Two messages from Coach

Team,

I suppose yesterday's game with Augusta could have been a lot worse. We did pretty well against them during the early parts of the first half, and then fell away. Our try was without doubt the best try Nooga has scored since I have been coach. Penalty, a well won lineout, set up maul and drive with Ryan controlling the forwards drive and scoring as it crossed the line. It was a great try, we were only down 10-5 at that point and looked dominant. Augusta's heads dropped, and instead of taking control of the game we ran out of steam. There were aspects of the game that we continued to do very well in, but our lineout fell apart, and defensively we lost the plot and were just all over the place.
I know many of you feel that was a good game, but if you're satisfied with that, then bottom of the table is where will always be. There are 2 reasons we lost that game - fitness and lack of practice. We have had 3 weeks off, and yet we have had barely any practices with double figures attending. Most of you have seen 3 weeks off as an excuse to skip practice. There are some who attended every single practice and I appreciate your dedication.
I have said before, if the consensus is that this is a recreational team, then fine, that makes my life much easier. But every time I have asked you, every one has said "no, we want to compete". Well it's time to put your money where your mouth is. We have two very 'winnable' games coming up. Old White this weekend in Nashville and then we finish off with the Renegades at home. If we play our best rugby, they have no chance. If!
Those of you who drove to Augusta. Many thanks for taking on that responsibility. If you would like to get some money back for the gas you spent, please contact Pete Steyn (I put his e-mail in the cc above).
I would be remiss if I didn't mention our Man-of-the-match. While there were some very good performances on the field, I nominated Chewie (Jonathan Crabtree - incase you didn't know his real name!) as M-o-t-M for saving our skins and buying what turned out to be an excellent set of jerseys. I actually think, given the heat, that they were better than our regular jerseys. Only $10 each and I think every single one survived. They also looked really good. Thanks Chewie.
Practice - Tuesday, 6:30pm, Rossville. See you at practice.

Jared.


Second Message:

Team,

I forgot to mention: We will have two notable omissions from our final two games. It looks like Caleb broke his collar bone during yesterday's game and Pat is getting married.
Here's wishing you both a speedy recovery! Just kidding Pat.

The clubs very best wishes to both of you.

Jared.