Broc Ultimate made its 2010 competitive bow in Limerick in mid-February with 22 players, 2 teams, a lot of fun and a runners-up spot to boot. All in all, the trip was a success but unfortunately the club’s first Siege of Limerick title is yet to be won.
Friday night saw the squad drift down to Limerick in bits and pieces. Some made it for the Ben Wiggins coaching at 3.30pm which saw the Sockeye captain/coach cover point marking, horizontal stack movement, handler play and went on to include a very interesting whiteboard theory session. Later in the evening there was a session in the Stables – one-legged pool, strange tasting red sweets, plenty of pints, a little bit of messing and home to bed, or to the Travel Lodge for a brief but amusing party in the lift.
Come Saturday the two teams were ready to go. A nice and early captains meeting (8:30am) was short and sweet before Broc 2 faced Ragnarok. The Danes proved strong and fast, and despite some spectacular catches from Andy and a determined fight across the board, they had too much for us. The 4 points standing start didn’t help! Broc 1 started their day with two straight forward victories versus UL Ninjas and NUI Galway, conceding 5 points over the two games. In between these games, Broc 2 faced their crunch game against a determined DCU outfit. It was a close match up, but the training, fitness and advantage of playing together showed as DCU eked out a 3 or 4 point victory.
Broc 1’s final pool game was against a Trinity side that was looking to repeat the upset from last year. At 3-2 to Trinity the game was tight but a pep talk, a change of D and some much-needed focus swung the game in our favour. We didn’t look back and closed the game out 13-3. Johnny Chimpo were the ‘for seeding’ crossover, due to be played in the snow at 5pm but with their low numbers they conceded (much to our relief given the conditions) meaning we progressed as 2nd seeds. Broc 2 beat Queens handily enough in a game where we showed signs of gelling better than the first two. Queens played well, but weren’t enough for the strong cutting of Wysey, Sinead and co. In their last game of the day they faced NUTS and the legs were beginning to wilt. 8 players versus 12/13 running Dutch was too much and Broc 2 succumbed by 4 or 5. No top 8 finish, but a good showing so far, despite rubbish weather, heavy pitches and very little water!
We all went home to hotels, gafs etc. and met back in the Travel Lodge for a few pre-party-warmer-up brews. The craic was literally unlike anything I have ever experienced – beer, footie, nuns, priests and banter. iPhones were flaunted, Glenn was misunderstood, Father Jan scared us, Ben produced a sleeveless jumper knit by his mother for his dad 30 years ago, Rickard worked, Darron showed us the video from last year’s Siege and Perfect received a mid-sleep bounce much to his surprise. From the hotel to the party and more of the same booze-induced messing – Bishop Len Wiggles go goosed, Super had a go at loads of young ones, nuns did shots & went dancing, priests warned young couples to avoid contraception, Jay joined Marko on crutches in Cripple Corner, Wysey went DMC-hunting and much more that we can’t really go into. Needless to say the younger ones went at it for the night, and the older/wiser Brocs weren’t to be seen come 3am.
A cold Sunday morning on a shredded pitch in the middle of the far away/graveyard pitches with an irregular heartbeat and playing against a group of battle-hardened Galwegians for a chance to win the plate (well, to finish 9th – there was no plate)….was this what Sydney local Glenn signed up for or was is as f*ckin’ disaster? Well, given we couldn’t cut, catch or throw particularly well; it turned out to be the latter. In Glenn’s words: ‘this is sh*te’. Galway were full of heart and despite being reeled in from 10-8 to 10s in a game to 11, the scored the final point and progressed to play DCU (who they beat!). Broc 2 played DIT and won well despite it getting scrappy in places. With a couple of extra men there’s no doubt that Broc 2 could’ve made quarters – 8 players was just too little for day 1.
Elsewhere Broc 1 faced NUTS in the quarters who put up a good fight to begin with but as we moved up a gear couldn’t keep up the intensity. Our offence was fast and fluid and the D was good too. We finished the game 15-5 I think. The semi-final was a tough game. Pick Up started well, launching long shots to the UPA boys that were generally on the money. Some big catches and some strange mistakes from us saw them open up a 2 point lead but we forced turns and the O was excellent. We carved up their zone and started to put more pressure on D. Unfortunately we didn’t learn until too late and conceded some more big goals that allowed Pick Up hold us at arms lengthy and run out winners 12-10. We were gutted.
In a strange turn we were then asked to play the final – Pick Up were tired (and fielded a weakened team in their last game) and didn’t want to be thumped by Ragnarok. We weren’t sure about it but Skip was really keen so we took it. The final was tough – 1, we were wrecked (playing back-to-back), 2, we found it hard to get up for it given we’d just lost a game and 3, the Danes were good. We fought really hard to get into the game and made a good game of it but they ran harder, broke us incessantly and took the big points when they needed them. Ragnarok were the best team in the Open division and given this was their third time playing outdoors (including training) they look like they’ll be strong come Prague.
As a whole, the weekend was very enjoyable – we got three tough games, fielded two teams, had a couple of good drinking sessions, got a brilliant coaching session in and caught up with the usual crowd. The Siege has the potential to grow from what it is, but the question is, will the price keep going up (with so little change!) and if so, will the teams keep going back? Here’s hoping next year we’ll be there, we’ll pay a little less for a little more and, most importantly, we’ll come home with the trophy.
