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Last Updated: 11/22/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Swinger
Age: 31
Sign: Libra

City: SEATTLE
State: WASHINGTON
Country: US
Signup Date: 11/3/2006

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Saturday, October 10, 2009 



ROOS BOUNCE BACK...


By Alex Goff

The Valley Kangaroos Gleefully hopped all over Tacoma Saturday in the Pacific Northwest DII men’s league, putting them at 4-0 and just a standings point behind the Seattle Rovers for first place.

The Rovers, by the way, upended previously unbeaten Chuckanut 43-22 (attempts to garner comments from the Rovers have fallen on deaf ears so far, but we hope to have comments from them soon). This sets up what could be a winner-take-all late-season clash between the Rovers and the ‘Roos on November 6. 

Valley doesn’t want to get too ahead of themselves, as they have smarting and 3-1 Chuckanut to face this weekend. But even at this early stage Valley is just happy to be here, as they struggled to win even one game last year.

The difference? Depth says new head coach Byron Kelly. 

“There’s no secret to it, just a lot of hard work by a bunch of folks,” Kelly said. 

Really the big change was finding a bridge between youth and adults. Valley runs four age-grade teams, but often it’s tough for those kids to make the jump to the senior side, especially when B-side matches are few and far between.

So despite being at the bottom of DII, Valley started a DIII team, which they dubbed the Wallabies and made a U23 program.

“Last year we weren’t having good turnout at practices and we were 0-20. This year, we have 35-40 guys at practice every night,” said Kelly. 

The younger players now have league games to play, and are able to work hard and get better. This in turn has challenged the established A-side players, forcing them to improve, or get out of the way.

“We have some young guys with a lot of skill who are up-and-coming,” said Kelly.

Among them Michael Merrill, a young flyhalf with plenty of poise who Kelly installed at the crucial pivot position despite there being more experienced players available. When is he going to learn otherwise?

“He’s a student of the game, which I like,” said Kelly.

There are also wings Wade Moore and Bijan Ghambari, who have been excellent, and hooker Michael Ling and center Kyle Matheson. All have helped re-energize the club.

“Not all kids go through our U19 programs and on to a college with a good rugby program,” said Kelly. “Some go directly into the work force, some go to community college or a college without a team. We have a place for them now, and it has already helped our entire club.”

2:44 PM 
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009 
The Valley Kangaroo Rugby Club Newsletter 9-30-2009
 
The rugby club continues to enjoy the energy of the new year with spirited efforts on the parts of a large number of contributors. The results of their efforts can be readily seen around the rugby pitch Ryan Field both in the way it looks and the way rugby is being played by the home team. As a result of the new coaching staff getting together for a number of weeks prior to the season to prepare their strategies for the new season and new teams the playing condition of the pitch was a large concern in August. Now their efforts to get water on the field, fertilizer, and new grass seed, have made the pitch itself as good or better than it has ever been in the four years we have been looking after it. The rugby on the field may just be looking as good for the home teams as the field and the surrounding areas. There has been an ongoing effort to make the sideline areas more suitable for spectators and this has lead to a host of upgrades not the least of which has been the clearing of brush along the south perimeter road and the crushed gravel under foot on the home sideline. this gravel solution will allow any rain water to quickly drain without scuffing up into a muddy mess and that is going to be enjoyed for a long long time. Thanks to all of those who have lifted a shovel, a lopper, a hedger, weed eater, or driven the mower... WELL DONE! 
 
On any Saturday now the typical way a rugby day begins at Ryan Field is with the field set-up crew arriving about nine-thirty along with a coach. By 10:30 the Wallabies are getting strapped and warmed up for their match. They kick off at 11:00 AM and are done just before 1:00. This means that with one game done there will be players looking for their after match respite with burgers and dogs, the social committee sees that they will be ready to refuel as needed. The first VX play next as has been the order of things here in the northwest forever and then the second fifteen close out the day. This past weekend with Snake River flying  in from Boise we started at 2:00 PM and since they were to play two league matches on the weekend they only offered competition for our first fifteen... and what a game, but that's for later.
 
