Luxembourg 95 – Mons 0 (Official 85-0)

Weather: 18°. Sunny

Pitch: Good

Kickoff: 13:30

Spectators: 43

Ref: Mr.Cassart (*****)

Luxembourg:

New season, up one level in the league, just a couple of trainings before the first game, new players and holidays still in each one’s mind. All the ingredients were present to face this game with a certain apprehension. It didn’t last long as this first game couldn’t have been any better.  

From the first second the team went to the opposition half keen to show who the better team was. After just 3 minutes of play, Benji scored the first try after a short sequence of well played rucks opened his way to the try line.

At the middle of first half the score was already 26-0 and there wasn’t too much doubt who would be the winner. Xavier scored the second after a good move and support from the forwards. A good move in the backs and a perfect inside pass from Christopher, gave the space for Matthew to score the third and from a scrum at 5m, an opportunist William took the ball and went straight to the line. We were still in the 13th minute.

After this tremendous start, the game went a bit chaotic with our boys playing individual, each one eager to score. Some handling errors and penalties in rucks gave Mons some space to breath although they never had a chance to be dangerous.

Around the 20th minute another try from Callum settled the things back to normal. Then George scored his first try in U17 after a good follow up and Matthew scored again on the corner after the ball ran all the back line. Benji converted 5 of the 7 tries, to, put the score 45-0 at half time.

Second half wasn’t much different. From Mons restart, Pedro recovered a lost ball and ran 70m avoiding defenders to score his first try of the game. This quick try didn’t stop Mons from fighting back and one has to respect the way they did it. Surpassed physically and technically, Mons boys never gave up and played always in a good rugby spirit.

Like in the first half, some avoidable penalties gave Mons a platform to keep the game in the middle of the pitch and the score unchanged. They could even have scored from a penalty but the ball went low. Feeling the danger, Luxembourg went back to attack and the rest of the game was just a sequence of tries from our boys. First by Christopher after a good off load from

Pedro, then Gregoire made a good run and passed to George for his 2^nd try of the afternoon. Pedro scored two more tries, Gregoire another two and Matthew his third. Benji converted five settling the final score 95-0 (although the official game sheet indicates 85-0).

This was a perfect start of the season for the boys. It was a very good game for the beginning of the season and all people around the pitch were pleased by the quality of rugby played.

Though the result was very good, there’s still a lot of work to do. Rucks and Line Outs are far from perfect and the collective isn’t always present as it should. Hopefully this will improve with training. Well done.      

U17 - Belgium Cadets Division2 Luxembourg - Mons

This Saturday September 11 we'll play Mons for the start of the Belgium Cadets Division 2.

LUXEMBOURG-MONS

Kick-off: 13:30

 Stadium: Rue de l'Alzette
                 Walferdange

The players in the list below must be at Walferdange (dressing room near the Tennis) at 12:00
The players in "Standby", please, bring your rugby gear and be there at the same time
All the others are invited to come and support your team.

For those who have it don't forget to bring the CSCE uniform (polo and tracksuit)
If, for any reason, someone in the list is not available on Saturday, please, let me know as soon as possible

BEIER Stanley          
BONALLO Callum  
BOONE Yannick  
BOONE Xavier    
DENNIS William 
DUCREUZET Pierre   
GENEST Eloy 
GENEST Grégoire 
HOPWOOD Matthew 
IRONS Robert
JOLLIFFE Seiji 
LAVIS Louis 
LOWTHER Lucas 
OLSEN Christian  
PACAUD Martin  
PENN George
RAMOS Pedro 
RIZZI Micky
ROSSA Christopher 
SIMPSON Benjamin 
SCHWENGLER David  
VERCRUYSSEN Julian

Standby: SALA Peter, BARRAGAN Jaime

Season 2010/2011

Having won last season the Belgium Cadets Division 3, the U17 team will play this season on Division 2.
New season, new players, new teams to play with, the same goals. Our objectives for this season are:
1- Play good rugby
2- Have fun
3- Prepare players born in 1994 to be ready if selected for the European U18
4- Stay in Division 2

Of course and like we did last season, we'll play every game to win and we'll never surrender till the last second.
If the opponents are better we'll congratulate them and we'll learn and work to be better. If they're not, we'll congratulate them and we'll stay humble knowing we still have to learn and work.
At the end of the season we'll count the points and we'll have our reward if we played good rugby and had fun.

For the boys born in 1994 and 1995 trainings will be at Cessange every Tuesday and Thursday from 17:30 to 19:00. First training will be on August 31.

