St. Louis Bombers Rugby Football Club

Well boy's the fall season has arrived! That means 15's has started, and we are a few days from our opening match against the KC Blues in Kansas City this Saturday, September 4th. But before we go any further with all of the "Fall" talk, I'd like to take a moment to recap the events and moments of 2004 year-to-date. 2004 has been a year that has presented both great challenges and rewards. Lets start from the beginning. Strap in this will take a few minutes.

The Awards Banquet
Held at Squires Feb. 20th we kicked off the year recognizing some of our mates and celebrating the 2003 season during Mardi Gras weekend. Do not take the awards below lightly they are important and help us to define who we are as a rugby club. It is great to be recognized by your peers.

Robinson School of Kicking - Eric Stecher
Mr. Potato Head - Steve Bosse, Jim Hoffman & Brian Meyer
Newman Award - Chris Seyb
Most Improved Player - Russell Gall
President's Cup - Jonathan Grace
MVP White Side - John Ruzicka
MVP Black Side - Hayden Mexted
Orville Turgen Award - Brian Dix

Spring Season
We kicked off the season 1-1 by taking care of the Ramblers in quick fashion and losing a tough game to the KC Blues. The Blues match seemed to wake us up, I remember a freezing practice the following Thursday after the Blues match as we prepared for the Lions. With snow on the ground hard tackling drills gave us all a harder edge for the Lions. Those drills paid off as we continued to have answers for each Lions drive that Saturday. By showing some great teamwork and effort we won one of our best matches of the year against the Chicago Lions on a wet and cold day. How good did that feel? If you were there you remember a great match and almost an even greater party after at Eastern Illinois U.

We said good-bye to Chris "Sebie" Seyb shortly after the Lions match. Dude, you shouldn't have taken that last trip! Oh well, from my last conversation with him it sounds like he's doing fine traveling through Europe finding women to listen to his game. We miss you man!

Our run to the "Elite 8" was on! Solid victories over KCRFC, Metropolis, Palmer, Omaha, Kansas, Scioto Valley, and Fort Worth set us up for the "West Final 4". Not bad 9-1. There were also great wins by the White side at Ruggerfest winning the premier division and the Bomber "Old Boys" shut out the Sunday Morning RFC "Old Boys".

At the "West Final 4" we really came through under pressure. Beating Boulder 37-0 and beating the always tough Austin side 25-24. How sweet was that? I regret not being able to make that trip. There's nothing much like beating Austin in Texas!

Off to the "Sweet 16". While on the bus, I remember telling young Andy Entwistle, after he had taken $20 from me in two poker games, to never pass up a rugby bus trip. He agreed with me, but looked at me as if I was his dad telling him a story he had heard for the 10th time. Andy I'll say it again, never pass up a rugby bus trip! Classic moments in life is all I can say. Our first match was against the host team Grand Rapids, MI. We were a little banged up with injuries, but pulled off the win. John "Leon Lett" Ruzicka had one he'd like to get back. Can someone say Mr. Potato Head 2004! Our next match against the Chicago Griffins was a disappointment for all of us. For what ever reason they had our number that day. So we ended our season in the USA Rugby round of "Elite 8". Very respectable, but I think everyone will agree we have higher aspirations for 2005.

Young Dan
We had a tragic summer with the loss of "Young Dan" Hartwig. Dan was a person that represented many things on our club and in our lives. Here are just a few I can think of; excellence, knowledge, superior fitness, laughs, commitment, unselfishness, and determination. There are many more. No one can say what Dan would have accomplished in his life, but we all know it would have been greatness in what ever he would have chosen. His unlimited potential in rugby and life make me realize that most of the time I can give so much more, weather it is simple things like stretching properly, pushing out the last 20 meters of a sprint, or living up to the everyday commitments of my life. I challenge everyone to honor Dan in this fashion or in your own special way. If you were not aware, as a club we raised $11,500 in just four days to cover the cost of Dan's funeral. Even other rugby clubs made contributions and mourned for Dan. Because so many people were so generous, we now have enough money remaining to start a scholarship fund in Dan's name. Thanks to everyone that helped with this.

Golf Tournament
The golf tournament gets bigger and better each year. Thanks again to Eric Stecher for all his hard work & efforts. We raised just over $5000 for the club. Next year we will need a committee to manage this event, do I hear any volunteers? I may have heard something about Lenny Gall & John Kyle stepping up to help, we can wait to here it from them. No pressure though guys!

Fall Season
So here we are today as our fall season gets underway. So what are our challenges? Numbers, coaching, and being as competitive as possible. How awesome was it to see 40 people consistently at sevens this summer? It is up to each individual to make the fall season commitment. Traditionally, some players choose to play part-time or take the season off completely. As a club, as Uncle Sam would say, "We want you", but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. What we are asking is that if you are planning on taking the season off or only playing part-time please let us know. We all rely on each other to improve our club, player numbers bring depth, which leads to victories. At the end of the day we all want to have fun, but we would like to have fun winning! All eyes are on the Bombers. The rugby community across the USA has their eyes on us. We must perform well against KC & Metropolis, as well as beat our league foes convincingly.

New Coach for Fall Season
I'm sure most of you heard we were going to have a new coach, then we turned right around and said that due to some last minute complications we weren't. Well I can say as of today Tuesday, August 31st, that Peter Simon will be coming from Taupo, New Zealand to coach the Bombers this fall. He arrives this Friday in STL around 5:00 PM. He will be making the trip to KC as an observer and address us after the matches, then take over training sessions Sept. 7th. Make sure you are ready too strap on the boots for a great performance on Saturday.

Peter has extensive coaching experience at the NZ club and representative levels, as well as advanced coaching certificates from Massey University & the New Zealand Rugby Union. Probably even more important is that through several phone conversations he sounds like a great guy. Be assured that he is very passionate about rugby and doing a great job while he is here. Please make it a point to give Peter a warm welcome and introduce yourself on Saturday. Cheers to Dan & Sharon Ward for stepping up to host Peter during his stay.

While there are many more moments to recount I've tried to touch on the big items. I hope to see everyone this fall.

To quote a great Stacy Keach scene from the Cheech & Chong movie (Up In Smoke), "Well boys, that about wraps it up, any questions"?