It turns out a few people were still waiting to find out how the season ended up for us, so here's a quick recap of how the last couple of weeks went.
Well, first off, that Friday-night rugby thing lived down to the expectations, as Portland fell at the final hurdle to Middlesex. A frenetically paced game remained close until the 2nd half, by which time the pace and endless supply of fresh legs from Middlesex took its toll and Portland began to loose its shape. In the end Middlesex came out on top 18-7, and finished their first season in D2 undefeated. Not bad going.
Despite the loss, it looked as though Portland had still done enough to make the playoffs, but we were going to have to await the outcome of the weekend's other matches to find out for sure. In the end Newport were able to win their last two games on back-to-back days to sneak in to the second place spot, leaving Portland in third - meaning a road trip to Met NY.
But where in Met NY? Well, that was going to take another week of waiting, since their season still had another week left to run. In the end, it was Montauk who made a strong late run to secure the second place in their league and earn the spot as Portland hosts.
So last weekend Portland made the long trek down to the end of Long Island, in the middle of a Noreaster, to do battle with a heavyweight Montauk side. Although the rain let up by kick off time the field was pretty much drenched, and conditions were less than conducive to running rugby. This worked to the advantage of Montauk's forward-oriented style of play, but Portland was able to hang in the game in the early stages.
At half time the scoreline was close, with Montauk holding a slight lead. However, having only been able to muster 18 players for the trip down, as the match wore on, the magnitude of the effort required began to sink in. At the same time Montauk began to turn the screw and were able to put some daylight between us and them. In they end they ran out 34-15 winners, and a wet and muddy Portland side traipsed off, to begin their long trip home.
So, that's how the season ended up, with a bit of a whimper, but it was a still a great season overall, considering its length, and the shaky start.
