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Show Mucfiers Claim OoeSi 7o loch tiffins their last two matches. Although the Park City side thoroughly overwhelmed the valley squad in the recent W.A.C. Rugby Invitational, recent re-cent developments (an injury to Bill Manning and the relocation of Porter Condon to Colorado) will put pressure on ParkCity's relatively inexperienced back-field. back-field. Hopefully the two workouts scheduled for this week will not be impeded by bad weather. A viable backfield combination should be forged from the likes of Landon, Reeves, Korngiebel, Jeff Wallace, John Stuart and Don Sturgess. Overall, the Muckers appear to be as strong as they have ever been. Recent additions to the" Park City squad (Sean Mc-Kinney, Mc-Kinney, Lowell Springer, John Daniel, CraigMasters, and John Reeves all of whom saw action against the U ofU) lend a quality sorely lacking in the past: depth. PCRFC is in an enviable situation situa-tion of having almost two players play-ers at every position. This can only lead to maximum competency com-petency by mid-summer. Saturday afternoon marked the first occasion this season that Park City Rugby Football Club has been able to claim back-to-back victories in Beehive Bee-hive Rugby Football Union play. The ruggers of the University Univer-sity of Utah were the victims of a Park City first -half onslaught on-slaught which accounted for the major portion of the day's scoring. scor-ing. The "Muckers", once again playing shorthanded, blunted a Utah early game drive and then turned the tables, exploding for 12 points within eight minutes. Park City's tower of strength, Steve Strausser, ruined any hopes the University had of an upset with his aggressive play throughout the match. Strausser Straus-ser waged a personal war against the home team, creating creat-ing havoc wherever he roamed. roam-ed. Many a University ballcarrier ballcar-rier received a pass and a heavy dose of the rampaging Strausser Straus-ser simultaneously, an unhealthy un-healthy situation indeed. While not on defense, Park City baffled Utah, with unorthodox un-orthodox maneuvers from the scrum and lineout. Dave Bod-ner, Bod-ner, playing Number 8, broke from the scrum on several occasions oc-casions while Utah was concentrating con-centrating its defense against the Park City backfield. The long toss to Bodner from the lineouts also worked effectively on occasion, and led, in fact, to Park City's initial score of the afternoon. Bodner took a long throw-in and passed to Standoff John Landon. Landon kicked through and reached the ball in time to cause the Utah Fullback a considerable con-siderable amount of grief. As the two opposing backs struggled strug-gled for possession, Breakaway Break-away Strausser moved in, scooped up the unattended ball in mid-stride and set off toward to-ward the opposition goal. With the degense closing on him, Steve gave outside to Winger John Reeves, streaking on his left. Reeves, playing in his first rugby game, reached paydirt before the outmanned Utah contingent con-tingent could bring him down. Don Glover booted the conversion conver-sion flawlessly and Park City took an early lead, 6-0. Park City's second score came as a result of two glaring Utah mistakes: a penalty kick which failed to find touch, and a mis-judgement by the Utah man on the return kick. Dave Mueller, Muel-ler, Park City Scrum Half, snared the errant penalty boot over his shoulder near the touch line. Mueller kicked back up-field up-field and hemmed in the receiver receiv-er when he tried to run directly down the sideline. Bill Bentley, Looshead Prop, hit the hapless ballcarrier with a full head of steam, jarring the ball into the air. The ever-- ever-- alert Strausser recovered and once again started a movement. Utah caught up with the play too late. Centre Art Korngiebel, after a piercing run, turned his back to opposition resistance and dropped the ball behind him, only a yard from the goal line. Park City's Forward Pack was in support immediately, dribbling drib-bling the ball into Utah's in-goal in-goal en masse. Tighthead Prop Tom Fightmasterfellontheball for his first try of the season. Glover once again converted the goal, extending Park City's margin to 12-0. Late in the first period Utah kicked a penalty goal for three points and the half ended, Park City 12, Utah 3. All the scoring for the day was over at that point, but not the action. Utah, well within striking distance of the Park City tally, called upon youth and superior conditioning for a second-half rally. With all the ground lanes choked up with the likes of Bodner, Strausser and Landon, Utah chose to resort re-sort to a kicking game, putting maximum pressure upon the Park City Fullback, Don Glover. Glov-er. Glover performed admirably, fielding many an up-and-under with five or six Utah players bearing down on him with a vengeance. ven-geance. On one occasion, Glover spun away from the hostile crowd near his own goal line, setting off on a scamper which brought the crowd to its feet and put new life into Park City's late-game late-game efforts. After Glover's sortie, Park City was never again threatened, playing with caution and saavy to protect the victory margin. Park City takes a two-game winning streak into next week's game against Salt Lake City R.F.C. The Muckers cannot af-ford af-ford to be over-confident against Salt Lake, winners of |