MATCH REPORT
Eintracht Frankfurt 7-22 Rugby Darmstadt
Darmstadt finally got the second leg of the season underway on the weekend with another hotly contested match in Frankfurt against Eintracht. The Sunday afternoon kick-off proved a challenge for some of the players who arrived late from Köln following a successful Saturday of (pub)golf to celebrate Rupert‘s stag-do. Nevertheless, after a last minute change to the Darmstadt lineup, Eintracht kicked off the game in blustery but sunny Springtime conditions.
The boys in blue started well, playing out from our half following the kick-of by stringing some good phases together between the forwards and the backs. Some strong carries from Konsti and Shane made good meters but Eintracht soaked up the pressure well. Konsti almost crossed for a try but lost the ball at the crucial moment as he reached for the line. Darmstadt were camped out in Eintrachts 22 and it took 30 minutes to finally break the deadlock, with Lorenzo reacting fastest with a quick tap penalty to power over the line from close range. Conversion missed. With Shane unfortunately going off early with a hamstring injury, Carl came on for his Darmstadt debut and made his presence known with some good carries in centre/flanker. Just before halftime the ball opened up in the backs with Henry putting Felix through for his first ever Darmstadt try (Zulu!). Another conversion missed, halftime score 10-0.
The second half started positively. After backs played the ball wide, Felix returned the favour with a lovely offload in the tackle to put Henry through for Darmstadt‘s third try. Even though he was now kicking against the wind, Henry was finally able to convert this time from the right-hand side. Things started to go downhill for Darmstadt at this point. After conceding a number of penalties around the breakdown, Eintracht put on the pressure and scored down the wing after a couple of week tackles. The penalties mounted up with Eintracht having a couple of long range pops at the sticks that sailed just wide. Still struggling with discipline, Mauro was sent to the sin bin after one too many Italian complaints to the referee.
At this point, winter returned again with a sudden downpour of icy rain. The wet ball bogged down the Darmstadt attack, and with the wind behind them and Ettore seemingly too drunk to see the ball, Eintracht were able to make some good meters from clearing kicks. Seemingly unable to generate much in attack, progress was slow.
Simon eventually broke through with a good line was brought down a few meters short, with AJ seizing his opportunity and sniping from the ruck for his first ever Darmstadt try (another Zulu!). Henry was able to convert again but this somehow ended up being awarded to Eintracht on the scoresheet. As soon as the yellow card over was over, Darmstadt went back down to 14 with Davide red-carded for some Italian hand gestures which were interpreted as a slap. The boys held on until the final whistle with the final score 7-22 to Darmstadt.
Many thanks to the referee and Eintracht for a closely contested game and a great day of rugby! Thanks to those who braved the weather to come and support us, we look forward to seeing you at the next game against Gießen!
MoM – Felix for his well taken try and assist
DoDs – the carded Italians