Phew!  It was close run.

GC Zurich II beat OC Monthey by one point, 17-16, at Monthey.  At the end Monthey were trying desparate kicks from the half way line, and the Zurich players had to check with the referee to find who won.

But back to the beginning.

Apart from an excellent pitch and floodlighting, the first thing that struck one was the size of some of the Monthey pack.  There were two big second rows, and an enormous (150kg) nr 8.  The biggest Zurich player was not much over 90kg.  A slight disparity.

The game plan was to build a forward base and then fling the ball wide.  This proved initially very successful.  After about five minutes Zurich were ahead with a classic down the line, winger scores try from Reto Winter.  It looked like the old Zurich bogey of starting slow was not to be repeated in this game.

But that was it from Zurich for quite a long time.

For the next 50-60 minutes the game settled into a war of attrition, with much kicking, especially from Monthey, much crash ball from Zurich and not much penetration from either side.

What did happen was that Zurich's discipline fell and we were penalised for a number of indiscretions, mainly in the ruck.  This was aggravated by the infuriating inability of some Zurich players to get back quickly 10 meters, and to just keep playing even if they had not gotten back the 10.  Monthey scored a try from a penalty that was advanced  10 metres to close to the line. 

This was the only time Monthey made effective use of their massive weight advantage in the forwards, but even then it was close - close enough that the extra 10 metres made all the difference.  Please, guys, think.

In general the weight advantage was not too big an issue outside the scrums,  where we were initially being pushed back all the time.  This stabilised as the first half went along, though we never pushed them back, and was not an issue in the second half when our first team subs came on.  Height, and the lack of a second jumper, did cause some problems in the line out.  Excellent tackling, especially by our back row, stopped any significant pressure from the Monthey forwards in the loose, and reasonable rucking gave us a good percentage of the ball.  Though it has to be said rucking from both sides was messy.

All the Monthey score came in the first half - the try, converted, and 3 penalties, at least one of which was helped by an extra 10 metres courtesy of bad Zurich discipline.

At half time the score was 16-5 for Monthey.

Two prop substitutions from the first team definitely helped stabilise the pack, and this provided a generally improving tone to Zurich's play.  However the first score of the second half only came after 20 minutes or so.  Good pressure form Zurich, and some good kicking led to a scrum in the Monthey 22.  The ball came out cleanly from a stable pack.  John Borton, in his first game at nr 9, had the vision to see that the Monthey back line were pressing well, and took the ball in himself.  A wiggle of the hips (well, he was wearing pink underpants) saw him past the first line of defense, and then he crashed over the line for an excellent try.  He may have things to learn at nr 9, but he definitely showed his mettle as a flanker. 

Ben Rau drop-kicked the conversion, an excellent kick which in retrospect gave us the win.

At this point the score was 16-12 to Monthey, and the game settled back a bit, though both sides made some enterprising runs down the wing which were ultimately forced out.

While it was obvious that we needed to bring on fresh blood in the forwards at half time, it was less obvious that we should change a back line that was working well together.  Shane Peters came on 10-15 minutes into the second half to stiffen up the defence at the back.  It was only in the last 10 minutes that it became clear we needed to do something to break the stalemate, and at the suggestion of captain Chris Ducamp, Misch Meier came on at the wing.

And that worked.  With almost a repeat of the first try, the ball came out to Misch and he ran in from somewhere near the half way line to score the winning points.

Right at the end Monthey tried a desparation kick from out wide on the half way line.  It fell far short, but the kicker assured your respondent afterwards that he could convert penatlies from the distance.  Close.

As the final whistle went, the Zurich players rushed up to the ref to demand the result, and were re-assured but surprised to learn Zurich had won.

It was a happy journey home.  Even for John Borton, who celebrated the win with a multi-colour yawn all over the bus floor.

Before mentioning the very good play from many players, there are things we have to learn from.

- discipline, especially in the ruck, and in getting back 10 metres.  Tackling 2 metres from the tap gives points to the opposition, please think it through.

- kicking, this is a coaching issue, we need to identify and train up kickers
- rucking and loose forward play, we're not bad, but we could be devastating
- variety in the back line attack, again a coaching issue. Excellent individual skills, not always effective in combination.

In the forwards, the tight 5 did their job more or less against a much bigger pack, but it was the back row who really stood out for their tackling and loose play.  There was good solid work throughout the backs.  Bringing on Misch turned out to be the match winner, but it was not easy to decide who to take off.  A special mention to Philipp Henggi, in his first game with the seconds, who was excellent.  And a special thanks to Ben, Woodie, Minime and Misch for coming straight from the first team game to be our subs.

Points:

3       Alec Sobotka, exemplified the hard work of the back line
2       Roberto Schreiner, a terrier in the rucks, if not always fairly
1       John "gay underpants" Borton, first time as scrummie, a solid performance and an excellent try

Jaffa   Roberto, yellow card for diving in too many times

Team

1. Philip Knaggs
2. Michel Fink
3. Gareth Christopher
4. Jamal Hanafi
5. Chris Ducamp (c)
6. Roberto Schreiner
7. Alec Sobotka 
8. Gerardo Mereu

9. John Borton
10. Tom Stuart

11. Reto Winter
12. Ben Rau
13. Mathias Kaufmann
14. Philipp Henggi
15. Robbie Walker

Subs.
16. Ben Wey
17. Shane Peter
18. Simon Wood
19  Misch Meier