Virginia Cardinal Rugby
LANCE---SEND ME THE TEAM PICTURE TO GO WITH YOUR NAMES---THANKS! < Virginia Cardinals 45s after third game on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005 (Va. Cardinals 22, Denver Barbarians 7)
Front Row – L to R (sitting): Reggie Tift, Terry Lee, Mike Puopolo ©, Mike Lee, Lance Van de Castle, Keith McLean; Middle Row (kneeling): Skip Yeager, Dane Cheek, Mike Herron, Bob Carswell, Marsh “Puddin Head” Pennington, Tom West, Mike Wright, John Cetnarowski; Back Row: Ric Kempton, JK Kamauff, Lex Maccubbin, Mike Old, Hennie van Zyl, James Painter, Terry Whelan, Keith Wright, Will Thornton, John Carr, Rick McBride, Mark Vasbinder, Dennis Stoneman, Paul Meyers, Ivan Morton (Photo by Karen Cordray-Van de Castle)>
Trying to complete an undefeated season can be quite a feat. For the Virginia Cardinals over-45’s team, the last scheduled match of calendar year 2005 presented even more of a challenge than normal. However, as they have all year, the Cardinals used their superior depth and team chemistry to rise to the occasion and walk away from the 38th Annual Aspen Ruggerfest with the over-45’s championship trophy.
Video Stream.wmv of post match championship
After winning both first round games and the semifinals on Thursday, Virginia was poised to take the beautiful Wagner Park pitch on Sunday and bring home another crown. However, team captain and tour manager Mike Puopolo had begun to hear rumblings on Thursday and Friday nights that Aspen was out recruiting players for their team entry in the final opposite Virginia. He approached the Ruggerfest tournament director Doug Cigliano late Saturday morning and told him what he had been hearing on the street. Doug confirmed to Mike that was the talk he was hearing as well. Mike just told him he thought that he ought to know about these things and he also informed him that the Cardinals had come a long way to the tournament to play and that they fully intended to abide by the regulations that Aspen themselves had set up for the tournament, mainly that all players who participated on Sunday had to be on that team’s roster and that they also had to play in that team’s matches on Thursday. Shortly after that conversation, Mike received a phone call about attending a meeting at 1 pm to “sort things out.”
After attending the meeting and hearing that Aspen was proposing to forfeit the over-45’s final, Mike said that he could not make the decision about the Aspen proposal by himself, but that he would present it to the team at their already scheduled 2 pm practice and let Aspen know what the team decision was, one way or the other. Some of the Cardinals were so visibly stunned by the ramifications of the announcement that when Mike made it, he had to repeat it again so that everyone totally understood what he was saying. After talking about the request and knowing that they had one more victory in their pocket without ever lacing up the boots, the Cardinals agreed with all three of the components of the Aspen request. One was that Sunday’s “championship” match was really going to be a “social” or “exhibition” match against an Aspen Motley side that had would consist of a bunch of Aspen over-45’s players and whoever else that they could pick up by then. Another was that the home team would announce the championship as a 5-0 forfeit to Virginia a day before the final was even played. Lastly, Virginia knew that no matter what happened in the ‘social’ game, they were going to be declared the over-45’s Ruggerfest tournament champions.
But agreeing to the forfeit scenario also raised other questions and concerns. The Cardinals did not know if this meant that the Sunday clash was going to be against a loaded super-duper all-star team or a bunch of 30 to 35 year olds or if it was going to be a game in which unsportsmanlike conduct and foul play were going to be the theme of the day. They did not want to sustain any unnecessary injuries in the anti-climatic game or suffer from a mental letdown so they immediately pledged as a team to show to the rest of the Wagner throng that after beating three good teams in Thursday’s competition, they could still beat whatever Motley side Aspen could assemble and still be viewed as deserved champions on the pitch on Sunday.
Aspen coach Mark Williams, who was running his regular open division Aspen team through some pre-game drills on the other half of the same park as Virginia, approached the assembled Cardinals practice several minutes later after Mike’s very surprising announcement and with a very humbling manner, apologized for the decision. He offered two reasons why Aspen had proposed the forfeit. One was that they suffered numerous injuries on Thursday and they were going to be short of bodies and also that they had five or six guys playing in both the over 35’s and over 45’s divisions and the team management wanted to be able to save them just to play in just the over 35’s finals and not both games.
