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Tournament Report
As of the last weekend, Roßdorf has probably the distinction of the smallest town to have ever hosted a touch tournament in Germany. The Bembel Cup, organised by TRC Frankfurt, took place on Saturday on a pitch next to the outdoor swimming pool in Roßdorf. This is the first time that the Touch Deutschland players have reconvened after the European Championships in July, with a lot of anticipation to see how much the level of the club level game has improved.
With a pitch that was just under 40 m wide and a full 70 m long, this was a field which suited Munich's hard driving and straight running style. The first match against Ruthen proved to be a demanding warmup. Munich had their typical slow start again and was lucky to have escaped with a couple of indiscretions in defence near their own scoreline in the opening minutes. Through good driving and handling mistakes by a somewhat depleted Rüthen team, we were able to spend a lot of time near the opposition scoreline, and soon the defence cracked under the pressure. The Munich Wolpertingers ran out 4-0 winners.
Munich is fielding arguably the least experienced middle lineup that the team has fielded for the last two years. The youngsters Flo, Max and Andi decided to grace us with their presence, and they were paired up with Lok Man, Nomis and Randy respectively. Defending in the middle is always a tough proposition, and they took to their new job admirably.
The match against Frankfurt will live on as a Munich classic. This is arguably Frankfurt's strongest team ever - Matt and Creedy were both playing. Other than being good at throwing dummy passes and organising their team, they also loved their interceptions. With both of them taking one intercept each and then Matt sneaking between the girls for another, Frankfurt went into the break very much in control with a 4-1 lead. Coach Ball told the team that we had played well, more of the same and the touchdowns will come. For several minutes it looked as if he would be made to eat his words, but then the barrage started. Back to 4-2 with a Munich touchdown. Then Max shook them with an intercept on the second touch on Frankfurt's own 5 m line. And with 30 seconds to go, Randy and Amanda
burst through a tired defence to make it 4-4.
Berlin fielded a team without Rob and Jonno, but they were by no means a weak team in this tournament. The grudge match was dominated by Munich, who ran out as winners with 6-2. The narrower pitch proved to be no hinderance as the long passes found the wingers for some spectacular touchdowns. This was followed by a match against Heidelberg. Bob and Ian were donated by our team by our team to the green machines, and they were amongst the players who gave us the most trouble, guiding them to 3 touchdowns on the way to a 6-3 defeat. The match will, however, be remembered for what happened late in the first half.
Heidelberg took an intercept, and after a long juggle, the ball was passed to the speedy Tina, who sprinted down the right wing. Randy took off from the left wing at breakneck speed, and touched Tina in the right corner as she was grounding the ball. Unfortunately for Randy, he could not stop in time to avoid the fence and hit a metal pole. He suffered cuts to his face and ended up looking like somebody who just lost a fight at the pub, but was OK after a trip
to the hospital and ample stitches. We all wish Randy a speedy recovery.
For some reason Munich always seems to play Berlin twice in a tournament whenever that is possible. We always seem to win the first one, and then lose
the second one in the finals. In this case, Berlin lifted their defensive game on their own line to hold Munich to only 2 touchdowns. Munich The match came down to two crucial decisions - the first was a touchdown scored by Berlin due to an incorrect offside call, and the second was a touch that was not acknowledged, which put Berlin into the lead. Munich was not without its
chances in this armwrestle. The long balls were again threatening, and touchdowns were missed by a hair's width. In the end, the credit goes to Berlin with a much improved performance, which saw them run out 3-2 winners. This sealed the German championship 2010 for Berlin.
The 3rd place playoff against Heidelberg was won convincingly 8-1 by Munich. The historic moment of the day came when Frankfurt won their first ever tournament, defeating Berlin 3-1 in the final. It was a very close match which was wide open until Frankfurt sealed it with a touchdown in the closing minutes. Well played
and congratulations to Frankfurt TRC. Hip Hip, Hurray!
Pool Results
Munich vs Ruethen – win 4 – 0
Munich vs Frankfurt – draw 4 – 4
Munich vs Berlin – win 6 -2
Munich vs Heidelberg – win 6 – 3
Semi-Final
Munich vs Berlin – loss 3 – 2
3rd – 4th Play-off
Munich vs Heidelberg – win 8 - 1 |
