On a beautiful but fairly windy day in Winnebago Park in Oshkosh, the Oconomowoc men's team took the field to take on a much-improved Oshkosh team. The field was rock hard and while that generally benefits a speedy Oconomowoc team (OK, just the backs), Oshkosh might have been faster. Oshkosh, while smaller, dominated the set pieces early with a well-drilled cadence in the scrum. They also dominated the rucks as they were quick to get hands on the ball, Oconomowoc was slow to ruck over and they either stole the ball or we got called for holding onto the ball.

Still, their backs, while speedy, could not get to the gain line much less beyond it (the wind messing up some passes as well). After about 20 minutes, Oconomowoc finally got the 2 v. 1 on the edge they needed to send Adam Karl to the in-goal; conversion by Jeff Trey Drake was good.

Minutes later, with passing not working, Oshkosh chipped beautifully over the Oconomowoc defense but ahead of a very deep fullback, who had to play deep because of the wind. They recovered the kick and scored center to tie up the game.

Oconomowoc pressured again late in the half and Trey slotted a penalty for a 10-7 halftime lead.

In the second half with the wind, Oconomowoc did everything necessary to win. The set pieces were better. The rucks became more secure. We kicked with the wind and generally enjoyed good field position. I would still say Oshkosh was better in the loose and still had plenty of possession. On a nice series of forward attacks propelled by penalties for ruck infringements (hands, diving over, coming in from the side) by Oshkosh, Oconomowoc pounded close to a try. Finally, Jeremiah Pfeiffer bulled his way in for a try and Trey converted for a 17-7 lead.

Moments later with Oconomowoc again in good territory, Trey found a hole in the middle of the defense to score a 30-meter try, outracing all defense. And he converted for a 24-7 lead.

This reporter then got in the game so it's a little fuzzy thanks to some unconventional face tackling. Of course, they scored right away. But I will point out that it was off a set scrum and the outside center scored so I didn't have much to do with that. 24-12 and a bit too close for comforrt.

We evened out the set pieces at this point and we again got into their territory and started winning our rucks. That was opportunity for Curtis Deercamp Doll to somehow find a hole in the tiniest of spaces for a nice 15-meter try. Game over 29-12.

Man of the match: scrum half Nick Spicoli Raganyi.

B match was a fun affair and about tied at halftime. They had speed to burn and youth in the second half and won by at least three tries. Worth mentioning was the return of Da King Chris Beasley sporting the retro white shorts, red bandana, old-school jersey and a pair of loaned boots. Still tackled head first but if you're gonna have a bad back, it might as well be because of rugby and not a coffee break injury.