Match report 1s vs Nyon – 10.10.21

What has been a successful season start for the 1s was to go through another big challenge on an intense rugby Sunday away in Nyon. In previous years we repeatedly found ourselves on the losing end just in the closing minutes after starting off strongly and dominating most of the game. Determined to finalize the strong performance this time we left the German-speaking rugby capital of Switzerland in the early hours.

The atmosphere was bright and positive but was slightly dimmed by watching our Valkyries losing against what was the largest women’s team I’ve ever witnessed, a team consisting of short and tall, slim and broad, and some surprisingly flexible players. This was followed by the 2s’ unfortunate loss after a solid start.

Feeling the pressure on the first team now, intensity picked up immediately after entering the changing rooms. The familiar smell of heating cream, dirt and sweat even cleared out the last of Hugh’s Irish accent jokes, and an almost tangible focus spanned across the team. We were ready.

Zurich started off strongly, fought hard against a well prepared Nyon side who converted a simple penalty in the early stages of the game, answered by a similar situation for Zurich shortly after. 3-3.

Soon realizing that there was space on the outside of the rushing Nyon 13, Tom McMann initiated a sharp back move to allow Gwen running a solid line to score the first try of the game. Hugh converted and made the score 6:10. We kept our focus and concentrated on the game which led to another try not so long after: building from a beautiful platform the forwards built after winning a scrum, the back line once again combined neatly to let Hugh score on the outside making it 6:15 first, then converting to make it 6:17. The things the man can do! Some claim that 17 (or was it 18) is also the amount of pints he can drink. Remains to be proven.

At half-time, the team still looked in shape (apart from our scrumhalf almost spewing in the background) and eager to bring it home. Intensity once again picked up a step in the second half, and slowly there were more instances of dirty play (only on Nyon’s side of course). We kept our composure as much as possible and converted another penalty. 6:20. This was the time when Nyon for some reason decided to start playing properly and managed to score their first try using their trademark formula: let their number 8 run and score. It was followed by another Nyon try in a phase where we had a loss of focus. Our lead was lost, and we faced a 20:20 draw. To add on top of our down-period, the ref also decided to switch around colours for a bit and let Nyon have a penalty after a horrendous tackle in the air which sent our Kev back down-under. However crazy this situation was, coach T was able to conjure some mystic southern spirit to respond to this stir-up by stepping their fullback on an outstanding 40m sprint and scoring next to the posts. 27:20 after Hugh’s conversion.

The final minutes approached and Nyon once again picked up the pace in this critical phase, allowing them to score a classic forwards try after a maul. They missed the conversion. Hanging on to the 2 point lead we tried our best to keep composed. However, after a final penalty they still managed – once again – to beat us in the last couple of actions by taking the kick and converting.

Despite the huge amount of positivity that can be taken from this game it does not feel good to have lost against Nyon. We all learn a lot from these intense games, and we will take this into next week’s challenge to beat the current leader Yverdon.

(Von: Oli Dias)