2. SAS-Rugby Turnier in Worms U12
Worms, 12. März 2017

Bericht: Gennaro De Lucia
This was the first tournament in 2017 for the MRFC U12 Lions. We left first thing on Sunday morning by private cars and arrived around 11.00h in Worms, where 11 teams in the same age category were waiting to start. That gave us enough time to get ready for the first match of the group stage against TB Neckarhausen.
The MRFC team started the game with determination and after having caught the kick-off ball by the TBN, Connor went through the lines of the opponents and scored the first try, just after a few seconds from the initial whistle. The match continued along the same lines, with the Lions fending off well the attacks of the TBN and replying with their own well organised assaults. The pattern of the match saw the MRFC winning ruck after ruck and passing the ball on through the backs allowing our wing players, Bruno and Christian, to score three tries. Quentin and Connor completed the booty with another try each. The end result was MRFC six tries, TB Neckarhausen nihil. That was a brilliant start to the tournament.
Not less than 30 minutes later, the second group stage match was against the first team of the SC 1880 Frankfurt club. Notoriously, they are the strongest team in Germany in the age category and, not surprisingly, the reigning champions. The Frankfurt boys attacked immediately and the first half saw them constantly in the MRFC side. This gave them also the opportunity to score their only try of the match. The second half followed on a similar pattern, but no try were scored on either sides. This was an intense game, during which we saw the Lions defending relentlessly and with passion. They conceded only one try and obtain the best result ever against the tactically stronger and more experienced guys of the first team of the SC 1880 Frankfurt.
The above match concluded the group stage and we entered the knock-off stage as second in the group hence, competing for the 5th to the 8th position. The MRFC played the following game against the RK Heusenstamm. The Munich Lions showed again that their performance of the first two matches was not just a coincidence. They played confidently, tackling and entering into the rucks with three or four players and often winning the ball. The MRFC boys helped each other, never leaving a team mate alone amidst a group of opponents. Their attacks were beautiful to see in particular, when they passed on the ball like professional rugby players, off-loading while being tackled. In the end, the MRFC won by five tries to nihil. The scorers were Basile, Connor and Eliseo.
At this point, we were left to compete for the 5th place. Our opponents were the TSV Handschuhsheim, another strong team from the Heidelberg area. In spite of the demanding games sustained so far, the MRFC Lions went into the last match of the tournament intentioned to win it. They showed determination and put into practice very effectively what they learned during the training sessions with Antoine and David. Once again, we saw rugby skills being used beautifully. Tackles, rucks, passes and off-loads brought Quentin, Connor and Orlando to score one try each and the Munich team to win another match to nihil. With the third victory of the tournament, the MRFC finished fifth overall.
Summary, It was an eventful tournament, which saw the MRFC Lions showing a high potential. The boys played beautiful rugby, putting effectively into practice their skills and obtained a well-deserved fifth place out of twelve teams. A special mentioning deserves the fact that, they conceded only one try throughout the whole tournament! This was the best achievement, considering that it was against the best U12 team in Germany. Below, you will find the individual results of each game, with the scorers. And we finish with the beloved sentence among the trainers and the managers of the U12 team:
“A try is the result of a team effort”.

Trainer: Antoine Miguet, David Clegg
Manager: Gennaro De Lucia, Martin Kerschensteiner
Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Basile De Broissia, Mathis Closs, Giorgio Delli Colli, Connor De Lucia, Timote Dupuis, Noah Eiselt,  Martin Jaeth,  Alexis Kerschensteiner, Quentin Moughty,  Christian Pearce,  Orlando Tarquini, Eliseo Tarquini, Eudes Vermersch, Bruno Zamola

Ergebnisse:
München RFC – TB Neckarhausen:  30 : 0 (Tries: Connor De Lucia 2x, Bruno Zamola 2x, Quentin Moughty, Christian Pearce)
München RFC – SC 1880 Frankfurt I: 00 : 05
München RFC – RK Heusenstamm: 25:00  (Tries: Basile de Broissia 2x, Connor De Lucia 2x, Eliseo Tarquini)
Spiel um Platz 5
München RFC – TSV Handschuhsheim:  15:00 (Tries: Connor De Lucia, Quentin Moughty, Orlando Tarquini)

