Thursday proved to be a raw, windswept night for the scheduled run-around with Harvard Business School in Amesbury. While this was to be the first warm up match for Portland, HBS were fresh off their European Tour, where they had emerged victorious in some big, international post-grad rugbyfest. Indeed, this year's HBS team definitely had a league-of-nations feel to it, with a broad assortment of accents to be heard in every ruck and maul.
The format for the night was to be 3, 30-minute periods with unlimited subs, providing all of the 25+ Portland players at least one full period of rugby. Thanks to all those who stayed up way past their bedtime to attend, and to all those trying to stay warm on the touchline either waiting for their chance to get on, or supporting those on the field.
The first period of the game was played at a frenetic pace, with HBS looking to spin the ball wide and Portland equally looking to maintain quick ball from each breakdown. While play became a little scrappy at times, Portland maintained the upper hand for most of the period, outscoring HBS by about 3 tries to 1.
After a bit of a reshuffle, Portland took the field sporting a heavier pack and a re-tooled backline, which slowed the game down a little but provided more stability in the set pieces and a stronger platform off which to work. Cold hands and some anxiety about making an impact meant that a few opportunities went begging, but Portland maintained their dominance and put another couple of scores on the board, while HBS managed just a solitary try.
For the third period, a less familiar Portland line up struggled to control the more experienced HBS unit, allowing probably 3 or 4 unanswered tries to make the scores somewhere close to level for the night.
Nevertheless it was a positive first outing for the Portland lads, helping to identify those areas that require more work, as well as those of existing strength.
Practice schedule for the coming week: Tuesday at Gorham (8pm), at the PAC on Thursday (7pm) and at Higgins Beach on Saturday (1:30pm). See you all there.
Romanes Eunt Interweb? A little humor for all you Classics scholars.
No rugby game today, just this fiendish little devil.
