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Show Pie in the ..sky: Rugby team oobbles .at victory by DAVID HAMPSHIRE Record contributing writer Well, they didn't win the Cow Pie Classic but they came back with the second-biggest slice. The Park City Muckers travelled to Steamboat Springs, Colo, last weekend to battle seven other rugby clubs in this annual bovine showdown. show-down. And they hoofed it all the way to the finals before losing to a prime side from Fort Collins. . One of the two Mucker victories came at the expense of the Raleigh Hills All-Stars, which included several members of the Denver Barbarians, the second-place finisher finish-er in the national club championships champion-ships last spring. "I think we won the respect of the Denver-area teams," said Mucker President Doug Shewmaker after the strong Park City showing. The opening round saw the Muckers matched up against Breck-enridge, Breck-enridge, the same team that beat them 9-3 in the first round of the Ski Town Tournament in July. "It was kind of a revenge match for us," Shewmaker admitted. "I was anxious to play them." And Park City evened that score, putting Breckenridge out to pasture, 7-0. Shewmaker said a key element in that win was the play of the Mucker forwards, who dominated the scrums and the lineouts. The first score came after Park City was awarded a free kick at about the Breckenridge 25-yard , line. Scrum half Bryan Jameson threw a pass to fly half Rick Phaler who kicked a drop goal cleanly through the posts. Park City was ahead 3-0. Jameson also had a hand in the only other score which came before the end of the half. It was set up by Mucker fullback Zuke Garceau, who scampered 30 yards down the right sideline, then passed back to Jameson about five yards from the Breckenridge goal. Jameson dove into the corner for the try, giving Park City a 7-0 advantage. The Muckers missed the kick for goal (conversion), but their seven-point seven-point lead held up for the rest of the game. That victory put the Muckers into the second round against the Raleigh Hills All-Stars, one of the favorites to win the tournament. They were a strong, really physical team with good rugby experience," Shewmaker said. Nevertheless, Park City didn't let the game get out of control. The only scoring in the first half came on a 30-yard Raleigh Hills penalty kick, giving the Denver team a scant three-point lead. Again, the play of the Mucker forwards kept the game within reach. "We were doing a lot better job of rucking than Raleigh Hills, and we took several of their hooks (stealing possession of the ball in the scrum) when we needed them in critical situations." One of those critical situations came with about five minutes left in the game and the score still 3-0 Raleigh Hills. Park City hooker Dave Sundquist stole one of his opponent's oppo-nent's hooks, giving the Muckers possession and allowing them to move down to the Raleigh Hills 15-yard line. At that point a Park City scrum was called. The Muckers again gained possession, with number eight Benny Greenless (the last man in the scrum) picking up the ball. He started to his right, then changed direction, catching the defenders by surprise. He touched the ball down over the goal line, giving Park City a 4-3 lead. The kick for goal, from a difficult angle, was wide. The coup de grace came in the closing moments of the game after Raleigh Hills had mishandled the ball in a lineout. Mucker Jack Schirman picked up the loose ball ' and passed back to Jack Walzer. His 40-yard gallop gave Park City an 8-3 lead and Garceau's kick for goal made it 10-3, completing the scoring. , "I think we can credit the win in that game to conditioning and persistence," Shewmaker said. "We could have given up real easy with five minutes left and lost the game." The finals came Sunday, pitting the Muckers against the only other undefeated team in the tournament, the Fort Collins Rugby Club. "They were similar in size and stature to the (Salt Lake) Haggis, a big, tall physical team," Shewmaker said. "They were young, too," he added with a laugh. Fort Collins scored first a situation similar to Greenless' try against Raleigh Hills. The team was awarded a scrum on the Park City 10-yard line and number eight picked up the ball and ran across the goal line. The kick for goal made it 6-0. Fort Collins made it 10-0 before the half, taking the ball in a lineout and running through several Park City defenders for the try. "They were winning most of their lineouts. It was a very strong part of their game," Shewmaker said. Midway through the second half Fort Collins scored its third try, again winning possession in a lineout ; on a long pass to the last man in the j line. The kick for goal made it 16-0. After missing several opportunities, opportuni-ties, the Muckers finally got on the scoreboard late in the game. Scrum half Jameson (playing against his old team) got the ball from a ruck, and passed back to Phaler. Several i passes later, Steve Creer carried it ; over the goal line. The kick for goal was missed, leaving the final score at 16-4. "I think, psychologically, we were in a bit better shape going into the Raleigh Hills game," Schewmaker said. "And the ball just didn't bounce our way in the Fort Collins game." The Mucker schedule is now open B until Aug. 24, when the team will B travel to Craig, Colo, for a I round-robin tournament against B Craig, Steamboat and Breckenridge. B |