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Show Muckers fall victim to Haggis, 'fatigue factor' C ! by Dave Mueller for sheer scrappiness, the Park City Muckers put on their best show of the season Saturday. But alas, the staunch effort was not enough as the locals fell to the speedier and more polished Haggis Rugby Football Foot-ball Club, 20-6 in a preview to the annual Fourth of July match at City Park. It was the Muckers' first setback in 1984 and their record now stands at 2-1-1. The Muckers took quick advantage of a Haggis penalty on the opening kickoff as flyhalf Rick Phaler drop-kicked through the uprights up-rights from 35 yards for the first three points of the day. Haggis answered with pressure off the return kickoff and when the Muckers Muck-ers were guilty of not releasing the ball after a tackle, Charles De Sa knotted the score at 3-3 with a kick of his own from 20 yards out. De Sa, a new addition to the Haggis, was to be a key .... 'jm.. !, - - . i LEFT: Muckers John Sundquist and Pogo Vance get ready to dismember dis-member Haggis opponent, but the ball (far left) is long gone. ABOVE: An hour and a half of continuous running can take its toll. from most of our players, but we still have a long way to go to coordinate everything. I think the defensive work by Jackson (Popovich) was outstanding. out-standing. Jack Walzer played like I knew he would and I thought that Eamonn Martin gave us some solid play outside with all his experience." ers began to lose possession in the rucks and mauls. The Haggis, by contrast, seemed to spend much of the late minutes in the match hammering deep into the Mucker end. Two Haggis . tries resulted: a score by Al Baker in the right corner of the in-goal and a dive through the middle by Denver Harlequin refugee Scott Norris. But De Sa, who was instrumental in setting performer tor tne balance oi the game, displaying not only place-kicking excellence but a variety of skills from his position at fullback. The Muckers took the lead back only a few minutes later when Phaler once again connected on a drop goal, this time from the right side of the pitch and against a difficult cross wind. With only ten minutes off the clock, Park City held the lead at 6-3 and a good bit of momentum. A breakthrough by John Sundquist and another by Jack Walzer, Bud Macchia and Eamonn Martin liad the Haggis backed again into a defensive position but Park City came away with nothing when Phaler missed his third chance of the day from a little over 30 yards. After several threatening movements the Haggis back-line back-line took control when Tapu Pupunu slashed through the Park City cover after linking up from his off wing position. Pupunu has developed into one of the finest club side players in the state in his second year out of the Highland High rugby program pro-gram in Salt lake. De Sa converted the try and Haggis pushed ahead, 9-6. Just before the halftime whistle, De Sa put three more points on the card for the Haggis with his second penalty goal, this time from 30 yards, making the score Haggis 12, Park City 6. The Muckers were unable , to mount a sustained attack the second half as they fell victim to the fatigue factor which has troubled them in all four 1984 games. Haggis began to dominate the lineouts as well as the Muckers were missing. C.R. Downing who made an early exit with a rib injury after the first period. And the Muck- think about your mates being there; you know they're there." The Muckers were forced forc-ed to use an inexperienced hooker for the second week in a row. The versatile Doug Shewmaker jumped into the breach and performed admirably. admir-ably. Haggis and Park City split 20 put-ins, each side winning ten. Rich Reilly laid down the best tackle of his career Saturday, leveling ex-Dallas Cowboy and Haggis second row Tom Jones just inches from the goal line in the open field. "The last time I was on the field against these guys I broke my shoulder (Fourth of July, 1983). I had something to get back, man," said a subdued but satisfied Reilly. After the Muckers play host to the Utah Griffins at City Park this . Saturday . (kickoff at 2 p.m.) they will be hosting the second in a series of "Save the Bus" shindigs. In what should be a highlight of the early summer sum-mer Park City social calendar, calen-dar, Al Joy and the Main Street Band will once again be on stage with the local duo of Curtis Willey and John Winston to provide shake-a leg material at Ernie's Rodeo Ground at Kimball's Junction. Junc-tion. Festivities begin at 5 p.m. "These guys always do a fantastic job for us," said George Austin, Mucker social so-cial chairman. "It's time we really pack the place again and have a great party. Not only that, but it's time the bus got rollin' again, I'd reckon." Mucker Meddlings Martin, who played rugby rug-by growing up in his homeland of New Zealand, offered this tip: "Every man needs support both inside and outside when the ball comes to him. If you don't get it you can look bad. That was something we worked on all the time back home. My club had played together for a long time and you don't up the tinal score, lost his kicking touch, missing his attempts to convert the tries which left the final score at ' 20-6, Haggis. "It was a good lesson," analyzed Mucker coach Don Sturges. "This gives us a chance to see how far we still have to go. Individually, I was encouraged by efforts |