U17 in the news

An article in today's Le Quotidien:

Luxembourg 49 - Laakdal 21

Weather: 13°. Cloudy, no rain
Pitch: Soft
Kickoff: 13:00 (2 x 30 minutes)
Spectators: 108

Luxembourg:
1- Xavier, 2- Yannick, 3- Jason, 4- Louis, 5- Gabriel, 6- Frederico, 7- Antoine, 8- Pedro, 9- Micky, 10- Matthew, 11- Hugo, 12- Callum(c), 13- Stuart, 14- Christopher, 15- Sean

Subs: Ht 20- William for Micky, 42’ 21- Gregoire for Hugo, 50’ 19- Lucas for Pedro, 55’ 16- Niclas for Jason, 56’ 17- Quentin for Yannick, 18- David for Louis, 22- Stanley for Christopher

Score: 10’ 0-7; 11’ 5-7 Hugo, 7-7 Matthew; 25’ 12-7 Callum, 14-7 Matthew; 31’ 19-7 Christopher; 35’ 24-7 Matthew, 26-7 Matthew; 36’ 31-7 Pedro, 33-7 Matthew, 42’ 33-14; 46’ 38-14 Xavier, 40-14 Matthew; 56’ 45-14 William; 60’ 45-21

As both teams had won their first playoff game against Anderlecht this final game would decide the champion of Belgium Cadets 3rd Division.
At the start, a nervous Luxembourg team gave Laakdal the control of the game. In the first 10 minutes Laakdal was the more consistent team on the pitch and it was only logical when they opened the score. At the 10th minute, one of the many penalties conceded by Luxembourg ended in a 15m forwards charge played by the book and gave Laakdal a deserved 7-0 lead. It didn’t last long though. After only one minute, the first collective action of the Luxembourg players ended on the wing with Hugo having the space to run and score. Matthew converted and the score was even. With this try, Luxembourg calmed down and started slowly to gain control. Although the action was happening in both sides of the field, Luxembourg was always much more threatening to the opposition defence. Eventually they got a break near the end of first half when Laakdal was kicking a lot in an attempt to relief pressure. One of the long kicks ended in the hands of Sean and set in move a nice counter attack. When he was tackled, a fast ball from the ruck gave Frederico space to run only to be stopped 5m from the line. Callum followed and scored. With Matthew’s conversion half time arrived with the score at 14-7.
Luxembourg entered second half determined not to make the same mistake they did in the first 10 minutes of the game. Like a force 5 tornado, they swept away the opposition organisation and by the time Laakdal could breathe Luxembourg had scored three tries in 6 minutes. In the first minute, a penalty at half way was quickly played, quickly passed in a way Stuart and Pedro had only to fix the two last defenders to free Christopher on the wing to score. Four minutes later, Matthew set Hugo free on the side, followed and when Hugo was stopped by a desperate tackle, got the ball and scored. One minute after, in a beautiful move the ball was handled from the left side of the pitch to the right and back again to the left. Pedro got the ball and easily beat in speed the disorganized defence with a run of 60m. Matthew converted two to settle the score at 33-7.
As one could expect, Luxembourg couldn’t keep this furious pace for much longer and started to relax. This gave Laakdal some air and took the game to Luxembourg’s 22. On the 12th minute, from a scrum at 5m, Laakdal attacked on the blind and in a 2vs1 situation scored again.
With this try Laakdal got some momentum and started hammering Luxembourg with their strong forward pack. However, Luxembourg fierce defence avoided more damage to the score and it proved to be only temporary when Luxembourg came back again to score two more tries. From a scrum in the opposition half, Pedro went on the blind, passed to Gregoire on the outside who, when tackled, passed to Xavier on the inside to score. From another scrum at 5m, William took the ball and went straight to line, scoring in front of a very surprised Laakdal scrum half. Matthew converted the first try to put the score at 45-14.
Before the end of the game, Laakdal still had time for a glimpse of pride and scored a penalty try when Luxembourg collapsed a maul 2m from the line.
With a good refereeing by M. Jean Jacques Oberst, the game was played in a good spirit with moments of very good rugby. Laakdal proved they deserved to be in the final and be promoted with Luxembourg.
With the U18s victory last season in the European Championship Group D; the 5th place in this season’s Group C; the victory of the U15 in the Alsace Lorraine League last season; with the U17 champions of Belgium 3rd Division; the U15 still playing for the top in their league; with U17 and U19 competing in the Belgium 2nd Division next season, Luxembourg rugby shows it has a present but, more important, it has a future.

Man of the Match: William