SB2 at Varsity
22.Feb.2015 - Cambridge
INDOORS - written by D-line captain Joey Reiness
SB2 10 - 3 OW2 (WIN)
There was a lot of pressure with this being the first match of the day and most of us having very little experience indoors. It was a rocky start, with Niall almost bleeding out from a Tristan-inflicted nose wound during the warm up. Whilst Niall sought medical attention we discussed tactics and decided it would be best to keep it simple - no fancy zones for us. We stuck to 'honest'-ish man D forcing backhand and a simple virt-stack-esque iso on O.
Luckily enough this worked a treat. It became apparent that we weren't half bad at indoors. Considering we had never played indoors together, we had some good chemistry. It took a point or two to get into the indoors mindset, with a couple of throws that were a *bit* too long. When on O, the handlers passed it around until a scoring opportunity arose, with fantastic movement from the cutters. On D, the tight man defence didn't take long to turn play over. Benni, Luke, Tristan and Jared found space in all the right places and made mine, Elliot's, Louis' and Niall's jobs far easier. We benefited a lot from Jared being in the end zone immediately after turnovers for easy scores. OW2's break scoober occasionally caught us off-gaurd but luckily we usually made up for it.
The end score of 10-3 was a great start to the day and both teams agreed it was a very enjoyable game. We parted only to meet again at Trinity Hall pitches that afternoon where a storm, both metaphorically and literally, was brewing...
OUTDOORS - written by O-line captain Elliot Cheung
SB2 15 – 8 OW2 (WIN)
Weather conditions for our outdoor match were slightly less optimal than they were in the sports hall. We faced 20 km/hr winds and near freezing temperatures that only got worse as the match went on. Nevertheless, SB2 came out ready to play, undaunted by the coming storm. Because of the inclement weather, we had a few important tactical decisions to make before the match. Scoring break points upwind and holding downwind were going to be huge factors in determining which team got to take home the spare tyre. After some discussion, we decided to have O-line hold downwind and D-line defend and fight against the wind.
SB2 got off to a slow start, OW2 managing to clutch the first point against the wind and putting us in a tough spot. On Niall's suggestion, we quickly decided to switch our strategy, thinking that O-line could use our quick handler movement to slowly but surely move upwind. The change-up proved effective, SB2 taking the point back to tie up the game. Oxford managed to take another upwind point, but then the momentum quickly shifted in our favor. O-line ran a 3/4 horizontal stack against OW2's zone; Niall, Louis, and I used quick swings and crashes to keep possession and break down Oxford's cup, gradually gaining yards with each throw and sending it downfield to Benni, Owen, Clackers, and Luke when an option arose. D-line kept it simple with a vertical stack, with Chris and Joey handling and Janusz at the front. With the wind at his back, Chris looked for hucks as often as possible, abusing D-Line's superior speed and height in Alex and Jared in the endzone. When the hucks weren't on, Tristan and Kaimyn found crisp cuts to gain yards and reset the count. On defense, we on O-line realized from the first point that our junk defence wasn't practiced enough and switched to man. D-line, on the other hand, played a very solid zone, trapping Oxford on the sideline and forcing awkward options, including numerous cross-field hammer dumps. Holding downwind and scoring multiple breaks upwind, we found ourselves up 8-3 at the half.
At the start of the second half, O-line came out of the gate strong, making a lot of quick, consistent passes to score immediately, not dropping the disc. Then the winds picked up even more, and the combination of cold and fatigue began to settle in. Neither team would be able to score upwind for the rest of the match. But with some very solid play and one not-so-solid push pass from Tristan on game point, Cambridge took the match 15-8. The spare tyre should be FedEx'd over here hopefully in the next week.