U12 Freundschaftsspiel
Bozen, 27. November 2016

U12:
Trainer: David Clegg, Antoine Miguet
Teammanager: Gennaro De Lucia, Martin Kerschensteiner
Bericht: Martin Kerschensteiner
Together with the U14 team (see separate report) our U12 team traveled to Bolzano, Italy to participate successfully in an “Italo-Bavarian” Rugby Tournament (the MRFC was joined by a second Bavarian team from Regensburg) and most importantly to make new friends south of the border. The second aim was easily accomplished as the guest families from the local Rugby club (Sudtirolo Rugby) went out of their way to make the kids welcome in their homes and at the tournament the following day. This left a lasting impression on both accompanying managers/trainers and kids (this particular manager for the first time saw his son actually fold his clothes so not to disturb the nice guest room).  Let´s hope (and plan) to extend a similar invitation to Munich to our new friends at some point soon.  
Now to the first aim (the successful participation), which was also reached but required a bit more blood, sweat and tears (luckily actually nothing of the first, a lot of the second and only a little of the third).  A major contributor to the sweating was not only the beautiful weather and spring-like temperatures on the field but also the fact that we had a 13 man (boy) team to play a 12 a-side tournament and in addition donated players to the undermanned Regensburg team. Our captain Quentin, for example, started the day off by playing three straight games (no problem for him of course). Now to the games:

Oltrefersina : München RFC
0 : 30

The tournament started well for our team with a resounding victory against Oltrefersina. It was impressive to see how well the team (excellently prepared by their coach David) was able to defend the large pitch and keep the opposing team away from their “in goal”. Offensively the opposition was no match for the mixture of power and speed provided by the MRFC offense.
Tries: Connor De Lucia 2x, Basile de Broissia, Alexis Kerschensteiner, Giorgio Lombardi, Quentin Moughty

Trento : München RFC
10 : 10

The second match was a much closer affair against a very good team from Trento (that had e.g. clearly beaten the first team of Sudtirolo A). In the beginning of the match our team had problems adapting to their stronger and faster opponents and quickly fell behind by 2 tries. Then however the fighting spirit of the Munich lions and tigers (and whatever other cats) awoke, the tackling was better, the rucking stronger and in the end Giorgio L and Quentin both found the end zone to tie the game. A game we could and probably should have won if not for a Trento player grabbing our speedster Alexis by the neck to prevent a try in the last action of the game. Anyway a well fought game against a very strong team.
Tries: Giorgio Lombardi, Quentin Moughty

Südtirolo A : München RFC
15 : 15

Maybe our best game was followed by the weakest one played against Sudtirolo A. Probably a bit too much confidence due to the strong start led to a lack of concentration, many dropped balls, sloppy tackling and resulted in three tries for the opposition. But again our team did not break, our strong forwards (Connor, Eudes, Timote, Noah and Giorgio DC) pushed back and Basile lifted the team with 2 tries before Alexis this time found the in-goal with the last action of the game.  Another tie and probably the best result to keep the Sudtirolo-Monaco friendship intact.
Tries: Basile de Broissia 2x, Alexis Kerschensteiner

München RFC : Petrarca
0 : 20

The following match our team had to play against Petrarca Rugby, the junior team of a famous Italian Rugby club (currently in 2nd place in the first league), serial winner of northern Italian rugby tournaments and to us “Francoforte Sud”. For most part of the match our team, playing their 2nd match in a row, fought valiantly and kept the score close. All players – from the old guard led by Connor, Basile and Quentin to the new kids Louis, Martin and Alessio - gave it their all and tackled and pushed the often bigger kids backwards. However, offensively our inexperience showed as decisions (to pass) took too long and solo runs often ended with stripped balls. So by constantly fighting without the ball our team tired towards the end and conceded 3 tries in the last minutes of the game making the result more lopsided than the game.