Some of the Cardinals felt that Aspen knew that with what Virginia showed on Thursday, they were going to lose on Sunday on their home pitch and they just decided to cut their losses and concentrate on where they had the best chance of winning – the over-35’s. Virginia’s performance on Thursday started out as cold as a brisk morning in the Rockies, but it improved with every game and by the end of the match against the Denver Barbarians, they were playing their best ball of the day, just as the shadows starting appearing on the pitch. No one associated with the Cardinals, some of whom had over 35 years of rugby experience, had ever been heard or seen a championship game forfeit before. Several had seen a consolation match for fifth or seventh place on early Sunday morning being forfeited, but never a championship game. Many felt that the 38th Annual Ruggerfest tournament victory was a bit hollow and a bit strange as it was not earned on the pitch, but the official ledger card in the history book now reads: Virginia Cardinals 5, Gentlemen of Aspen 0 (forfeit). They all count the same, no matter what the victory margin.
In the “social” final, Virginia was not very sharp in the early going and fell behind for the first time in the tournament when Aspen, who fielded six ex-Eagles, notched a penalty goal after only two minutes of play. Aspen ended up with 28 players on their finals roster, twelve of which were from their own team. At the seven minute mark, the Cardinals righted themselves by getting a try from center Marsh “Puddin Head” Pennington
courtesy David Stephenson,dave@numinaphoto.com,NUMINAPHOTO.COM
Puddin Head poised to touch down!
when he took third phase ball from a ruck and went in for a short score after flanker James Painter had advanced the ball from a ruck almost to the try line. The unconverted try put Virginia on the board at 5-3.
Virginia showed true championship form shortly before halftime when Hennie initiated the Cardinal try of the weekend. Running to his left and getting pinched to the sidelines by two defenders, the South African kicked ahead about two meters from the touchline with the inside part of his left foot while running full speed. The perfectly placed grub kick then spun away from the touchline to about the fifteen meter line where he was tackled while trying to pick up the ball. Wing Terry Lee got to the ball and kept it alive for flyhalf Mike Puopolo to pick up between the five and ten meter lines. Mike drove for the line where he took a defender on his back into the try zone for the touch down to complete the impressive sixty meter play right in front of the enthusiastic Virginia supporters. Hennie missed the conversion near the touch line but Virginia was now up by 10-3.
The second half scoring also involved the two Virginia playmakers as Mike, clearly the Man of the Match, took a first phase ball and faked a dummy crash to his inside center. The opposing flyhalf froze in his tracks for just a second while the centers kept coming, which allowed Mike a narrow slot to slide behind the defensive centers untouched. He turned it up vertically by running towards the fullback and then unloaded off a pass to a streaking Hennie who touched down for a 15-3 advantage with about 12 minutes gone.
Hennie touches down,courtesy David Stephenson,dave@numinaphoto.com,NUMINAPHOTO.COM
Aspen’s inside center then broke through two tackles minutes later off of a ruck ball for a converted try at the posts that narrowed the gap to the final score of 15-10. There was time left for Aspen to score but Virginia held on for their ‘social’ win.
Prior tournament wins in Ft. Lauderdale, Charlottesville, VA and Saranac Lake, combined with the Ruggerfest title, made 2005 a perfect 4-for-4 year for the Cardinals and championship plaques. The majority of the 29 man squad either lives or used to live in Virginia. Nine played for the Norfolk Blues at one point in their career while five played for the Virginia RFC. Three other unattached players are residents of Virginia. Five more come from North Carolina. Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania contributed two players each. Eleven of the Aspen squad of 29 competed in all four Cardinal tournaments this year with five more players only missing one of those excursions.
The five wins in Aspen raises the Cardinals’ overall record since their inception to 26-2, with the record for 2005 reading 14 wins against no defeats. The overall history book now reads: eight tournaments played, six championship plaques. The tally from three trips to the beautiful hamlet of Aspen is 12 wins against a single defeat. The Cardinals won the over-45’s title at the Ruggerfest in 2002 and finished second in 2003.
The team traveled from nine states via several routes and connections to get to Aspen for the required Wednesday night practice to go over team strategy. The Cardinals’ hierarchy knew this practice was going to be important as there were 12 new faces in the group that had never played with the Cardinals before. Knowing how to play rugby was not the collective worry, as all of the “rookies” were well-seasoned players. The concern was to make sure they understood the Cardinals’ game plan (pressure, support and finish) and that they were able to maintain the team cohesion that is so important at this level. Led by prop and former Eagle Terry Whelan and Mike, the team accomplished their limited goal of going over this tournament game plan so that everyone knew what the plan of attack on both offense and defense was going to be.
