2. Bundesliga Süd
München, 02. November 2003, Bericht: Bill Rogan
München RFC : Heidelberger RK
12 : 3
Leading up to this match, one thing was clear in everyone's mind: this was a very important match for München. Thanks to the reshuffling in the league timetable, München only has one home match in the first half of the season, and we had to make the most of the home advantage. A win would do wonders for team morale, not to say for our position in the league table. The absence of trainer Rory Donoghue upset the team a little, but thanks to the good preparation put in in previous weeks, everyone was able to concentrate himself on the job at hand. As in the last matches, München started off strongly. A missed penalty from München fullback Bill Rogan five minutes into the game signalled the start of what would be a bad day for both kickers, both of whom only got 1 out of 4 attempts at goal. München kept up the pressure however, and following a line out near the HRK 22 metre line, fly half Perry Chinnery scored a good individual try on the far right hand side of the field. The rest of the first half was played mostly between the 22s, with both München and HRK occasionally getting into a better attacking position. Due to the good defence on both sides however, neither team was able to convert the pressure into points. HRK got onto the scoreboard with a few minutes remaining in the first half, and the score at half time was 5-3.
Against Heusenstamm and Karlsruhe, München had ended the first half with a relatively comfortable lead, only to see that lead slip away. Today, with an advantage of only two points, complacency could not be allowed to set in, and the team talk during the break was correspondingly earnest. The second half was as balanced as the first, and neither team really had the upper hand. The only points of the second half came from a strong phase of play from München, who had made their way into the HRK 22. The ball came quickly into the backs from a line out on the right hand side of the field. A good miss pass from the fly half went to outside centre Jeff Ganot, playing his first game for München after a break of almost one year, and Jeff made a good strong run into the gap between the centres, and scored to the left of the posts. The try was converted, and HRK had to score twice to win.
The game continued at a good pace, with HRK having the lion's share of the ball. München showed good defensive skills, all too rarely seen in the past, and HRK never made it into the 22. When the referee blew the final whistle, an elated MRFC celebrated its first league win since the final of the second division in July 2002.
It's always good to win. Even more so when you've not won for a long time. Everyone played well, and the win can only be accredited to the commitment showed by all members of the team. München enjoys a one week break, and then it's off to Offenbach to try and dethrone another table leader. on. As many have said, the teams in the league are evenly matched and anyone can beat anyone. This season's going to be a goodie.
Mannschaftsaufstellung München RFC:
1 Helmut Kraiger (ab 41.min Johannes Muhle Karbe)
2 Jason Hunt
3 Thomas Edenhofer
4 Tobias Dassinger (ab 50.min Simon Purslove)
5 Victor Curtis
6 Jerome Prieto (ab 41.min David Rumary)
7 Ferdinand Richter
8 Torsten Fiedler (Capt.)
9 Alan Moughty
10 Perry Chinnery
11 Daniel Fallshaw (ab 60.min Daniel Fallshaw)
12 Christoph Edenhofer
13 Jean-Francois Ganot
14 Edmund Gemmell (ab 70.min Duncon Binger)
15 Bill Rogan
Versuche: Perry Chinnery, Jean-Fracois Ganot
Erhöhung: Bill Rogan