Südtirolo B : München RFC
5 : 15

After a short break our team was back on the field playing against another strong Sudtirolo team. Here Bruno another one of our lightning fast players found his Mojo and some space to contribute a beautiful try and perfect assist to a second one, scored by Giorgio L, another one of our top sprinters. The scoring was completed by Quentin and as our strong defense conceded only one try this resulted in a fairly convincing victory.
Tries: Giorgio Lombardi, Quentin Moughty, Bruno Zamola

SG Petrarca/RC Regensburg : München RFC
15 : 20

The last match of the day provided another big challenge for our by now pretty tired players as they faced the second strongest team in Bavaria, the RC Regensburg, which was in addition fortified by a couple of big-time players from Petrarca/Francoforte Sud. The resulting game was see-saw battle between 2 highly motivated and slightly tired teams. Bruno, Basile and Giorgio put our team ahead but each time the resilient Regensburg team responded and so the score was tied at 15:15 in the last minute. Then Alexis managed to break free on the left only to temporarily misplace his GPS and slid out of the Regensburg goal-in with the ball – after getting an earful from his friend Eudes, he however quickly recovered and made a flying tackle that knocked out the ball, Giorgio DC reacted quickest, picked it up and provided a perfect pass to Basile striding down the right sideline: 20:15 .. final whistle …. and the celebration was on.
Tries: Basile de Broissia, Giorgio Lombardi, Bruno Zamola

In summary: a fantastic experience both on the personal level and on the pitch. A great team spirit, the willingness of each player to go to their limits together with our combination of power and speed made our first (and hopefully not last trip) to Italy a big success. A special thanks to David our trainer, who taught, motivated, calmed, encouraged, comforted and instructed a band of 13 kids (or 15 if you count their slightly over-motivated managers). Another big “thank you” goes to Alessandro and Giacomo, who initiated and organized this wonderful trip, but most of all to the guest families of Sudtirolo Rugby, who welcomed us so warmly to their club and homes.

Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Louis Anscombe, Basile De Broissia, Connor De Lucia, Giorgio Delli Colli, Timote Dupuis, Noah Eiselt, Martin Jaeth, Alexis Kerschensteiner, Giorgio Lombardi, Quentin Moughty, Alessio Schaedel, Eudes Vermersch, Bruno Zamola

U14 Freundschaftsspiel
Bozen, 27. November 2016

U14:
Trainer: Giacomo Bernobi
Teammanager: John Pritchard, Alessandro Cossu
Bericht: Alessandro Cossu

Südtirolo Rugby : München RFC
38 : 12

The U14 team concluded the first half of the season with an exciting minitour to Bolzano, Italy, where our players were welcome and hosted by the families of the players of the local club, Sudtirolo Rugby. The U14 Lions travelled to Italy on Saturday along with the U12’s (see separate report) and played on Sunday two games, respectively against the hosts and the Lagaria rugby club from Rovereto. The tournament proved to be not only an excellent opportunity to play 13-a-side games againt quality opponents, but also a very enjoyable international experience for our players, who mixed with the locals and spent an evening “at home” with the Italian families.
The sixteen-men strong squad was cut down to fifteen players, after Cilian had to retire shortly before the first game due to flu; however, the remaining players bravely took the pitch against the towering players of Sudtirolo Rugby. In the first half our boys seemed to have no reply to the searing attacks and driving mauls of the physically imposing Italians, particularly of their huge number 8, and conceded several soft tries. After being reminded by coach Giacomo that ball possession was vital to minimize damages, the Lions began to regroup and seemed to be able to stop the flow of attacks from the Italians; through individual moments of brilliance by David, who was truly outstanding on the day, Munich struck back with Oscar and managed to score a first try. The Italians reposted with another couple of tries but were made to work hard; in the final minute the MRFC quickly spread the ball out wide and managed to score a second try with Konstantin.

