After four long months, the boys finally got to wear their jerseys again to start a very exciting new season. In a big change to recent years, the league has expanded quite a bit and now consists of 11 teams from all over Southwest Germany and even a team from Luxembourg. While we know most teams well from the last years, there are some teams we haven’t played against in years and some we have never played competitively and therefore don’t really know what to expect from them.
The first trip took us to an idyllic pitch in the suburbs of Freiburg for on those first dates. With a wooden hut, right by a creek and far from society, toilets, and showers, it was the perfect set-up for a self-reliance channel on YouTube. Self-reliance was also the motto of our starting fifteen for this very first game of the season, as we did not manage to assemble any bench – unlike those crafty influencers in the Canadian woods. This at least made the line-up selection for our coach Konsti somewhat easy and afforded some excuses for silly mistakes by the team.
Silly mistakes also brings us to the start of the game, when Ben decided to knock on the ball straight from the opening kick. The team, following its newly nominated 3rd captain (PvH is injured on vacation and Henry is finally trying to complete middle school) blindly and proceeded to knock on several balls more in the first 25 minutes to show loyalty. This gave Freiburg the opportunity to put on lots of pressure, which the Darmstadt defense held mostly well, aided by the fact that Freiburg also had some rust to shake off and by one try not being awarded by the Referee, as the Freiburg player lost the ball forward in the process of grounding it. After that final wake up call, it was now Darmstadt who put on the pressure. After some awarded penalties including a missed shot for goal, Franz finally pushed through shortly after a tap and go and scored a try under the posts, which was easily converted by Carl. The remainder of the first half was fought very evenly and eventually Freiburg also scored a converted try to make it 7:7 for halftime.
While the second half started with a man advantage for Darmstadt as Freiburg was yellow carded shortly before half time, it was not possible for us to turn that advantage into points. In fact it was Freiburg who scored and made it 14:7 after a solo run diagonally across the pitch. From then on, the game turned more and more into a meat grinder: while the plays and standards were not always pretty, both teams gave their all in defense. Deep into the second half it was once more Franz to score under the posts and Carl to make it an even 14:14. With the game on edge and only ten minutes to play, Freiburg eventually decided to go for the posts after a penalty and got three points ahead. Darmstadt had several line breaks in the last minutes, but all could be stopped and Freiburg managed to run down the clock. After a final break by Claas, he got tackled into touch and the successive line-out could have been the last play. Could have. Darmstadt got awarded a free kick after Freiburg took too long to setup their line-out and conceded an immediate penalty for offside after said free kick. With how the game went, no more energy left in the players, and the kick being well in Carls range, it was a sensible choice to go for the posts and secure the draw. Carl happily complied and made it 17:17 for the final result. All being considered, a result we can be very happy with and for a moment even felt like a win.
Some highlights:
The Freiburg ball boys/girls who fought nature for 80 minutes to reclaim balls that got lost in the creek or bushes next to the field.
The Freiburg kit manager who brought 10 playing balls in the first place.
MoM: Franz for another great performance as number 8, scoring two very important tries.
Honorable mentions:
Johni for another solid performance.
The entire forwards who (finally) stuck to the game plan 70 minutes in.
DoD: Everybody who had bad vacation planning or vague excuses for not coming to play.
Barely escaped: Rupert, for letting his wife and parents miss most of this exciting game and sending them to Freiburg city instead.
Thank you Freiburg for a very enjoyable, very physical game as well as the post match food and drinks. Overall a very nice first date, we are looking forward for more.