On March 6th, the Possums headed down to Huntsville, AL and pulled out a victory in the dying moments of the match. The weather was more than cooperative as both teams headed onto the pitch: Huntsville ailing from player turnover from the previous year and Knoxville scrambling to field replacements for (4) positions.

Huntsville started with an educated boot slotting (2) penalty kicks after Knoxville committed penalties inside their own 40-meters. Score: 0-6. Huntsville was forced to play a man down after a professional foul resulted in a yellow card for the next ten minutes. Knoxville answered with a score from #8 Wayne Chemerly after some hard rucking near the try line to take the advantage. Score 7-6. Both teams struggled to find offensive possession as Knoxville’s defense held a Huntsville team who did a great job at poaching ball in the rucks with a large forward pack. Huntsville answered late in the first half with another penalty kick ending the first half scoring. Score: 7-9.

The second half started no different the first half ended: both teams trying to find offensive continuity. After some loose possessions and kicking for advantage, Huntsville repeatedly crashed the Possum try line finally scoring up the middle with a quick center strike. Score: 7-16. Events turned worse for the Possums as one of their own suffered a yellow card professional foul penalty leaving them short-handed. However, due to some well placed kicks, the Possums positioned themselves deep inside Huntsville territory managing to slowly restart some offense with a backline score from #13 Shaun Shanks. Score: 14-16.

On the opposite end of the field, the Home team made Knoxville pay again, capitalizing off of  another Knoxville penalty with less than 20-min left. Score: 14-19. Play continued as both teams suffered injuries, Knoxville losing an inside center and Huntsville losing a hooker. Long runs dominated the next minutes of play as both defenses held. At the 10-min mark Knoxville seemed to find some go-forward as quick rucking and backline play pushed the ball across the try line courtesy of #15 Sebastien “Frenchy” Dutoya. Score 21-19. Knoxville kept up the intensity striking with a supporting #8 Wayne Chemerly at the 4-min mark.  Score: 28-19.

The game ended as such with Knoxville finding some advantage out wide and perhaps with more  fitness on the day. This spectator can’t say enough about how well Knoxville battled back against a quality opponent, away from home, with a disheveled line-up, and (3) reserves). This victory ended a 10-yr drought against Huntsville (Knoxville moved up to Division II in 2005). Huntsville was a different team than we had played in several years with big, aggressive forwards and great kicking. The fact that no kicks (conversion or otherwise) were missed by either team tells you how well the game was played on Saturday by both sides.

KRFC would like to thank Huntsville for the hard-nosed match and the social following.

1. Garrett Jernigan

2. Tom Jallo

3. Shane Randolph

4. Brad Lokitz (Ray Moore, 65-min)

5. Chad Haynes

6. Sean Pickel

7. Mark Lane

8. Wayne Chemerly

9. Reggie Mullins (Adam Ingle, 60-min)

10. Adam Ingle (Lucas Rogers, 60-min)

11. Sebatien “Frenchy” Dutoya  (Randall Hubbs, 60-min)

12. Pierre Steenenkamp (Reggie Mullins, 60-min)

13. Shaun Shanks

14. Heath Hildreth

15. Lucas Rogers (Frenchy, 60-min)

16. Ray Moore

17. Randall Hubbs

18. Jay McNabb

Possum Supporters: Buck Rogers, Margaret Anne Ingle, Samantha DeMange

The second half became scrappy as both teams battled for momentum. Chattanooga continued with their back line quickness keeping pace with the Possums. In the end, KRFC was a little too much on the day for their southern rivals and won 32-19.

Knoxville Rugby would like to thank Chattanooga Rugby and all of the spectators that came out to support their respective teams.

The new KRFC Merchandise has arrived for Spring 2010.  The T-shirts feature the new Possum Icon and  are in Limited quantities, $15.

New knit caps will be coming soon, no cuff embroidered with the classic Knoxville Rugby font.  Two styles to choose from, Grey on Red and Red on Grey. $12.

Also, Legend Fitness has teamed up with KRFC to deliver a new 1/4 zip grey top. Cost $25.