Lagaria Rugby Rovereto : München RFC
19 : 21

Encouraged by the positive signs shown in the second half of the game against Bolzano, the MRFC played against Rovereto in their final game. Although the gap between the two teams seemed to be very small, the MRFC found itself trailing by two tries after the first half. Coach Giacomo exhorted the Lions to keep possession of the ball rather than kicking it away. The coach’s word  appeared to have left a mark, since our boys started to play ball in hand and succeeded in scoring two tries with Vincent, once again magnificent in supporting a break by Georg Lorenz, and Oscar. David was again superb and carried the team to the third try while also converting all of the tries. In the final moments of the game Rovereto managed to score its third try but, not having converted its first one, the game ended with a deserved win by Munich.
The minitour merrily ended with the third-half celebration on the pitch in Laives, where both MRFC teams re-united for a worthy party together with their kindest Italian hosts.

Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Konstantin Fiedler, Oscar de Broissia, Riccardo Cossu, Cilian Moughty, David Pritchard, Daniel Cunney, Vincent Bonetti, Theo Gavras, Théo Lelarge, Anton Eldracher, Miguel Garbino, Leon Petry, Lucas Delord, Jérémie Kerschensteiner, Georg Lorenz, Adam Lauvergne.

U14 Freundschaftsspiel
Starnberg, 20. Novemberber 2016, Bericht: Alessandro Cossu

München RFC : SG Stuttgarter RC / TB Neckarhausen
36 : 0

Trainer: Giacomo Bernobi, Alan Moughty
Teammanager: John Pritchard & Alessandro Cossu

After a long pause since the last match, a friendly drawn in October against the St. George’s school on our home training ground, the MRFC U14 team played the penultimate tournament of the first half of the season on the premises of the Munich International School in Starnberg, where it met the Rugby Club Stuttgart.
In the first match the Lions beat the Swabians 36:0 thanks to tries from Oscar de Broissia, rookie Georg Lorenz and the industrious Cilian, who seemed to be everywhere on the pitch and impressed with his tackling and kicking from the tee. In the second match, Munich won 38:0 but, despite the whitewashing, Stuttgart was no pushover: particularly in the first-half of the second game they exerted continuous pressure on the Lions, who however managed to prevent their opponents from crossing the try line thanks to a very composed and orderly defensive effort; the Lions thus managed to tire down the brave Swabian, who had no replacements any longer due to injuries. Munich was very cynical and took its chances, first with a beautiful try by Cilian, who sprinted through the opponents and kicked ahead for himself, regathered the bouncing ball and dotted own, and then thanks to a fantastic break by David Pritchard who,  after a run of almost 30 metres, albeit tackled just a few metres from the try line, managed to offload to the supporting Vincent, who scampered over the line to give Munich a deserved win.
Overall the two games provided coach Giacomo and the team with a good chance to prepare for the upcoming international tournament in Bolzano next week.

Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Clian Moughty, Leon Petry, David Pritchard, Riccardo Cossu, Lucas Delord, Jérémie Kerschensteiner, Oscar de Broissia, Anton Eldracher, Bastien Leroux, Georg Lorenz, Théo Lelarge, Daniel Cunney, Vincent Bonetti, Miguel Garbino, Adam Lauvergne, Fynn  Khiari.

Versuche: Cilian Moughty, Oscar de Broissia 2x, Georg Lorenz 2x
Erhöhungen: Oscar de Broissia, Cilian Moughty 2x

Spiel 2:

München RFC : SG Stuttgarter RC / TB Neckarhausen
38 : 0

Trainer: Giacomo Bernobi, Alan Moughty
Teammanager: John Pritchard & Alessandro Cossu

Spielbericht folgt!

Mannschaftsaufstellung MRFC:
Clian Moughty, Leon Petry, David Pritchard, Riccardo Cossu, Lucas Delord, Jérémie Kerschensteiner, Oscar de Broissia, Anton Eldracher, Bastien Leroux, Georg Lorenz, Théo Lelarge, Daniel Cunney, Vincent Bonetti, Miguel Garbino, Adam Lauvergne, Fynn  Khiari.

Versuche: Cilian Moughty 2x, Daniel Cunney 2x, Vincent Bonetti
Erhöhungen: Cilian Moughty 2x