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BRECKENRIDGE - The Gentlemen of the Blue Goose Rugby Club began its season on Saturday with a 43-19 loss to Aspen at Kingdom Park.
No one on the Goose's sideline was happy following the defeat, but at least team members could take solace from the fact that one of their toughest opponents was in the rearview mirror.
"It's tough to play this caliber of team straight off the bat, but I think it's a good thing," Goose veteran John Terrill said when asked what it was like to begin the season against a team Breckenridge struggles with year after year. "If you hit yourself against the wall first, you see how far you bounce back and what you need to do."
So what does the local rugby club need to do before next Saturday's homer against Glenwood?
"We need to work on tackling and some defensive skills," said team leader Zack Zellars, who missed most of last summer with a broken ankle, "to make sure we're in the right spot at the right time."
Missed tackles were a key factor in the match, according to Goose coach Peter Clarke.
"They gave up too many soft tries where Aspen's man ran clean through on the outside," Clarke said. "That's what really blew the score out."
Clarke also spoke to what he, and several of his players, saw as another one of the contest's determining factors.
"(Aspen) came without any props," he explained. "So we played uncontested scrummaging. It was a huge advantage to them because they had back-row forwards playing in scrums and we had props, and back-row forwards are way more mobile."
Aspen, which was comprised of roughly half veterans and half newcomers on Saturday, was focused on fundamentals, according to its player/coach Freddy Waititi.
"We work on a lot of basic stuff to make sure we do it well," Waititi said. "To me, it doesn't matter how many tries we score, its our performance that matters - that we do the simple things right."
Simplicity led to execution early on as the visitors tallied a try, conversion and penalty kick within the first 5 minutes of the match.
The Goose got on the score board late in the first half when Eric Landauer pushed through a try to make it 29-5 at halftime.
John Waddick and Buck Goroski both added tries after intermission.
Goroski joined the Goose in 1997 and doesn't recall ever beating Aspen in regular-match play. Breck did, however, get a victory against Aspen at last summer's Cowpie Tournament in Steamboat.
Adam Boffey can be contacted at (970) 668-4634, or at aboffey@summitdaily.com.
No one on the Goose's sideline was happy following the defeat, but at least team members could take solace from the fact that one of their toughest opponents was in the rearview mirror.
"It's tough to play this caliber of team straight off the bat, but I think it's a good thing," Goose veteran John Terrill said when asked what it was like to begin the season against a team Breckenridge struggles with year after year. "If you hit yourself against the wall first, you see how far you bounce back and what you need to do."
So what does the local rugby club need to do before next Saturday's homer against Glenwood?
"We need to work on tackling and some defensive skills," said team leader Zack Zellars, who missed most of last summer with a broken ankle, "to make sure we're in the right spot at the right time."
Missed tackles were a key factor in the match, according to Goose coach Peter Clarke.
"They gave up too many soft tries where Aspen's man ran clean through on the outside," Clarke said. "That's what really blew the score out."
Clarke also spoke to what he, and several of his players, saw as another one of the contest's determining factors.
"(Aspen) came without any props," he explained. "So we played uncontested scrummaging. It was a huge advantage to them because they had back-row forwards playing in scrums and we had props, and back-row forwards are way more mobile."
Aspen, which was comprised of roughly half veterans and half newcomers on Saturday, was focused on fundamentals, according to its player/coach Freddy Waititi.
"We work on a lot of basic stuff to make sure we do it well," Waititi said. "To me, it doesn't matter how many tries we score, its our performance that matters - that we do the simple things right."
Simplicity led to execution early on as the visitors tallied a try, conversion and penalty kick within the first 5 minutes of the match.
The Goose got on the score board late in the first half when Eric Landauer pushed through a try to make it 29-5 at halftime.
John Waddick and Buck Goroski both added tries after intermission.
Goroski joined the Goose in 1997 and doesn't recall ever beating Aspen in regular-match play. Breck did, however, get a victory against Aspen at last summer's Cowpie Tournament in Steamboat.
Adam Boffey can be contacted at (970) 668-4634, or at aboffey@summitdaily.com.
