I was taught early on in life that, “adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.” Life throws curve balls at you and often they are not when or what you wanted. Sport and certainly professional sport is full of such curve balls.

Last week leading into our Major League Rugby opener, the curve balls were coming thick and fast. Far from being despondent by what we didn’t have, the squad and coaches rallied to focused on the job at hand, and attacked the week with a can-do attitude. The senior players lead all week and practice was out of the top draw. None of us were under any illusions as to how tricky a task on the road to Austin would be on week 1, regardless of personnel available.  Having played Austin in a close-run affair as a tune-up for both sides two weeks ago, both teams were very familiar with what the other would bring to the table. We knew we would be in for a tough night.

Arriving at Dell Diamond was instantly reassuring. It shares many similarities with our temporary home Constellation Field, which we will be playing our first few home games before our exciting move to our new home, AVEVA stadium. Comfortably settled, the squad looked focused and primed ready for action. A big focus over the last few weeks has been bedding in Coach Kelly’s defensive principles. Like anything new, it takes time to learn and change behaviors. We have seen a steady uptake on those ideas over our last two games, and in Austin, we started to see the fruits of those labors. When coupled with a sublime kicking display from Man of the Match, Sam Windsor, we had a game on our hands. We were able to play large chunks of the game deep in AER territory. Where we were able to build pressure which resulted in turnovers and penalties for Windsor to show his metal.

While Sam’s kicking for goal was perfect on Saturday, the team’s collective effort and fortitude needs commending. From a dominant Scrummaging performance from our pack, to trench like efforts from our midfield, to active contributions from our back 3 who were marshaled superbly by fullback Zack Pangelinan. The win was a whole squad effort with everyone digging deep to get the result. It wasn’t a perfect performance, and as we say at home, “a game for the purists.” That said, a win is a win, and we have much to build on ahead of our next match against San Diego on a fortnights time. Go Cats Go!

Photo Credit: Norma Salinas

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