miguet, David Clegg
Manager: Gennaro De Lucia, Martin Kerschensteiner
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Basile De Broissia, Connor De Lucia, Timote Dupuis, Noah Eiselt, Patraic Hollow, Martin Jaeth, Quentin Moughty, Alexis Kerschensteiner, Leander Ross, Francesco Uber, Bruno Zamola.
Ergebnisse:
München RFC – RC Unterföhring: 60:0 (Tries: Connor De Lucia 4x, Quentin Moughty 3x, Basile de Broissia 2x, Patraic Hollow, Martin Jäth, Alexis Kerschensteiner)
München RFC – SG Bad Reichenhall/Stusta/Augsburg: 30:10 (Tries: Connor De Lucia 3x, Quentin Moughty, Basile de Broissia 2x)
München RFC – SG Regensburg/Nürnberg: 45:5 (Tries: Basile de Broissia 2x, Connor De Lucia 2x, Alexis Kerschensteiner, Bruno Zamola 2x, Patraic Hollow)

1. RVBY-Rugby Turnier in Unterföhring U14, U16 und U18
Unterföhring, 2. Oktober 2016

U14:
Bericht: folgt!
Spielbericht folgt!
Trainer:
Manager:
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
David Pritchard, Oscar de Broissia, Theo Gavras, Theo Lelarge, Miguel Garbino, Lucas Delord, Jérémie Kerschensteiner, Daniel Cunney, D. Petry, Cilian Moughty, Leon Petry, Vincent Bonetti, Fynn Khiari.
Ergebnisse:
München RFC – SC Gröbenzell: 5:35
München RFC – RC Stusta München: 30:15
München RFC – RC Regensburg 2000: 30:15
München RFC – TSV 1846 Nürnberg: 40:5

U16:
Bericht: Chris Rolle
Nachdem in der letzten Saison die U16 praktisch nur auf dem Papier existierte, haben wir das U16er-Training mit dem Frauenteam zusammengelegt, was zu einer deutlichen Steigerung der Spielerzahl und Leistung beigetragen hat. An dieser Stelle gebührt den Frauentrainerinnen Steffi und Zoé ein herzliches Dankeschön.
So präsentierte sich unsere neu formierte U16 konzentriert und versuchte ihren Spielplan durchzuziehen, was aber bei der Stärke der eingespielten Gegner ein schwieriges Unterfangen war. Bereits der erste Gegner aus Nürnberg war von der ersten Minute an hellwach und nutze jede Unsicherheit unserer Jungs aus. Die Folge war ein klarer 0:21-Rückstand zur Halbzeit. Mit der Dauer des Spiels bekam unser Spiel mehr Sicherheit, so dass den körperlich überlegenen Nürnbergern nur noch zwei erhöhte Versuche zum Endstand von 0:35 gelangen.
Im zweiten Spiel gegen den starken Lokalrivalen von der StuSta bot sich ein ähnliches Bild: Unaufmerksamkeiten und Ballverluste in den Rucks führten zu einem Pausenrückstand von 0:15. Danach wachte unsere U16 aber auf und erkämpfte sich in einer ausgeglichenen zweiten Hälfte den ersten Versuch durch Louis de Battista, der aber leider nicht erhöht werden konnte. So stand es zum Schluss 5:20.
Nach diesem kleinen Erfolgserlebnis keimte die Hoffnung auf, dass im dritten Spiel gegen die Spielgemeinschaft Regensburg/Gröbenzell/Ingolstadt mehr drin sein könnte. Doch erneut war unsere Mannschaft bei Beginn nicht präsent und geriet durch nachlässige Tacklings und fehlende Unterstützung unnötigerweise in Rückstand. Doch diesmal zeigten unsere Jungs, dass sie gewillt und fähig waren, die Herausforderung anzunehmen und so konnten sie durch drei schön herausgespielte Versuche das Spiel noch zu ihren Gunsten drehen. Ein verdienter 26:14-Sieg war der Lohn für die Aufholjagd in der zweiten Hälfte. Versuche: Louis de Battista, Jonathan Bonetti, Paul Neumann, Mattéo Clarke.
Dieses Spiel hat jedoch nicht nur Kraft gekostet, sondern auch zu verletzungsbedingten Ausfällen geführt. So konnten wir aus unserem schmalen 8-Spieler-Kader keine Ersatzspieler für das letzte Spiel gegen Bad Reichenhall mehr aufbieten und mussten uns Verstärkung aus Regensburg holen. Ersatzgeschwächt haben die Jungs gegen die bärenstarken Raufbuam zwar erbitterten Widerstand geleistet, konnten aber bei nachlassender Kraft und Konzentration einen 0:31-Pausenrückstand nicht verhindern. Nachdem sich erneut einer unserer Spieler verletzt hatte, wurde das Spiel bei diesem Spielstand abgebrochen.
Welche Erfahrung nehmen wir aus dem Turnier mit?
Wir brauchen einen breiteren Kader, um Ausfälle kompensieren zu können. Die rege Trainingsbeteiligung gibt Anlass zur Hoffnung. Unsere Mannschaft muss ihren Spielplan konsequent durchhalten und sich nicht von starken Gegnern verunsichern lassen. Es wird noch zu viel in den Kontakt gegangen, anstatt ein saberes Siebener-Passspiel aufzuziehen. Dadurch entstanden unnötige Ballverluste, die in den meisten Fällen auch zu Gegenversuchen führten. Und schließlich muss weiter intensiv an der Kommunikation und der Unterstützung gearbeitet werden. Aber man sieht: Es geht voran und am nächsten Wochenende in Bad Reichenhall werden die Jungs einen Schritt weiter sein.
Trainer:  Ged Owens
Manager: Chris Rolle
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Jonathan Bonetti, Mattéo Clarke, Louis de Battista, Paul Neumann, Jamie Owens, Jonathan Ross, Maximilian Sponsel, Alan Toffolo.
Ergebnisse:
München RFC – TSV 1846 Nürnberg: 0:35
München RFC – RC Stusta München: 5:20
München RFC – SG SC Gröbenzell/RC Regensburg/ TV Ingolstadt: 26:14
München RFC – RFC Bad Reichenahll: 0:31

U18:
Bericht: folgt!
Spielbericht folgt!
Trainer:
Manager:
Mannschaftsaufstellung SG MRFC/Stusat:
Alexander Bonetti, Valentin Neuhaus, Jackson Hart, Severin Wohllaib.
Ergebnisse:
SG München RFC/ RC Stusta – MD 7´s: 12:5
SG München RFC/ RC Stusta – SG Nürnberg/INgolstadt: 34:5
SG München RFC/ RC Stusta – SG Nürnberg/INgolstadt: 39:0
SG München RFC/ RC Stusta – MD 7´s: 10:0