This past Saturday, October 10th marked the first match since the Denver Highlanders and the Queen City Rams split Denver Rugby and began playing as individual clubs as they had for forty years prior to the merger. The respective club pride could be felt in the air between the two clubs, both of which have rich histories and the support of strong old boys networks. The match was hard fought and intense from the opening kickoff -- It was evident both teams wanted to go home with the win. The Highlanders took an early lead off of a grinding run from Michael Backens. A penalty kick from Adam Price and a try from Taylor Utt would add to the Highlanders lead. The Queen City Boys wouldn’t be silent for long, though, adding a penalty kick of their own to make the half time score 16 to 3.

 

Adam Price opened up the second half by scoring another converted penalty kick, shortly followed by tries from Jeff Westbrook and Josh Slater to extend the Highlanders lead to 29 to 3 fifteen minutes into the second half. Both teams made strategic substitutions and shortly after exchanged a set of tries with Taylor Utt scoring his second try of the day for the Highlanders and Eric Gustafson scoring for Queen City to bring the score to 36 to 8. Cody Blake would find his way past the try line for the final try of the day, with a conversion from Adam Price, making the scoreboard read 43 to 8 at the referee’s final whistle. Congratulations goes to Taylor Utt for being awarded the game's Man of the Match honors! Make sure to stop by this Saturday, October 17th to watch the Highlanders take on the Denver Harlequins at Cook Park at 11:00AM.

 

A big thanks to Chet for cooking his delicious jambalaya for both clubs and their hungry fans!

 

View photos of the match here.

 

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