Coach’s Corner: SaberCats vs. Rugby United New York

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. On Saturday past, SaberCats stalwart Chris Coyle messaged me to let me know that his wife Simone had gone into labor and wouldn’t be able to play against RUNY. As excuses go for not being available for Rugby, this one was as good as any. Just before kick-off, Simone gave birth to future SaberCat: Cato Harlan Coyle.

With Chris Coyle out of the mix, I looked to Chris Parker to step up in the backrow, and boy did he! In 51 minutes of play time, he made 17 tackles, and 3 carries. The big fella was laying some wood out there!

I’m a great believer in processes and for the second week on the trot we had the majority of the key performance indicators go in our favor, but with no reward on the score board to show for it. The mistakes we made were punished by a very good New York side. Luck is not in our hands, but what we do, and how we react to bad luck and misfortune, is what counts. We know what we need to work-on, and the boys are focused to attack our next opportunity, which is a road trip to Seattle. We will need to be better this week, traveling to the Pacific North West to play the current Major League Rugby Champions in one of North Americas great rugby heartlands. Go Cats Go!

Justin M. Fitzpatrick

Head Coach