After a well-deserved summer break, the rugby season finally starts again in sunny weather – and how!<\/p>\n
For the first game of the 2025\/26 season, Bonn welcomed a strong team from RC Essen, who were probably just as keen to get their first win as our Lions.
\nOn home turf and in front of the loyal Bonn fans, the RCBRS had big plans after good preparation.<\/p>\n
The concentration and excitement of the players from both teams could be felt on and off the court. Bonn’s starting line-up was a mixture of experienced players, new players playing their first game for the Lions and Josh, who was playing his last game. Instead of taking it slow at first, both teams decided to go all out from the first second. Essen dominated the first twenty minutes of the first half. Although the Bonn defence remained strong and organized under pressure, RC Essen scored the first try of the game and increased it. After the first try, the Lions responded immediately. They attacked, put Essen under pressure and scored their first points of the game and the season with a 40-meter penalty from Josh, followed by a try from Matt a few minutes later (also increased). At half-time, after a hard-fought game with close duels at every scrum, the score was 10-7 to the home side.
\nUnfortunately, the start of the second half was not as positive as the end of the first. <\/p>\n
Just a few minutes into the second half, the visitors scored a try after a line-out at the 5-meter line.
\nThis first try of the second half opened up the game and both teams now scored diligently. Just a few minutes later, the Lions responded to Essen’s try with a try from Jan on the left wing. Nevertheless, the visitors continued to put the Bonn defense under pressure and scored another try. At this point, RC Essen were leading 19-15. Hard to stop on home turf, Bonn continued to push forward and after a beautiful pass from number 9 to the outside center and an overpay with the winger, Matt scored his second try in his first game for the Lions! After a few more tries on both sides, the score was 36:29 in Essen’s favor shortly before the end. But Bonn still held their nerve in the 80th minute and after the scrum-half threw over the first set of forwards, the ball was quickly passed to the fly-half. This set up a fantastic move by the backs and a beautiful penalty try scored by Florian (who also scored two tries in his first game). This last, decisive try allowed Bonn to equalize at 36:36! Who would have expected this outcome at the start of the game? Probably absolutely nobody! <\/p>\n
We would like to thank RC Essen for an exciting and memorable first game of the new season, where the spirit of rugby was always at the forefront.
\nMany thanks to our fantastic matchday manager Alf and to all the fans who came to cheer on the Lions and made this first game of the 2025\/26 season more than just a game!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Awards:<\/strong> Starting Lineup<\/strong> Finishers<\/strong> Text: Vincent Martinet What a rugby thriller! After a well-deserved summer break, the rugby season finally starts again in sunny weather – and how! For the first game of the 2025\/26 season, Bonn welcomed a strong team from RC Essen, who were probably just as keen to get their first win as our Lions. On home turf and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-match-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rcbrs.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHammer of the Day – Francesco Forin
\nMan of the Match – Matt Carr<\/p>\n
\n1 – Lennart 2 – Nico 3 – Robert
\n4 – Jan 5 – Ben
\n6 – Max. O 8 – Francesco 7 – Timo
\n9 – Vincent. M
\n10 – Josh
\n12 – Daniel
\n13 – Matt
\n11 – Dave 14 – Vincent. G
\n15 – Harry <\/p>\n
\n16 – Lutz
\n17 – Marcel
\n18 – Philipp
\n19 – Benjamin
\n20 – Florian
\n21 – Pablo<\/p>\n
\nPhotos: Sven Schonauer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"