Days 1 and 2

Tuesday dawned bright and early as since our first match of the day was at 8.30, we were up between 6 and 6.15 for a 6.30 breakfast. Very surprisingly there was no problem whatsoever getting the team up. In fact, most of them were out of bed before myself or Seamie! The breakfast was an all-you-can-eat buffet with both hot and cold options. Very tasty! We all made our way to the pitches.

Game 1 V Finland

The defending U-20 and 2007 U-17 European Champions were up first. We arrived at the pitches 45 minutes before the game and got a good warm up done. Our game was on one of the two stadium pitches. A lot of throwing, plenty of running and some drills to finish. We huddled up and went through some tactics before belting out Ireland's Call.

We started excellently and fought hard for everything, forcing turnovers as the fins struggled to find any rhythm due to our D. We traded to 3's with Lorcan, matty and Pa all getting on the scoresheet. The Finnish offense started to click and their cutters were getting free much easier as they went on a run to 7-3. A time out was called and the coaches urged more work, particularly marking their cutters. We answered straightaway with Pa throwing to Finn to make it 7-4. The Finns took half at 9-4. We started slowly in the second half as our cutters drifted too far from the disc at times, the Finns were also poaching quite a lot and we struggled to deal with this. They really hit their stride this half and started to pull away. We called a timeout and told the team the workrate needed to be upped once more. This they did and finished out the match strongly. Final score 17-6 to Finland.

MVP: Robbie, originally tied with Merman but winning on a second round of voting.

Game 2 V Belgium

Up next at 12.30 were the Belgians, a team we felt we could upset. We went through the same warm up and the lads were focussed. Both myself and Seamie stressed the need for 100% Ultimate at all times, saving ourselves simply wasn't an option.

We started well with a Hogi huck finding Tuffy outside the endzone before he laid it off to Finn to take an early lead. They had a strong long game and all three of their early scores came from hucks. We soon found ourselves level at 3-3. The Belgian handlers started to get some easy around breaks off and were using the entire width of the pitch to their advantage while at times we found ourselves continuously punching it up the line. a few drops in crucial positions near and in their endzone didn't help. While we kept in touch, the Belgians started to get their noses in front and took half at 9-6. Yet again we seemed a little slow right after half time and Belgium took advantage with two quick points before we responded to make it 11-7. That seemed to be the pattern of the half, Belgium scored 2, we scored 1. The team finally started to cut out the breaks as the half wore on and we started to get some of our own but the Belgians continuously kept the scoreboard ticking over. We finally started making those catches that we weren't in the first half with Tuffy scoring 3 second half goals. Belgium won out in the end 17-10.

This was a good performance but we didn't feel the Belgians were 7 points better than us. It was a good lesson for us as to what can happen when the opposition gets break after break off.

MVP: Finn. Yet again a tie, this time with Lorcan with Finn winning after a second round of voting.



We had a few hours downtime before we had arranged to meet for dinner at 6 and the team split up to do various things. Some of us watched our opponents of the following morning, the USA, thrash Australia 17-4. We met again and watched the showgame, Canada V Colombia as we ate. This proved to be a very dour game with plenty of calls. It certainly didn't hold our attention as after 40minutes we left and went to get ice-cream! There is a fantastic place around the corner from the school that has a huge variety. Finn helped himself to two massive ice cream cones as Killian set about eating his way towards diabetes. Hogi learned an amusing lesson that people in different countries actually do understand English as we eventually left after over an hour of ice cream and banter.

Most of the team headed to the welcoming party at 9.30 but there not many people there. Eventually everyone was back in bed by 11. Another early start tomorrow, first up: USA.


Game 3 V USA

We followed more or less an identical pattern to yesterday and were at the pitches with plenty of time to spare.

A huge opportunity for the lads to test themselves. We had watched the USA take apart Ausralia 17-4 the previous night and knew that nothing less than 100% Ultimate would do. If we let up for a second they would have a field day. We started well, trading with them up to 1-1... Joking aside, we came out flying and made them work. We even forced a turn off their first throw. They took the first point and we followed with what can only be described as a moment of magic from Hogi. He catches the disc near the sideline at about halfway and sees Tuffy in the endzone, one 50 yard hammer later we were level at 1-1. Cue massive pitch invasion. The USA played some scintillating offence at times and had a few points where they simply took us apart with their breakside throws, we struggled to keep up at times. I've never seen a team move the disc so fast. Other times though, they worked hard for it as we pressured and hassled them. It wasn't all one way traffic either as we made gains time and again, our long game was occasionally effective but several times our hucks just hung up for that split second too long allowing one their giants to take it down. They went on a run to 16-1 and we had another point of brilliance, each person on the field touching the disc as we patiently worked it up field through the USA zone. Three hammers later (including one that finished with a huge grab by Hugo) saw the disc in Hogi's hands near the front of their endzone. Yet another hammer to Tuffy (only 20 yards this time) saw the score become 16-2. Cue another massive pitch invasion. The USA finished the last point to take the game 17-2.

I've never seen a team more upbeat after a beating of that magnitude. The USA players were a very spirited, if somewhat physical, bunch and certainly left a good impression after the game. Their coaches had some nice words for myself and their fans, of which there were plenty, gave our players agreat reception. Myself and Seamie asked for 100% Ultimate and that is exactly what we got.

MVP: Hogi.

Game 4 V Germany

Our second game today was against the host nation and those who were in Vienna last year recognised some of the opposition. If playing against the USA was like playing the 1970 Brazil team, this was like playing against the 2004 Greece team. There was a huge difference in styles.

Our warm up was a little stop start and not as focussed as the previous three due to a little uncertainty over when the game would start due to the previous game going to cap. We started and used our long game alot. The Germans took the lead before we equalised with Paul throwing a fine leading pass to Merman (Mermaid?). Unforunately that was to be as good as it got for the half as the Germans adopted a very poachy formation, using our lack of experience against us. We still tried our long game alot and often if found their deep poach. Half time, 9-1 to the Germans.

Some strong words were said at half time by both players and managment. The USA deserved their 9-1 half time against us, we didn't feel the Germans did. Seamie introduced some new tactics with more emphasis on our short give and go game. We also did a quick drill to get the energy up, something we hadn't done before. We started as we wanted and we began to work our short game more often with Pa, Paul and Lorcan all putting in some great work. These were not the only players though as everyone who took to the pitch stood up and was counted as we fought back and made the Germans work hard for each point they scored. Our offence was at times brilliant as we cascaded up the pitch through their poaches to the extent that they reverted to man for a few points. We traded the first six points of the half to 12-4 but didn'take full advantage of some opportunities as the Germans won 17-6 in the end.

A slow, slightly lethargic second half gave way to some good offence and a serious improvement on D as we played hard in the second half.

MVP: Lorcan, just edging out Paul.


Time to go, up against Austria this at 12.30 and then against Australia at 4.30.