The Wallabies our U-23 team has been really coming together and playing great rugby. This past Saturday they played against Seattle University. S.U. appeared warming-up to be well organized, good sized and were certainly younger than any of the teams the Wallabies had played against so far this year. The younger age suggest they might just be a bit more fit and offer the Wallabies a stiff challenge for the day. The match kicked off to a wonderful clear morning as the home team accepted ball on the kick. A minute and a half later the try was scored by Shane Moore and converted by Bijan "Gambi" Ghambari. Through the course of the game Shane would score only one more time but would hand out several unselfish tries. Bijan however wasn't done with his scoring, converting another 6 tries adding 12 points to a large score. The try parade went something like this Shane then Tolly followed by Mtume then Jordon then Mtume again and Vlade crashed over for five points then Mtume then Shane Moore's second of the day  Jenkins kick for the two Tolly dotted one down and Simi, Johnny Fiji's little brother had the final try of the day. With conversions the final score was 74-7. Seattle U. had their hands full. Congratulations to the Wallabies.
 
Saturday the Wallabies played for the first time in their own jerseys, a blue body with red and white accents. The crest design is much like the traditional Valley VK crest however there is a gold W spanning the VK with a 23 out in front identifying them as our newest team the U-23 Wallabies.
 
The senior side match scheduled the Snake River team from Boise. In today's rugby world teams actually fly from Boise to the west and back rather than driving like we used to do all of the time Leaving one town at about 7 o'clock at night after work arriving about 2:00 AM and having to spend two nights in a hotel in the host town. Now teams just fly over and back. However this then results in adjusting start times to accommodate a late arrival which was the case Saturday as the match was scheduled to kick-off at 2:00 PM instead of 1:00. We never know how this is going to affect the squad good or bad you just had to wait and see. On Saturday the waiting wasn't that long to see the intention of the home town fifteen as they took it to the Snake River club with ball in hand and multiple phases the Kangaroos were awarded with a 14 to 3 half time score. Snake River, a team unaccustomed to trailing especially to the Kangaroos over the last few years was not going to lie down and roll over. They came back strong in the second half but were held in check for the first twenty minutes of the half. After about twenty minutes into the second half the Snake River team started mounting a response to our play and drove the ball down into our end scoring twice in a five minute time period making it 15 to 14. The Kangaroos looked to respond to the running pressure from Snake and managed to get the ball across the goal line for a five pointer but were unsuccessful with the conversion. Snake came back with one final effort that we broke off with a stone wall of defense at the goal line. After a half dozen cracks they played the ball on the ground resulting in a penalty giving the home team a chance to kick away the pressure. The resulting line-out and charge of our backs lead to another Snake penalty that add three more points to our buffer and defeated the heavily favored Snake River team 22 - 15." The scoring opened up with Wade Moore gliding over touching it down with Mike Merrill with the conversion. Scotsman Kale Matheson scored next and Mike made the conversion to end the half.  In the second half the Kangaroo scoring was limited to Kyle Shott's blistering try the conversion was missed. Mike closed out the scoring with a penalty kick. 
 
We saw a hand full of Tacoma guys at the match Saturday. They said they weren't there to scout the team but to watch Tobin referee. They were seen enjoying the sideline concessions after the game and heard to say that they were impressed, as we all were, with the way the team played. None of this is real news the real news is that Dave McHugh (Tobin's father-in-law) took photos of the match and has them ready for viewing on his website at:
 
 
This victory over the Snake River team was particularly fulfilling because of what the club has gone though over the last six or eight months. It was just last February that we had to forfeit our match against Snake River because we were unable to organize a full team to head to Idaho to play. Forfeiting that match was the single event that bounced the club up off of the mat resulting in Saturday win. The turnaround from flop to realizing a result such as this is directly attributable to Pat Galvin, Byron Kelly, Jeff Candler, and Keith Van Doren initially and then to the players who have adopted the coaching of Byron. Thanks to each and everyone of you who helped with the club's recovery and resurgence. Now let's stay on this winning path and take it to our next opponents...
 
The Quake for the U-23 hosted by the Quake and our arch rivals the Tacoma Nomads for the senior side in Tacoma. Good luck to all. 
4:20 AM 
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