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NO RUGBY LIKE SNOW RUGBY

NO RUGBY LIKE SNOW RUGBY

Simon Crick3 Mar 2019 - 20:09
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East London 4s Percy's Pirates do well in Austria

For the second year running East London 4s, also known as Percy’s Pirates, headed to Rugby Club Innsbruck’s Snow Rugby festival.
Player and coach Simon crick said: "We felt we were better prepared this year with a larger playing squad. Unfortunately, it was larger in size than in personnel."
The main party headed off from Gatwick. Said Crick: "We landed safely and transferred to our hotel. The new members of the squad, eager for some Austrian culture, headed out in the company of last year’s old hands. Everyone fully embraced the culture.
"We headed to the pre-event venue to pick up our accreditation and meet the other teams, renewing old friendships and making some new ones."
The squad consisted of players Simon Crick, Jim Crick, Mick Hafford, Steve Johnson, Ricky Buckfield, John Wright, John Jacobs, and Eoin Kelly, and managers Tony Yiannakou, Mark Deery and Billy Topping.
Game day saw a heavy fall of snow overnight meaning that travel up to the venue was a bit slow. But with the Austrians being used to the snow, everything was running normally and the pavements and roads were clear of snow.
East London's first game was against the home side. A strong defence made it difficult for Innsbruck to break through. The new members of the team soon found out how hard it is to play on snow at 2,000 metres up.
The two sides exchanged scores with the Pirates having two scores disallowed. Jacobs opened the East London account on half time, but the game was lost three tries to one.
Game two was a much better game with scores for Carson (2), Jacobs (2), Kelly (2), Hafford, Buckfield and Johnson in a 9-3 win.
Game three was much closer with a 4-2 victory and tries from Jim Crick, Kelly and Jacobs (2).
East London went into game four having lost Buckfield and Hafford to injury. A hard fought final game was lost 3-1 with Jacobs scoring. East London finished sixth out of 12 teams.
Said Crick: "The Pirates certainly made their presence felt at the after party, eventually leaving at around 4am. The skiers were up early to make the most of the fantastic conditions and we had a much quieter Sunday night with a nice meal and a few beers."
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