Perfect weather for rugby, temperature was in the high 70F range, clear sky with a mild southerly wind.

The first quarter saw BU camped in the Alumnus half. Two break away try's by the Alumni caught BU cover defense napping and lopsided the score in the Alumni favor. BU made the mistake of trying to take bigger stronger players high rather than low, the alumni broke several tackles and were excellent in support. BU did rectify the set piece problems experienced in the previous match. Line outs were excellent and scrums were much improved. BU opted to kick for touch on two penalties that could have been kicked for points, Rosenburg had missed one kick but was on the spot for much of the day. BU was on the whole quicker to the break downs than the Alumni and excellent loose forward play by Matt Kasper and Iggy Arujo put alot of pressure on the Alumni scrum half and half back. BU's forward's were also hitting the 2nd and 3rd phase play better than before with only a couple of handling errors that could have resulted in scoring opportunities.

The second quarter saw a reversal of the territorial advantage, the Alumni camped in the BU half but some excellent goal line defense and counter attacking saw BU take the lead just before half time. Matt Kasper stole a ruck ball and ran straight and hard setting up a quick 2nd phase, the ball went blind to loose head prop Brett ""Mongo' Barthelmeth who instantly saw he had the speedy Bill Curran on the outside and he made a quick pass to Bill who ran 50 yards, beating the blind side wing and cover defense for a try near the posts. HALF TIME SCORE BU 13 ALUMNI 12.

The Alumni started off the third quarter with a bang, they took a line out near the BU line and mauled the ball 30 yards for an excellent push over try using their weight advantage to the max. BU countered when Paul Taglienti scampered over for a great individual try beating three Alumni defenders with speed. END OF THIRD QUARTER BU 20 ALUMNI 17.

By the 4th quarter BU started mass subbing so that B Team players and rookies could have a game. The inexperienced team made several errors and were punished by the Alumni who scored two try's against them, one after the ball bounced beautifully in-goal and was pounced on by a very lucky Alumni player.

Both sides played with heart and determination. Justin Swartz led the BU team by example and made several hard tackles. The smaller BU team were not intimidated by the Alumni and played hard for the full match. The Alumni showed some fine flashes of skill, both forwards and backs linking well together and supporting break away with devastating results. The BU backs were never really able to show their speed as the Alumni closed them down very quickly and taught them an important lesson. Tienie Van Schoor was the very able referee on the day and made sure that the game did not deteriorate into a brawl when tempers were frayed a few times. The penalty count against the Alumni is a clear sign that times have changed and a few of the Alumni were not aware of the new regulations.

I hope that this event is staged again next year. The only negative on a great day was the lack of rookies who made it out to watch the game. The previous Wednesday we had staged a 'rookie introduction to Rugby' practice, over 40 rookies made the practice and I had high hopes that they would all come out for what turned out to be very good rugby.

Coach Taylor.

1ST HALF STATS.

BU RUCKS 28 ALUMNI WON 8.
ALUMNI RUCKS 12 BU WON 3
BU MAUL 4 ALUMNI WON 2
ALUMNI MAUL 4 BU WON 1
BU SCRUM 7 ALUMNI WON 3
ALUMNI SCRUM 4 BU WON 0
BU L/OUT 9 ALUMNI WON 1
ALUMNI L/OUT 2 BU WON 0
PENALTIES AGAINST BU 4
PENALTIES AGAINST ALUMNI 10
HANDLING ERRORS BU 6
HANDLING ERRORS ALUMNI 6
MISSED TACKLES BU 13
MISSED TACKLES ALUMNI 4