Highlanders review

Thanks to Caterson Media for pictures!

 Friday the 13th served as a landmark day for the Raleigh Redhawks.  The Redhawks started out their inaugural season with an away game at the  Highlanders. The new squad took some lumps early in the first half, after
starting off the season with a very difficult game against an experienced  Highlanders team. As a brand new high school team, it would have been easy to  fold under the pressure exerted in the first half, but the team came together
and fought hard in the second half.

The score will illustrate a lopsided loss, and will serve as a starting block for our marathon. To the credit of the Redhawks players, they went out and played hard against the odds and they slowly began to show improvement with each passing minute. With almost half of the lineup consisting of players in their first season of rugby, it was a slow learning process, but progress is being made!!

The Highlanders opened up the scoring quickly against the inexperienced Redhawks which set up a handful of scores late in the first half to pull out a convincing lead.  The Redhawks did not give up their fight.  They rallied in the
second half and there were periods of play in which they showed potential of what can be accomplished with
experience.

Riding a little bit of momentum, the team put several phases of play together in the second half to test the Highlander’s defense.  Of note the lineouts and scrums were evenly matched throughout the game.  A few notable player mentions.  Christian Cubero and Jonah Faneuf, where the forward and back most  valuable players respectively in the game for the Redhawks.  Both played complete games, with a few strong runs and were also solid in defense. The coaches would also like to thank the new players that slotted into positions that they were not accustomed too and really stepped up in the second half.  
 
It was a tough game, but many lessons were learned. The Redhawks showed growth throughout the game and take some optimism into the next game in which we host the Charlotte Tigers on Saturday February 21st, at 1:00 pm on Method Rd. 

The coaches will spend time in the coming weeks working on the players' tackling, rucking and positioning skills and are certain with this group of athletes; we will see significant progress in the games ahead.