First game of the day was Firetails against Team Canada. There was a reasonable upwind/downwind trend to the pitch, although the points seemed to be scored liberally at both ends. Some scrappy play from both teams early saw the Firetails up 3-1 with a good chance to make it 4-1 with a D not far outside TC's endzone on the downwind. A couple of opportunities were missed, and TC pulled it back to 3-3. Points were mostly traded to an early half, although an untimely drop at 6-6 saw TC get the half at 7-6.
The Firetails were on D after half and TC consolidated to 8-6 before some good work from Jo in the clam got a block on the line and the Firetails tied it up again at 8-8. Unfortunately a few more errors started creeping in, and TC punished the mistakes opening up a 13-9 break. A time out was to no avail, with a miscommunication turnover next point through the 4-man zone. Two more simple execution errors let Canada get to game point at 16-9. A solitary score at this stage was not enough and TC broke through the Puppy on the final point for a 17-10 win.
The game was certainly there for the taking, but a lapse of concentration against a team like
Canada is liable to be punished. We also had a number of opportunities to open up a sizeable break early on while Canada was finding their feet that we should have taken better advantage of.
With only a short break, Team Canada backed up against Seattle Riot in the next game. It was tight to 11-11 or so, but Riot rolled home in the last few points to win. Final score was around 17-12. TC were missing their interprovincial pickups and will have a few gun players to integrate into the team come Worlds.
The final game saw the Firetails take on Riot, with the wind doing a full 180 degree change and becoming a little stronger. After a nice put from Ash to Mama downwind to go 1-0 up, the D line managed to generate five turns but were unable to convert until Gamble looped one over to Liz near the back of the endzone. A cheap D and a quick convert saw the Aussies up 3-0 for a solid start. Drops in two of the next three points could have proved costly - Riot were able to convert one for 4-2. The D line managed another five turns in the following point but couldn't score it, and the next point another drop against the 4-man zone had Riot tying it up at 4-4.
Both teams consolidated to 7-6, Firetails up. With half to be taken early at 8, the D line managed to generate another string of turns, several near the Riot endzone, but not be able to punch it in. Still with the opportunity to take half downwind, a disappointing O point followed, with several cheap turnovers. Riot took advantage and finally worked it in for the score.
The D came out firing after half and got the block on the next two points, the second off the Puppy. Keah put a sweet downwind huck to Lisi for the score on the second for 9-8. Riot turned up the pressure to tie it up and then get a break 10-9 before Firetails called a time-out to stop the run. Unfortunately a soft turn let Riot go up 11-9 with the Aussies needing an upwind score to get back to level pegging. With a Hussey to Di goal consolidating the O, the D got the upwind break after some good work in the clam, and then followed it up with the downwinder for 12-11 Firetails, game to 14.
A sweet mid field flick from Viv to Granny downwind gave the Firetails the lead 13-12, but Riot were equal to the pressure and didn't give the disc up to even it up at 13-all, double game point. A huck from Keah to Di floated wide in the endzone, but hard man D saw Crossie get the block on the inside out, and a bullet cross field backhand from Gamble to Di finished the game 14-13 Australia.
The intensity throughout the entire game was the best it has been on the pre-tour and bodes well for Vancouver. While the turnover rate was relatively high, the pressure on D from both teams was also high and forced the offences of both teams to work very hard.
Overall it has been an excellent pre tour, and with a week to freshen up everyone should be raring to go for our first up rematch with Fury (Team USA).
1 comment:
Hey Rach, the loopy backhand from megan into the endzone went to Lisi. Easy to mistake though as she was wearing Liz's number because we all swapped uniforms.
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