Kansas City Blues (35) at Metropolis (14)
Saturday, August 26, 2023
Minneapolis, MN
NEXT GAME
Kansas City Blues vs Wisconsin RFC
2:00pm
Saturday, September 9, 2023
KC Current Training Facility.
1 Teal Rising Wy, Riverside, MO 64150
A Saturday in August in Minneapolis, Minnesota
The first game, and the only August game, of the Division 1 Kansas City Blues season began in a 101 degree parking lot in Kansas City. The Cruel Summer of Kansas City heat beat down as players pulled in to the parking lot to meet their vans and teammates in cars whose steering wheels were hot to the touch. A staggered van departure of 3 pm (the early van) and 6 pm (the workin’ man’s van) headed north along I-35 highway as Mirrorballs of each other. If you have been in one Blues van, you have been in them all. That one seat piled high with Blues kit bags, the Walmart plastic sacks of snacks and a Gatorade beside each seat, the edibles from Greenlight Dispensary, the backseat driving, the retorts of shut up and “You Need to Calm Down” from the driver seat. The team headed north, in Blues Style. Hours later, in the late PM or the early AM depending on which van you were in, and the doors opened to the cool Minneapolis breeze. A night’s sleep, a complimentary Embassy suites breakfast and a customary walkthrough in the hotel parking lot greeted the team the next morning. It’s Gameday are we… Ready for It?
Aren Martin was ready for it because Aren Martin is The Man. Superb athleticism can heal many wounds on the rugby battlefield. He took a pass at midfield in the first minute, burst through the Metro line of defense, stiff armed the Fullback and touched down the first try of the season to give us an early lead. 7-0 Blues. Kyle Renner also knows superb athleticism and physicality, as resident Blues Terminator he knows it All Too Well. After some sloppy play in the minutes after Aren’s opening jab, Kyle Renner bailed us out of our own territory with a 90 meter run and try. 14-0 Blues. The first half was pretty much all Blues, which revved the boys up after multiple years of Bad Blood of losing in Minnesota. Two more Blues tries came in the first half, both after working the ball down the field and running smash phases with the forwards. Suck em in’ and then send it wide. Ryan Ellison and Ahmed Barro both capitalized on their opportunities and touched down tries to give the Blues a 28-0 lead into halftime.
But as it normally goes, we were not Out of The Woods. Metro is Metro. A classic tough Metro possession found paydirt out of halftime. 28-7 Blues. The Blues however did respond. Number 8 Danny Apgar went over a tackle and stole a ball shortly after kickoff. The ball went across the field and back where it found it’s way into the hands of Lock Tonderai Kambarami who put his foot in the ground and cut back inside on a very nice line, advancing the ball from the Metro 22 to the 5. With one offload needed for a try TK tossed it while being taken down from behind, but longtime Metro villain “Blondie” got in the way. Blondie batted it down, but the ball was bouncing our way that day, and as if tied by an Invisible String it took a left turn, bounced into the try zone and was dove on by a trailing Apgar for a try. 35-7 Blues.
Minnesota is the land of Prince and Purple Rain and much of the last 25 minutes were engulfed in a Lavender Haze of punch and punch back rugby. Neither team held possession for long lengths of time. Metro kept on with the big hits (Mean) and the Blues kept playing fast, the physicality and the speed canceling each other out. The tick tick tick of the clock wrapped the game up like Ivy. Metro did score one more time but it was mostly Woulve, Shoulve, Couldve at that point, we were in the End Game.
35-14 was the final score. The 4th (or is it the 5th?) reign of Coach Scott Kram starts off with a road win against Metro. A Fearless Blues team went up there and got a win. A trip to the Metro Bar, a boatrace W and a fun ride home featuring a few renditions of Our Song (IYKYK). That’s a way to start off a year. Thank you to all the supporters. Those who send the texts of congratulations for players and coaches to see when they get back to their phones. Those who watch the livestream. Those of you who make us feel like we are playing for something back home. This is Nothing New. This is Blues Rugby. Loud Blues on 3!
Kansas City Blues VS Metropolis Roster:
1) Fukofuka, Isikeli, 2) Lomas, Stephen, 3) Esylad, Seif, 4) Lillis, Jimmy (C), 5) Tonderai, Kambarami, 6) Thompson, Konnor, 7) Higgins, Chase, 8) Apgar, Danny, 9) Laveta, Tuuaga, 10) Lewis, Ty, 11) Renner, Kyle, 12) Fry, Greg (AC), 13) Ellison, Ryan, 14) Barro, Ahmed, 15) Martin, Aren,16) Lillis, Michael, 17) Tapia, Omar, 18) McAvoy, Scott, 19) Cohen, Zach, 20) Ness, Andrew, 21) Bryant, Blakeston, 22) Tapusoa, Daniel, 23) Acchavaria, Alejandro
STAFF: Scott Kram - Head Coach. Jamie Dever - Pack Coach. Darragh Leader - Backs Coach. Kyle Izard - Manager.