The first game at 9 AM on Thursday morning was against Boulder at the Rio Grande Park field. Game time temperatures were in the upper 30’s and the pitch was covered with a very heavy and thick frost. Some of the frost did not disappear into the second half and there were players knocking off frozen slush off of the bottom of their boots during pre-game warmups. After only three minutes in, fullback Hennie van Zyl dummied and ran in a try that he converted for a 7-0 Cardinals lead. A Boulder kick closed the gap to 7-3 before halftime.
In the second half, Terry Lee took second phase ball off a ruck for an unconverted try to raise the score to 12-3. Boulder answered with a try from a drive in close for a 12-8 advantage. Wing Ivan Morton then made a break from the wing from about the 30 meter line for a try converted by Hennie and a 19-8 lead. Then with about four minutes left and aided by at least three Virginia penalties, Boulder advanced the ball almost 80 meters for a converted try and the last scoring of the day at 19-15.
In the second match of their bracket, an 11 AM kickoff at Wagner Park, the Cardinals faced the two time defending champions, the Missouri Black and Blue. This was the same team that had beaten Virginia in the 2003 final. Hennie again initiated the scoring as he touched down after recovering a pop kick. His conversion gave Virginia a 7-0 Virginia lead, a score that held up to halftime.
courtesy David Stephenson,dave@numinaphoto.com,NUMINAPHOTO.COM
Hennie,Chico in background
Missouri responded with a try right after the second half kickoff that narrowed the gap to 7-5. Hennie notched another try off of a second phase ruck ball that spread the advantage back to 7 at 12-5. Maintaining their goal of playing in the opponent’s end, the pressure finally bore fruit after Hennie finally nailed a penalty kick after earlier missing two penalty kicks and a drop goal attempt to raise the score to 15-5. Missouri then intercepted a pass deep in the Virginia end at the 22 and ran it in untouched for a try for a 15-10 score. The moment the conversion kick sailed through, the referee blew the whistle for no side and the 15-12 win was in the books.
The two wins propelled the Cardinals into a number one seed from their bracket and into the tournament semifinals that started at 5 pm that same day. Their opponent was the Denver Barbarians, who were the number two seed from the other bracket. Hennie got the Cardinals on the board in the first two minutes with a penalty kick and a 3-0 margin. He got his fourth try of the day at about halfway through the twenty minute first half, culminating a movement that started near halfway. His final juke at the Barbos 20 cleared the way for the try at the posts, which he then converted for a 10-0 lead. Moments later, center Will Thornton made a break on the weak side from 30 meters out to notch the try that Hennie converted for a 17-0 halftime lead.
Flanker Mark Vasbinder got the Cardinals’ last try late in the match off a lineout in close. Flanker Keith McLean had a clean take at first jumper which second row John Carr came to clean and the whole pack drove for the line. The surge forward took the maul over the line where Vasbinder grounded it for the only try by a forward all weekend. Off a succession of penalties, the Barbos, who were fielding four ex-Eagles, finally got close where flyhalf Steve LaPorta juked his way from about the 20 to the try zone. The conversion kick was good for a 22-7 advantage.
LaPorta did not appreciate a tackle minutes later when he was running with the ball and Hennie picked him off the ground and slammed him to the soft green turf. LaPorta responded back seconds later the next time he had the ball when he viciously brought his forearm up hard to the face of a tackling Hennie, knocking the latter down. A Barbo player behind LaPorta then veered out of the way to step on Hennie’s prone body in the low back while running by him. Needless to say, things got very testy immediately after that and since the second half was about over and the score was not close, the referee called the match early. The Cardinals were on to the championship ‘final’ or so they thought.
For those who were not at the last Ruggerfest final that the Cardinals were in (at that time, the Norfolk Sons of Beaches was the team name), Missouri recruited heavily between Thursday and Sunday and added at least 15 players to their team and at least six or seven who were in their thirties. One prop against Terry Whelan was 33 years old. Even though the SOB had their chances to win but did not capitalize and lost 17-7, they certainly made the Ruggerfest tournament hierarchy aware of what had taken place and that Virginia was not happy with the blatant disregard for the tournament regulations and with the fact that, prior to the finals kickoff, the Missouri captain made a statement that was later determined to be false, when he said that all of his players in the final had played with the Missouri team on Thursday. It is believed that the complaining by Virginia opened up some eyes because this year’s tournament required photo ID pictures of every player and rosters with date of births. The fact that Aspen was having an over-45’s team entered for the first time might have had something to do with that policy change also. Although the new requirements of having your photo ID ready before each game did not pan out at the start of each match as was expected, Virginia applauded the effort to ensure that each team had the right age players, used just their own players and not those of other teams.
