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Team News

RC Zurich Men 1st XV

What is RC Zurich 1st XV?

Rugby Club Zürich's first team is one of the show pieces in Swiss Rugby. With its long history which dates back to early 1900's the club boasts as offering not only excellent rugby but also camaraderie and the real feeling of rugby pride.
"Be proud of the lion on your chest" is often heard throughout the season, and that is what all teams which play under the lions banner are.

Many other successes have been gained over the years, not least repeated wins of the Fair-Play-Cup a reflection of club policy to play attractive, fair rugby, something which is imperative to 1st team philosophy.

Over the past few years our 1st team has always finished in the top 3 of the Swiss 1st Division, coming constantly close to winning the Championship on several occasions. The 1st XV has also has added great depth to the regional representative team, North Swiss Rugby Association representative XV as well as constantly feeding an average of 5 players into the Swiss National XV which competes European Championship games under the lead of Mr Steve Smith and Danny Schenker, both ex-Rugby Club Zurich players.
The start of 2008 has brought about many changes to the 1st XV, with the departure of captain and coach many new challenges were faced by all those playrs who remained behind. The acquisition of our new club coach Junaid Azmuth and captain Josh Bjornson brought a new colour and philosophy into the club structure, New young players have been given the opportunity to show their skills and values in the practice and game line up and we can only see now a new bright and positive future in our 1XV line up.
The second half of the season has started and positive performance have reflected the time and effort all have dedicated in the off season. Despite still being in the midtable position we can only wait for the coming games to show results of all the hard work those people have shown in preseason training sessions.


Past results: Season 2006-2007

Sat, 17.Mar. 15h00 RC Genève P-L-O RC Zurich 13 - 19
Sun, 25.Mar. 14h00 RC Zurich RC Yverdon 33 - 10
Sun, 15.Apr. 14h00 RC Zurich Hermance RRC 26 - 6
Sun, 22.Apr. 14h00 RC Zurich RC Nyon 39 - 15
Sat, 28.Apr. 15h00 RFC Basel RC Zurich 12 - 34
Sun, 13.May. 14h00 RC Zurich RC Avusy 43 - 10
Sat, 19.Mar. 15h00 RC CMSG RC Zurich 6 - 67

Zurich 1stXV 16 - Geneva P-L-O 19, a word from the captain

Another tough loss for the first team against Geneva, with a great
first half followed by a difficult and frustrating second half. It
was hard work on a surprisingly hot day, with fitness in the forwards
playing a role in the final result. The first half showed great
improvement from our previous game against Yverdon. We just need to
carry this effort over into the second half. We have a lot to work
on, so please get down to training on Tuesday and Thursday both this
week and next week. Congratulations to the ladies team and second
team for strong wins. A big round of applause for the resurrection of
the the third team.

First Team Point, as chosen by Junaid:
3 points: Fraser Callaghan, by far the best player on the pitch
2 points: Josh Bjornson
1 point: Nick Lawry
Jaffas: Yannick for running out of the in-goal area for the would-be
game-winning try

Match Report Geneva vs ZH, May 25th 2008

Hi guys,

A big thanks to all the guys who came down to Geneva on Saturday and
fought hard in our 1/4 final playoff game. Unfortunately we lost a
very close game 39-27 (5 tries each), with 7 of Geneva's points coming
on the final play of the game.

Special congratulations should go to Phil Schüepp and Christoph Sdzuy
for their first starts in their first games for the first team and to
Matthias Kaufmann and Kobus Van Wyk for their first games for the
first team.

Both myself and Junaid have been very impressed with how the "second"
team players have been stepping up and playing for the first team. I
hope that it is now clear that everyone has an opportunity to play for
the first team and that players who have the motivation should make it
their goal to push for a spot on the team. The depth of skilled
players in the club is quickly increasing and I am really excited
about the upcoming year and the things we can accomplish.


3 Points - Shane Peter: scored 2 tries, ran great lines and had
another great game out of position at inside center

2 Points - Tati Hoesel: scored 2 tries and played his usual dominant game

2 Points - Leo Vera: Again took a bunch of scrums against the head,
threw great line-out ball and was active around the pitch

1 Point - Fraser Callaghan: created tons of opportunities and was
fearsome in defense. Fraser was selected as the Zurich player of the
game by Geneva.

Jaffas: Josh Bjornson for 2 kicks, one in the last 10 minutes when we
were attacking inside their half and only 5 points down.


Training continues on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Brunau. The
second and third teams have a few more games and the Federation Cup
starts in 2 weeks for the first team; the first cup game is against
Luzern on Tuesday, June 10th.

Match Report: GC Zurich 1 vs Bern, October 20th, 2008

With 10 players from GC Zurich away representing Switzerland, the depth of the club was fully tested. But all the players called upon rose to the occasion, giving the club a convincing win. This demonstrates that all the hard work the Judge (Junaid Azmuth) made us do during the summer was worth it. Speaking of the Judge, he had a great game at 8 including scoring an “unforgettable” diving try in a shortened appearance. Also adding to the scoring was Martijn Moransard with 1 try and Thomas Kümin representing the front row with 2 tries. By scoring 4 tries we achieved our goal of winning and getting the bonus point. But scoring 4 tries weren’t the only points we put on the board. Jesse Nicholas added 14 points by converting all 4 tries and adding two penalty kicks. This gave a final score of 34 -15 for Zurich.

In terms of the game play, we managed to defend our goal line from numerous pick and goes. Unfortunately we let Bern’s two sizeable props crash their way up the field, but managed to stop them once they got in close. Other things to work on are tackling the big boys at the knees and not letting them get up to full speed before hitting them. There were a few dropped balls as the backs got used to the new lineup. Another positive note, we demonstrated great discipline by accepting all the referee’s calls without complaining.


Points
3 pts – Jesse for kicking 100%
2 pts – Kümin for scoring 2 tries
1 pt – Fraser for some great long distance touch finding kicks

Honourable Mention – Ben Wey for giving up his body to endure the punishment of front row against a large Bern pack.

Jaffas - Florian for arriving on French time