In a thrilling game of rugby, the defending State Champions, Miami Tridents came back from a 7 point deficit at half time to win 24-13.
This was always going to be a tough game - these two teams have sparred against each other in tight games for the past 5 seasons. In front of an estimated crowd of five thousand it was Boca who got off to the best start. Playing with a strong wind at their backs Boca played the opening minutes deep in Tridents territory. An early opportunity to take a 3 point lead was badly squandered by Boca’s number 14 Tristen Gray, missing from just left of the posts. With the Tridents struggling to get out of their half, playing into a strong wind, Boca capitalized with a well taken try on 6 minutes by Boca #6 Brendan O’Donoghue. Making up for his dreadful earlier attempt, Gray converted from under the sticks to give Boca a 7-0 early lead.
Boca continued to pile on the pressure through their pack, slotting them into their backline and mixing up their game very well. If it wasn’t for some basic handling errors they might have pulled further ahead in a first half where the Tridents struggled to find their feet. A silly infringement by the Tridents gave Boca a penalty in front of the posts just outside the Trident 22. Boca took their points to move 10 points ahead on 23 minutes.
The Tridents needed to settle down, this was not part of the game plan. At a time when leadership was needed on the pitch, the ever reliable Miguel Peña, led the way with some big hits and turnovers at the breakdown. Keiffer Scott was another who stepped up and made some strong runs and great hits, along with lock Cesar Hurtado. For the latter part of the first half, the Tridents shifted gears and started to show a little of what has won them the last 4 Florida State Championships.
Boca were penalized for offside 10 yards outside their 22 and in front of the posts. Into a strong breeze, Connor Christie, the Tridents best back on the day, slotted a beautiful kick to give the Tridents their first points of the game.
You felt the momentum was shifting and starting to swing in favor of the State Champions. The Trident front row of Big Pat Maignan, Miguel Peña and the mighty Argentinian Germán Ariel Jalil were fundamental in turning the game for the Tridents. They destroyed the Boca pack in the set pieces, driving them off their own scrum ball and running them backwards on Tridents scrums.
In the dying seconds of the first half, the Tridents were pressuring Boca on their own line and went over only to be held up. Referee Ross Devonport blew the game for half time and the Tridents went in 10-3 down.
Within the opening few minutes of the second half you could sense that the Tridents meant business. They applied continued pressure on Boca, who defended hard; Christie can attest to this after receiving a hospital pass from his otherwise excellent flyhallf Milan Wagner, that sent him backwards on impact. Boca’s 13 Adam Freeman hit him with a super tackle to show that there would be no soft points conceded by Boca.
After soaking up some pressure just inside their own half, Wagner spotted a gap and sliced through the Boca defense to make a 60 yard run and bring the game to within two points at 8-10 on 64 minutes. With the good wishes of Max Murray, his tee man, Christie again made a beautiful connection and sent the conversion sailing between the posts to tie the game at 10-10.
From the kick restart the Tridents gave up the ball, something they need to work on. After some back and forth inside the Tridents half, they eventually played the territory game and captain, Damien Clemente kicked a well placed ball into Boca’s 22.
From there the Tridents pack took over and there was no way they were leaving Boca’s 22 without some points. After driving Boca backwards in 3 scrums 8 yards out Germán Jalil went over for a try only to be ruled out by referee Devonport, who didn’t see the grounding. Not to be denied the Tridents drove over the line from the resulting scrum with Vincent O’Rourke touching down to give there Tridents the lead for the first time in the game on 69 minutes. Christie again converted to make it 17-10. The Tridents were back and the crowd could sense it too.
However, again the Tridents failed to secure possession on the kick off and Boca drove the ball deep into Trident territory. On 75 minutes, Boca were awarded a penalty in front of the Tridents posts. Instead of continuing to go for a game tying converted try, they strangely opted for the penalty and brought the game to within 4 points at 17-13. From the resulting restart the Tridents pressurized Boca and spotting an opening front row, Germán Jalil, went for an intercept and cut through Boca to make the charge for the line and went over on 77 minutes to stretch the Tridents lead to beyond one score at 22-13. Christie again converted, this time with the well wishes of young Seánie Murray, his second tee man. The score was 24-13 and the game was all over bar the shouting. Devonport blew for full time a few minutes later and the Miami Tridents celebrated a good win with some work to take to training next week.
Post Game Comments:
“Parts were very good but we’ve a lot to work on,” said the Tridents coach, hooker/flanker and man of the match, Miguel Peña. “I thought Boca played quite well; they put us under a lot of pressure in the first half. We got very little attacking platform – certainly at the breakdown – it didn’t feel like we had a huge amount of platform. At times we carried the ball in isolation and went into contact too high.
“I certainly didn’t enjoy the opening 30 minutes, but we know they’re a very physical side who are well able to play a well mixed game interspersing their forwards with their backs. We found it difficult to stop. I said to the lads at half time to tighten things up and use the wind advantage to our benefit. I am proud of the way every man stepped up their game, particularly our forwards who dominated the second half encounters.”
Tridents President, José Bermudez, was very happy with the outcome. “After a difficult first half, it was great to see the character of our team. We hit the reset button at half time and started playing a much more composed game. We’ll have a few drinks tonight in our sponsor bar Gramps in Wynwood.”