Find all this gear and more at our new Merchandise page!

It was another hard hitting match on Saturday against the Montgomery Yellowhammers RFC. Last year the Possums wore out the Yellowed Hammers taking the home victory. This year proved tougher. Weather was finally not a factor as it was 65 degrees for kickoff. After a botched opening kick-off by the Possums it seemed to only go downhill from there. Missed tackles and no attacking cohesion saw the halftime score of 3-7 Yellowhammers. Unfortunately for KRFC it was more of the same in the second half that saw the home side post a few more tries to come through victorious. Tough lessons learned when traveling light during Matrix season.

On a cold February morning Knox county school bus # 127 departed from Cool Beans en route to Chattanooga, TN, with a Possum team anxious for their first rugby action of the spring (yes, it’s February but the South Rugby Union considers this spring) matrix season. The match started off slow and only having one outdoor practice session due the cold/rainy/snowy weather showed as there were several unforced Possum errors and miscommunications. However, a strong Possum pack dominated the set pieces winning nearly all of the scrums. Flyhalf Tony Baker scored the first try of the day with his shifty running, and he easily converted the kick to give Knoxville a 7-0 lead. The second try came off a five meter scrum that saw the Knoxville pack drive the Chattanooga pack back to their goal line and then wheeled the scrum allowing eight man Matt Noss to pick the ball up out of the back of the scrum and touch it down. Baker converted the kick to give Knoxville a 14-0 advantage. After a successful Chattanooga penalty kick, the half ended with Knoxville up 14-3. In the second half Knoxville picked up the intensity and saw reserve winger Reggie Mullins get his first try of the season and give Knoxville a 19-3 lead. The Knoxville pack once again used a 5 meter scrum to give Noss his second try of the day, and after Baker’s third conversion, the score was 26-3. Chattanooga made a spirited effort late in the game and moved the ball inside the Possum’s 22 meter line, but Knoxville defense held. The match ended with a final score of 26-3 and a Possum win. Thanks to Chattanooga for a great social with lots of good BBQ; the wives and girlfriends who braved the cold to cheer us on; Margaret Anne Ingle, the team photographer, for the great photos; and to our sponsor Eagle Distributing for providing refreshments for the bus trip home.

1. Pickel / Jernigan @ 20 min / Haynes at 60 min
2. Jernigan / Jallo @ 20 min
3. Randolph
4. Lokitz / Moore @ 40 min
5. Mohr / Pickel @ 20 min / Davis @ 60 min
6. Lane / Pickel @ 60 min
7. Chemerly
8. Noss
9. Ingle
10. Baker
11. Hildreth / Hubbs @ 65 min
12. Steenekamp / Shanks @ 60 min
13. Ellis
14. Turner / Mullins at 40 min
15. Rogers

Reserves:
Jallo
Moore
Mullins
Shanks
Davis
Haynes
Hubbs

Possums in Support:
Rooster
Nickels
McNabb
Buck Rogers

Five teams braved the weather this past Saturday for a Santa Claus 7s first: 2 inches of snow. Gastonia and Louisville Women traveled the furthest along with Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Knoxville Women. The day started out with freezing temperatures and a weigh-. The field had so much snow on it that it couldn’t be lined: flags marked the boundaries.

The morning round-robin play witnessed Knoxville Men take the first seed with a narrow win over Chattanooga. Louisville Women led the morning 1-0-1 in the first of three matches with Knoxville.  The speed of the afternoon games increased as the snow started to melt. Chattanooga outmatched a young Gastonia team and played Knoxville in the Championship game. Again, it went down to the last minute with Knoxville edging the victory on a 2-pt conversion kick. Knoxville Women won the final game of the series against Louisville to tie the series.

Food was provided by a selfless pig who gave his life to feed us all. We had smoked it the night before.

Thanks to Gastonia for bringing a true Santa’s team. All of their guys were over 200 lbs.

Knoxville Rugby will be at the opening night of Invictus this Friday Dec 11 at DownTown West 8 Theater, be there at 6:15 with KRFC gear.