After their “social”, the over-45’s stayed to cheer on the Cardinals over-35’s squad but the doubleheader sweep of Aspen was not meant to be. Aspen’s decision to save their five or six players for the over-35’s final paid off as they beat the Virginia Cardinals in that bracket’s championship match by a score of 24-14. In that final, these Cardinals, affectionately know as the over-45’s jayvee team, lost the battle of the forwards and beat themselves with a lot of missed opportunities and inexcusable penalties. Mark Williams had two drop goals late in the contest for Aspen.
Most of the over-45’s team stayed around one of the nicest rugby settings in all of North America to watch the Open Division final as well between the Denver Barbarians and the Gentlemen of Aspen. The Barbos came back from a 21-7 deficit to score the last six points to win 35-31 with the go-ahead points coming on a late drop goal from at least 35 meters out and close to fifteen meters in from the touch line. It was a classic final with lots of power, speed, defense and great kicking.
It must be noted that Virginia had an over-50’s squad for the first time anywhere but they lost both of their matches on Thursday to the Florida Old Boys and the Colorado Ol’ Pokes. The FOB beat the COP in the final on Sunday. Knowing there were only three teams in the bracket, the tournament committee set up the preliminary matches as having three consecutive twenty minute periods. ??? (It was only two twenties for the over-45’s.) It seemed as if there was any group that deserved less time on the pitch, it would be this crowd, but apparently not. Not carrying any significant depth seriously hurt the Cardinals’ chances and they suffered at least three serious injuries to their squad. At least six of the over-45’s squad played in the over-50’s as well.
As captain, Mike Puopolo accepted the over-45’s Championship trophy at the post tournament awards and thanked the Gentlemen of Aspen for the tournament. Each one of the players also got a commemorative mug from Aspen signifying their over-45 championship as well. Hennie van Zyl was the deserving and worthy recipient of the Most Valuable Player trophy in the over-45’s division at the same ceremony as he scored five tries and had 41 points in four actual games. In his last eight games, Hennie has tallied 79 points for the Cardinals. See the photo below for the two proud recipients of those trophies (Mike on L, Hennie on R).
As a team, Virginia scored 76 points “for” to 44 “against” with five of those points “for” being the team try of the 5-0 forfeit margin in the championship game. Of the eleven tries actually scored, backs notched ten of them. But remember the sage words of prop Keith Wright, “Forwards win games, backs just score tries.”
Besides their notable prowess on the pitch (the September 2005 issue of Rugby magazine says that “the Virginia Cardinals are proving to be the team to beat wherever they go”), the Cardinals have never lost or really been seriously challenged for the ‘third half’ of a match or tournament either. Everybody had their drinking hands available and most seemed to have packed their dancing shoes in all that luggage. The team sampled almost every available hot spot in town from the dancing and drinking at the Lava Room and Shooters to jamming to the reggae tunes at Bottoms Up. Eateries such as the Ute City Bar and Grille, McStorlies Pub, Hickory House Ribs, Eric’s Bar, the Red Onion, Woody Creek Tavern, Su Casa, Jimmy’s and Bentley’s all got frequented by the Virginia Cardinals. Other leisurely activities occurred as well: visiting the hot springs, touring upscale boutique and antique shops, taking hikes (some much more adventurous than others), renting bikes and taking bike trips, sitting in the hotel hot tub, hanging out and shooting the breeze.
As the superlative 2005 tournament year comes to a close, it is clearly time to thank the masterful job that Mike Puopolo has done with this team. Although there are others who deserve a big pat on the back, Mike is the workhorse of the team who deserves the most. He pays the tournament entry fees, he tries to get the photo ID stuff together, captains the team, orders new jerseys, does a lot of work behind the scenes, sends out plenty of e-mails, finds new players that fit the Cardinals profile and gets those good players to join the fold and come along for the ride. It’s been a great ride and for those who don’t know it or haven’t done it, what Mike does takes a lot of work and effort and everyone associated with the team should thank him for a job well done. Here, here!!
Lance Vandecastle
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