Highlanders 2010 Rugby season finally underway

The Highlanders Youth Rugby Club of Chapel Hill kicked off its 2010 season late last month with an afternoon feast of U13 and U15 games as well as the NC Under-19 league fixture against state rival Vance Cabarrus Gold.

Recent wintry weather effectively delayed the season opener by three weeks, but the club started its seventh season in perfect conditions on a full-sized pitch at Cedar Falls Park in Chapel Hill, complete with proper rugby posts, bought by the HRC and installed by the town.

VC Gold started aggressively and scored an unconverted try after 5 minutes. Highlanders soon found their rhythm, and pulled the score back to 3-5 thanks to a Willem Prins penalty. Gold stretched their lead off an interception and still led 10-8 despite a try in the 29th minute by HRC's Sebastian Torres.

The visitors spent nearly 25 minutes with 14 men on the field, with the referee enforcing tight discipline for dangerous play and other infringements. Despite the numerical advantage, it wasn't until the 59th minute that the Highlanders were able to take a one-point lead, thanks to another Prins penalty kick. That score remained until 3 minutes before the end, when a spirited VC Gold attack breached the Highlanders defense for a try under the posts, which the visitors duly converted. The final score: Vance Cabarrus Gold 17, Highlanders 11.

"It was a tough game yesterday but there's lots of good learning that we can take away," said HRC coach Robert Joseph. "It was good to see the boys playing at last and there were a lot of positives too. One of these is that we had four new players -- Ian Toth, Gordon Morris, Matt Leary and Stephen Belch -- get significant game time which is great."

Perhaps just as great for the HRC was the goal posts, said Joseph. "We're very grateful to Butch Kasiah, Susie Whaley and Bernard Leach, who we worked with to install the posts."

-- Richard Jordan