The Water Dogs fell short against the Denver Barbarians in a hotly contested match this weekend to kick off the Rocky Mountain Rugby D2 regular season. Under the merciless late-summer sun, the Denver rivals traded blows on the Infinity Park turf over a brutal 80 minutes that left the scoreboard reading 43 points for the Dogs, 46 for the Barbos. The narrow margin earns the Dogs a losing bonus point, ensuring they will not leave match week one nilled on the league table.
The Water Dogs made their mark early in the game, converting an early Barbarians penalty into a successful lineout maul and working the phases up front to send prop Duncan Frost over for a try in the second minute. To this fly-half Scotty Nies added a successful conversion, marking the start of a highly successful day off the tee and an overall man-of-the-match performance for him. A string of Barbos penalties off the restart saw the Dogs reenter the attacking 22m-zone shortly after and come away with three more points from Nies’s boot, leaving the scoreline at 10-0 in the Dogs' favor early in the match.
The Barbarians bit back though, scoring three consecutive tries of their own (of which only one conversion was successful) to reassert their presence in the match and claim the lead. The first scrum of the match ensued when the following restart failed to cross the 10m line. The two packs found themselves evenly matched, though the Barbos backs knocked the ball on shortly thereafter and handed possession back to the Dogs. Once again the resulting scrum was deadlocked, but a line break from center George Bristow and dish out to right wing Jesse Adelberg for the finish saw the Dogs cross the whitewash once more and pull themselves back into the game. Another try apiece before the halftime whistle blew, and the two sides went into the break even at 22 points each.
After a welcome but all-too-brief respite in the shade, the Water Dogs received the second-half kickoff. Immediately they found themselves under pressure in their own half and conceded a yellow card for a high tackle. Down a man, the Dogs recommitted to defensive discipline and shut the Barbos out for the longest defending set of the match. Such stout resistance eventually provoked the Babarians to start a minor scrap conveniently near their own touchline; continued discipline from the Dogs saw the tussle neatly defused, and pressure off the restart scrum won a turnover for the men in purple. From this, the Dogs stormed downfield some 80 meters with phase after relentless phase. Hooker Rodney Cordova finished the attack with the first score of the second half, driving over the line from a clever pick-and-go; Nies once again complemented with two more points.
The Barbarians responded with another try a few minutes later, but a continued rough day off the tee for the Barbos fly-half saw the conversion sail wide and the Dogs retain the lead. They knocked-on off the restart as well and handed the ball back to the Dogs, who unleashed their most ferocious attacking set of the afternoon. The forwards thundered down through Barbos territory and worked their way over for another try. Immediately off the successive restart, lock Ben Prentner punched through the line and then served one up on a platter for fly-half Nies to run in under the posts. The commanding 43-27 lead with some 15 minutes to go seemed a promising position for the Dogs to seal out a win, but wave after wave of Barbos attack came crashing down, finding flailing arms and weak shoulders to run through; they achieved each of the three scores they needed to reclaim the match, their final try coming as time expired and denying the Dogs a last chance to respond.
As coaches Scotty Smith and Kevin Mann emphasized at the post-match huddle, the Water Dogs proved they have everything they need to be able to deliver victories against teams like the Barbarians, but in a division as competitive as RMR’s D2, execution over the full 80 minutes is crucial. Even brief lapses of focus and shortcomings in what Smith calls the “top two inches” of the game proved sufficient to cost the Dogs on Saturday.
The Water Dogs thank the Colorado Graywolves for two excellent team-run sessions against each other in training this week, to sharpen iron with iron as the Dogs prepared for their Barbos showdown and the Graywolves for their WER semifinal. The fall season is only just beginning, and the Dogs look forward to an away match next weekend at Aspen, and a rematch with the Barbos on September 28th.
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