The first outing of the season for the Heugümpers was a game carried over from the fall in Sala Capriasca vs. Lugano’s 2^nd team.  Over the winter break and lately, the Heugümpers have gotten additional players keen and interested in playing rugby for the club of varying levels, a good and positive sign that rugby is really growing in the Zürich area.

Trips to Lugano or Bellinzona are a tradition in our club and have a notorious reputation.  This one topped them all.

It all started in snowy Zürich on Saturday morning.  Snow?? Yes and plenty of it! Pitches closed everywhere, accidents abundant on the roads and we were going to Lugano? Yes we were!  The promise of sunshine, warmer temperatures and good rugby was in our minds. We left relatively punctual from Zürich and made our way towards the Gotthard tunnel.  As we arrived at the bottom of the ramp going up to the tunnel, the light was red.  Quickly a few boys got out on the highway shoulder to toss the rugby ball around.  The snow was piling up on the van.  1hr and 30min later we slowly started moving towards the tunnel but not after having the winter tires of the bus inspected by the police. A good thing they didn’t look into the bus ;-)

We arrived in Lugano at kickoff time and were able to postpone the original kickoff for 40mins so that we could get in a proper warmup.  As the game kicked off on the surprisingly soft Lugano pitch, a sigh of release and excitement in the air could be felt.  Players were happy to finally play rugby again.

Our kickoff, game started strongly with the forward packs trying to dominate the game.  Our forwards with several rookies battled strongly and starting playing well.  Rucks were fairly well executed.  Backs played hard, with good spirit and strong defensive play.  HT score was 7:0 for Lugano, could of been more if it wasn’t for try line bravery of our hard tackling backs.  In the second half, we got stronger and stronger.  Our pack was getting comfortable with the Lugano forwards and our backs were also dominating play.  A mistake from Lugano in their own 22, led to a rush on the far side where 2^nd Row / Prop Chris Hope scored.  The conversion attempt was difficult and Mitch tried his best to get it there but it wasn’t to be.  The team pushed on to get the next try but time finally ran out in what was a very equal and fair game.  (Good effort considering Lugano played with ½ their NLB Team!)

The Trip home lasted forever.  Stuck again in front of the Gotthard tunnel but this time for 2 ½ hrs.  This didn’t stop us from dancing to Irish hits on the highway shoulder in Airolo while waiting for the light to go green in the tunnel.  The bus was full of beer anyways, what else did we need?

1pt – Patrick – solid play in the backs and strong tackles.

2pts – Matthias – First ever game, front row and contested scrums!!

3pts – Man of the Match goes to Eugene, 1st game for GC and a great performance.