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Old Match Reports

The Saint Paul Pigs Summer Touring Side was back in action at the Stuart Daily Memorial 10's Rugby Tournament hosted by the Wisconsin Rugby Club in Madison this weekend. After a long morning drive, the Pigs were unable to shake off the rust and were defeated by a young and quick UW-Madison side. After a quick 20 minute rest, the Pigs faced the Madison Minotaurs. Our game plan came together quickly, and the Pigs soundly defeated the Minotaurs by the score of 42-0. The final match of the afternoon pitted the Pigs against the WRC VOMITs. The Pigs played tough against these wily veterans, but a few defensive lapses found the Pigs defeated by the eventual tournament finalists. Despite our 1-2 record, we played well and a good time was had by all. Thanks to the WRC for a well-run tournament!

Roster...
Current Pigs: Fish, Bachelor Party Rob, Coach Zweber, Animal, Hightower, Stout Nate
New Pigs: Roelof, Will Kusch, Tracy Peterson
Piglets: Kyle from NDSU, Gilligan from UWRF, Will from the U of M, Tony from Mankato State, and the Fatone Brothers: Nick and Andy
Weekend Pig: Matt from Rockford
Pig Alumni: Ryan "Cha-Chi" Driessen, Ron "The Dude" Musselman
Conspicuously Absent: Ponch

The Pigs make huge strides in their 7’s play at the Des Moines Toys for Tots tournament. With only the second 7’s tournament of the year entered, the Pigs made a great showing – vastly improving on their open field play. The team went 3-1 on the day and made it into the playoff round. Grant led the way with 8 tries on the day. Zac, Hightower and new a new Piggy, Nick, added to our point totals. Twinkie added to the cause with a razzle dazzle try of his own. We had some big support play from Rob, Animal and Eric and got a big spark by bringing in Aaron in for our 2nd halves. Rob and Animal kicked up the night life with their "Best Bachelorette Party Competition"

On an unseasonably hot Saturday, the Pigs took on a visiting Faribault Boksprings side in Eagan, and came through with a 40-0 victory to end the spring season on a high. We scored 3 tries in each half - ?, Chris and Nate in the first half, followed by Johann, Ponch, and the other Nate in the 2nd half. Billy kicked 5 of 6 conversions to round out the scoring. (apologies for the lack of detail - if anyone else remembers more, let us know and we'll add it in)

On this Saturday St Paul took on old rivals the Eastside Banshees with an early 10:30 start time. This did not deter the Pigs, however, as we got off to a quick start and had a majority of the possession. Unfortunately, however, the possession advantage was not capitalized upon, and the Pigs were only able to take a 3-0 lead, through a Scott Colby penalty, into the half. In the second half, the Banshees started to gain the advantage, and ended up scoring 3 tries - offset by a Pigs try on a great solo effort by Grant Dietrich who countered from a kick, kicked back, tracked down the ball and outran the Banshee defense to score.

So a good effort ended in a 21-10 loss, but showed lots of promising signs as we build toward our league season in the fall. Following the match, the Pigs Old Boys took on the Banshess, but also came out on the losing end. This was followed, however, by a wonderful Pig Roast with food, bevarage and fun for all, and some good fundraising for the club.

The Pigs travelled to St. Cloud to join in the annual All-Saints tournament. With a scheduled first match against the St. Cloud Bottom Feeders, the Pigs were geared up and ready to go. The Pigs came out strong in the first half, with Bill Bridgeman scoring an early try. The Feeders kept the match close in the first half, though the Pigs led throughout. In the second half, the Pigs tightened up play and controlled the ball, increasing their lead to final score of:
Pigs 32, Bottom Feeders 13
(Tries: Bill Bridgeman, Twinkie, Twinkie, Seth Spreadbury, Grant Dietrich, Zach Bauer; Conversions: B. Bridgeman (1))

In a show of gentlemanly sportsmanship, the Bottom Feeders awarded the Pigs with the "Big Ass Brown Jug" traveling trophy, a new tradition.

In the second match the Pigs faced off against Metropolis B, a rematch from the previous week. While the Jazz Pigs were able to keep ball control and spend much of the game in the Metropolis half of the field, Metro managed to squeeze through the Pigs defensive line and capitalize with several tries. The Pigs kept the game competitive to the end, but were unable to slip in enough points for the win.

Off the field, the Pigs made strong recruiting efforts. Pigs players and coaches visited college matches, awarded Pigs t-shirts to collegiate "Men of the Match", and talked with college players about our upcoming summer schedule. If you're interested in joining the Pigs during our summer play, contact Ryan Backman at back0102@umn.edu.

The Pigs traveled up I-94 to Fargo on a sunny spring day to take on NDSU and MSU Moorhead, and came back with 2 victories. In the first match Saint Paul got off to a quick start through an early Grant Dietrich try and never looked back. 2 more Dietrich tries followed, along with scores by Ben Hanson and Josh Van Gelder, vs. a single try for NDSU. Special credit to Lau Kahonen who took over place kicking duties for the day.

Scoring:
Tries: Dietrich 3, Hanson, Van Gelder
Cons.: Kahonen (3 for 5)

In the second match against Moorhead, the same 3 players were at it again, with Dietrich, Hanson and Van Gelder each registering a try. Also notable was the hard running of centers Seth Spreadbury and Jim Mlenek, and the tough pack play led by Danny Kiefer and new Pig Chris Reis.

Scoring vs MSU Moorhead:
Tries: Dietrich, Hanson, Van Gelder
Cons.: Kahonen (1 for 3)

The Pigs went 2-1 in this tournament to kick off the spring season.
More details may or may not be available soon.