| | Published April 1st, 2009
| Lamorinda Rugby Stays Undefeated in League Play
| | Submitted by Al Purdy |  | | Lamorinda Rugby maul, ball carried by Zack Purdy (standing) and powered by (left to right) Ty Fach,
Cole Huntley and David Eastman Photo by Karen Drinkwater
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The Lamorinda Varsity Rugby Club ("Lamo") took two games in league play against Piedmont and Hayward to bring their record to 3 and 0. On Saturday evening, March 14, Lamo took on the Piedmont Rugby Club at Piedmont High School. It was a hard-hitting battle in front of 500 enthusiastic fans. Lamo scored the initial try less than 10 minutes into the game when Rocket Rodriquez (Campolindo) sprinted around the outside of the Piedmont defense for an impressive 5-point try.
Piedmont came right back and scored at the 14 minute mark to tie the score at 5 to 5. The tough defensive hitting continued until the 24 minute mark when Zack Purdy (Miramonte) won a line out for Lamo and was powered 15 yards by a maul in for the 5 point score. Wes Van Tonder (Alhambra) finished off the scoring with a 3-pointer and extra 2 after the second try to bring the score to 15 to 5 at halftime.
The hard hits continued in the 2nd half but Lamo went down a man when their 8 man was tagged for a high tackle and tossed from the game. At that point Piedmont gained momentum quickly scoring twice over a 6 minute period to take the lead at 17 to 15. But the Lamo defense toughened and finally got the offensive break they needed.
Still down a player with 2 minutes to go in the game, Tuli Taufoou (Ygnacio Valley) broke away from 40 yards out, cut to the inside drawing the defense and zipped a crisp pass to Holden Nakamura (Clayton Valley) for the 5 point try and a hard earned 20 to 17 win for Lamo over Piedmont.
Lamo continued their winning ways on Saturday, March 21, in a daytime match against a big and experienced Hayward RFC Club. The battle in the scrums and mauls was fierce between these two very large front lines.
Lamo's front line of Cal bound Cole Huntley (San Ramon Valley), Ty Fach (Campolindo) and Zack Purdy, along with David Eastman (Miramonte), Phil Moldoff (Campolindo), Nick Lunsford (Acalanes) and Ignacio Martinez (Ygnacio Valley) generally overpowers their opponents, but not in this game. Lamo needed to use all of its speed on the outside, combined with crisp passing and a superior kicking game to beat the Hayward RFC, 25 to 10.
Wes Van Tonder was high scorer for Lamo with 10 points on two penalty kicks and two 2-point conversions. Lamo's outside speed from Chase Herring (Las Lomas), JT Chritton (Campolindo), PJ Gabrielli ( Miramonte), Rocket Rodriquez and Tuli Taufoou ultimately made the difference.
Long 5 point scores by Rodriquez and Taufoou showed their precision teamwork as each player assisted on the other's score. Ty Fach also scored on a 10 yard run out of a scrum to complete the scoring for Lamo.
Next up for Lamorinda Rugby Field Club is their annual spring break tour which takes them to Washington State and British Columbia Canada this year.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA