(brief) Amoskeag Match Report

Out of nowhere comes a day finally fit to be called Spring-like, and out of the wilderness comes a Portland side short on playing time but long on enthusiasm. Since their fitful start against Old Gold, Portland has had plenty of time to get down on themselves, but instead they came out and played against Amoskeag this past weekend with an optimism and that had been absent of late. Despite the eventual loss, the lead changed hands several times, with Portland crossing the Amoskeag line on four occasions. Had it not been for Evan’s erm..."bad day at the office" with the place kicks the scoreline might have been even closer.

The game was played at a brisk pace throughout, with Amoskeag’s open, running style of rugby contrasted with Portland’s more conventional set-piece oriented game.

Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but since it's already a week overdue, I'll keep it to just the facts. Scorers were, me, Derrik, Byron and somebody else. Portland played most of the second half a man down due to an unfortunate communications error with the ref.

The B's winning streak was finally broken, going down 17-14. Bubba scored and somebody else there also. Bubba secured MOTM honors for his efforts.

A good day out, and more glass-half-full kind of stuff. Still a poor substitute for winning.

Portland travel to Charles River tomorrow for another crack at it. Be at the Park & Ride at 9:30am if you're interested in taking part.

Amoskeag On Deck

This weekend sees us travelling to our neighbors in New Hampshire, Amoskeag. The pitch location has been confirmed as their Northeast Athletic Club/Pembroke site, directions to which can be found below. They would appear to point to a location somewhere about here, but don't take my word for it. Better to meet up and the Park & Ride across from Ballys at 9:45 tomorrow, so we can all get lost together.

Those directions:
Take 95 South to 101 West to 93 North...

Home Pitch (Northeast Athletic Club):

I-93 (North) to exit 13. South on Rte. 3 for 5 miles. Turn left onto Academy Rd. (Immediately before Pembroke Academy/Pembroke School District sign). 1 mile to the end of Academy Rd. Turn right onto Buck St., the field is on the left. (Alcohol and Dogs are not Permitted)

Weather forces the faithful inside

Due to the inclement weather (pictured), training for tonight, Tuesday the 17th has been re-routed from the Fairgrounds to Gorham Sports Center, which is an indoor facility located in, believe it or not, Gorham.

To give you time to go home and feed the cat before heading out there, we've pushed the start time back to 7pm, so be ready to go by then. For directions, click on this link.

College Cup shelved...for now

Curse you mother nature! Oh, what cruel torment!

Just when the grass was coming into view again, along comes another 4" of freshies to squash any hopes of pulling off the Maine College Cup this weekend.

The logistical challenges of staging this tornament are hard enough on a dry day, so even those of us in deepest denial have to concede that there's just no (safe) way to make this happen.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of open slots on our calendar in early May, and efforts are underway to try and postopone the whole shebang until then, by which time we hope it will have stopped snowing. So all you stoodents better re-sort your priorities and prepare to plough your finals in favor of the Maine Cup.

I'll tell you, when I was a lad it snowed all the time, and it was up hill both ways, and we couldn't afford boots, and...and...

Maine Collegiate Cup runeth over

While we might let a little snow derail our own playing plans, there will be no such accomodations this Saturday when we present the 6th Annual Maine Collegiate Cup (pictured here) in association with Hews Truck Bodies and Equipment.

Conceived of by the late, great Dom Tracey, this competition brings together the best and brightest in Maine collegiate rugby talent for a winner-takes-all deathmatch rousing display of youthful athletics. Men and women will be competing for what is in effect the State Championship, as well as a spot on the Maine Select Sides that will travel to compete in the New England Championship.

As if that weren't enough, Portland will also crash the party with a game of their own against what is shaping up to be a mixture of Stripers, Bull Moose and anyone else who wants a game. Just to get in the spirit of things, we're calling this one the championship on Maine and erm...Eastern New Hampshire. Woot!

The carnival begins (come hell or high water) at 8:30, which is uncharacteristically early for college students, but a lie in for us working stiffs. Club members of all shapes and sizes are required to attend and man the pumps (and snow shovels) since and undertaking of this magnitude doesn't come off without an under pinning of slave labor. For once, "the man" will be keeping you down for a good cause.

For (slightly) more information about this event, check out Dom's minimalist website, where two of our own can be seen gracing last year's All Star roster. Watch the stars of tomorrow, today!

Well....on Saturday, actually.

That's UM Oh, Not UM Ef

Contrary to earlier reports, it turns out that this Saturday's game is against U. Maine - Orono, not U. Maine - Farmington. Not sure if that makes a big difference to many of you, but anyway there it is.

Either way, kick off is said to be 2:30pm on Dougherty Field (aka Douglas Street).

As you were.