RC Zug vs RC St Gallen

Final Score: RC Zug 35 – RC St Gallen 0

Arriving at our home pitch on Saturday was like walking into a war zone. The circus had been in town all week and had left our field looking like Beirut in the early 80’s.

On a positive note the weather was really good and even though we were missing a couple of key players (Claudio, Nico & Bogdan), we welcomed back Big Antoine, who has played for Zug for many years and is already in our ‘Legends - Hall of Fame’ while still being active player.

Also back on the team-sheet was Denis, who fractured his wrist two weeks ago. The Doctor said no rugby for at least five weeks, clearly he has no idea how hard Zug rugby players are!

The game started with St Gallen pushing hard. We beat them last season, so clearly they wanted some payback. A few times St Gallen made it within two meters of the try line, but every time Zug held strong. St Gallen did manage to get a penalty kick, but they missed it.

In the first half we were losing most of the line outs, but by the second half Alois must of grown a couple of centimetres as we seemed to sort this problem out. Our scrums were tighter than a ducks bottom, surely we broke some sort of record with the amount of balls won. The hooking from Denis was on fire.

Once we started scoring tries, the game was over. Two of the tries in particular deserve a mention.

The first was created by Seb, he ran the entire width of the pitch (yes I said width) and then turned around and ran all the way back again before deciding to actually run forward, he broke through several defenders only to be caught just before the try line. Then he made a simple pop pass to Alois which resulted in a try.

The other was clearly the try of the match. Simon (aka The Beast) blasted through about six St Gallen defenders and then without looking made a world class pass to Roman who dived in for the five points.

Also worth a mention was the kicking during the game from Little Antoine. We gained a lot of ground with his precision kicks.

A special thanks to Elio and Jeff who did wonders in the forwards despite both being injured.

As you have just read, it was a real team effort in this match which paid off with five more points for the league. Next week we take on Winterthur, where we will be looking for a good win also. Zug is now in a strong position in the league which looks good for the rest of the season.

We would like to thank St Gallen for coming and look forward to playing them again later on in the season.

RC Zug

The President's Speech

Bericht: Zentralschweiz am Sonntag vom 18. September 2011

RC Ticino vs RC Zug

Final Score: RC Zug 20 – RC Ticino 21
After a long journey through the Gotthard tunnel (luckily not much traffic) we arrived in Bellinzona to warm sunshine and a wonderfully prepared pitch. Also there is a beautiful castle overlooking the whole valley. Bellinzona’s castles are considered amongst the finest examples of medieval fortification architecture in Switzerland.

The game kicked off with Zug on the defensive. Ticino racked up 9 points just through kicks alone as they could not break past our defence. It was not until Zug scored the first try of the game that the match started to get interesting.

The second half started just as the weather began to change and Ticino pushed hard in the first few moments. Now the grey clouds had moved in and the heavens opened up, most of the second half was played with hard rain.

Their full back (who had crazy long hair) was one of the fastest runners I have seen in a while. He managed to slip through our defensive line a couple of times in the second half.

Overall we had the advantage throughout the match by winning majority of the scrums and line-outs. There were some minor mistakes made on our side during the game, which considering how close the score was, probably lost us the game.

At this point I would normally thank the opposite team for welcoming us to their pitch and hosting the game but this time I don’t think I will bother. In 18 years of rugby I have never come across a team with as little respect for the game as RC Ticino. Biting people in the rucks and also pushing and shoving other players trying to start a fight just because they made a good tackle is simply not what rugby is about.

You might think that this review is written with sour grapes because we lost, but I would point out that last season we had several near losses, most famous against RC Lausanne, in which we were gracious in defeat.

We look forward to our next meeting with them which we plan on teaching them a lesson on how to conduct themselves on the pitch and also in the pub afterwards.

We are always humble in the eyes of defeat no matter how close the score is.

RC Zug

RC Zug vs RC Würenlos

Final Score: RC Zug 10 – RC Würenlos 16

We knew going into this first match of the season that it would not be easy. Last season when we played Würenlos we lost in the last moments of the game just 5 – 0. Also a few weeks ago five Zug players went to help RC Solothurn with numbers in a friendly against Würenlos. It was clear that they were still a strong team and also had been expanding their squad.

The first few moments of the game both sides went in hard, and an early try from Seb gave Würenlos a wake up call they desperately needed. They returned with a try of their own which meant the game was well and truly on.

Then thirty minutes into the game disaster stuck. At the bottom of a seven man pile-up a scream was heard. After everyone managed to get up Denis remained on the floor with what seemed to be an injured hand. He was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a fractured wrist.

With few substitutions made and shift around of positions, the game was back on. Tiredness was setting in for both teams now, as the level of intensity in the rucks and mauls was still at the same level as the beginning of the match.

Honestly speaking, Würenlos had several chances to get more tries, but due to the strong defence from Zug the score line was kept very tight. At least we come away with one point for the league table as the difference in the score was less than seven points.

We would like to thank Würenlos for coming and look forward to playing them again later on in the season.

RC Zug

My Big Fat Rugby Wedding

On Saturday 10^th of September the President of Rugby Club Zug (Sebastian LePage) was getting married. In usual RC Zug style the team showed up with training pads, match shirts and also balls in order to play an exhibition match.

After about one hour of drinking champagne and some sort of sexual fruit rum drink, the team put our club shirts over their suit & ties and split into teams for a game of ‘touch rugby’.

This game of touch rugby lasted about twenty five seconds before it turned into ‘full contact’ much to the amusement of the other guests at the wedding. Our trainer Mark stopped the game after about fifteen minutes which was clearly a sensible choice due to the fact that already everyone’s smart shoes and suit trousers were now covered in mud as well as Elio was bleeding from his hand.

Then the team cooled off in the lake and the wedding was joined by a great live brass band. After things had quietened down, under the shade of the trees, Seb and Morgan exchanged vows. This was a magical moment and a wonderful end to a fantastic wedding.

Seb & Morgan were very lucky with the weather. Considering how bad the summer has been this year I think everyone was shocked with the clear blue skies and beautiful warm sunshine.

Everyone at Rugby Club Zug wishes Seb & Morgan a wonderful future together.