BULLS FLY THE FLAG
The Kirkcaldy Bulls American Football Club travelled to Le Havre, France to enter Flag Oceane 9. The 3 times Scottish Champions, and ESFL Beach Bowl winners, wanted to see how they would fair against the best teams in Europe, and there is no better place to do so than the biggest flag tournament in Europe. With 33 senior teams in attendance it was split into 2 competitions. The Bulls entered the “Top Level” tournament which was the main event with last years Danish and Italian champions entering along with last years winners. The rest of the teams entered into a “Competition Level” tournament. There were also Leisure (mixed), Female, Under 18 and Under 16 tournaments. The Bulls first game was against the Lizzards from Germany. Following a nervous first half the Bulls settled down and took control of the game and ran out 44-25 winners. It was a good start to the tournament but they knew there was a long way to go. The second game saw the Bulls face Banditi Ferrera from Milan in Italy. They are currently top of their conference in the Italian league and boasted years of experience. Their defense showed this as they stuck to their task with great dedication. The Bulls offense struggled to move the ball as they’d never came up against such a well organised defense. The Bulls lost the game 32-2 but had gained lots of experience from it. The Bulls had to pull together and start again as they faced the Cleavers. Like Banditi Ferrera they are Italian and top of their conference but they are also last year’s Italian champions. The Bulls trailed for most of the first half but fought back and took an 18-14 second half lead, however the Cleavers fought on scoring twice to lead 26-18 with minutes remaining. The Bulls rallied and drove up field for the score to come within 2 points but failed to score the 2 point conversion which would have tied the game. The fourth game of the day saw the Bulls take on the Danish champions, the Mammoths, who with a 52-0 record in Denmark over the last 3 years weren’t going to give in easily. The Bulls trailed 7-0 early on but their defense took over the game with 4 first half interceptions setting up numerous scores as the Bulls went in at the interval with a 25-7 lead. The second half saw the Bulls defense continue to dominate. The Bulls scored again stretching their lead to 24 points for a lead of 31-7. The game then fizzled out as the long day in soaring temperatures took its toll. The Bulls finished day one with a 2-2 record. The second day saw a change in the weather as it poured with rain throughout. First up for the Bulls were last year’s tournament winners from France, Pygargues. The Bulls took an early 13-0 lead. Pygargues fought back to within a point 13-12 early in the second half. The Bulls replied quickly, scoring again to take a 19-12 lead. Pygargues came back again and scored with minutes remaining. With the score 19-18 the Bulls defended the extra point to keep their narrow lead intact. The Bulls had possession of the ball but couldn’t make first down giving Pygargues one last drive. With seconds remaining Pygargues found themselves in a fourth a goal situation. They showed their worth as previous champions as they scored on the last play of the game to win 25-19. The Bulls didn’t have time to think “what if” as they had to focus on their last game of the group stage against Team Israel. They were in a must win situation and had to hope on other results going their way if they were to qualify. The Bulls trailed for most of the first half but got level early on in the second half 12-12 before taking the lead after scoring the conversion. As Israel tried to reply the Bulls defense stepped up as they intercepted and returned it for the score to stretch their lead to 19-12. Israel fought back and scored on their next two drives. With great clock management they took a 24-19 lead leaving only 37 seconds for the Bulls to reply. The Bulls rallied once again and scored the game winning touchdown with only 8 seconds remaining. The Bulls qualified in 4th position in the group and had to play the top seeds Pygargues again in the Semi-Final. In what turned out to be an extremely tight game the Bulls applied pressure constantly as they took the lead on 3 occasions only to see Pygargues peg them back each time until the end of the game when Pygargues converted their last touchdown to win by the narrowest of margins 19-18 The 3rd place play-off
saw the Bulls take on the Mammoths again. As in previous games the Bulls
led for most of the game before conceding late on to lose 13-18. After the tournament the Bulls head coach commented “Fourth place is probably about right. We’re extremely pleased with this as we’ve never faced teams with such skill, ability and experience before." " We’ve taken a lot from this and look to apply what we’ve learned and do it again” he continued “We also have to remember that we were just 1 point away from the final itself. It’s been a great weekend for the Bulls and our players have done both club and country proud.” The Bulls are now preparing for the Beveridge Park festival in Kirkcaldy this weekend. They will be there all day on Saturday and Sunday and will have a training area where people can be shown some of the techniques and have a go themselves. They will also be putting on demonstration games at 2pm on each day. For further information contact Neil Arnold on 01592 569871, email enquiries@kirkcaldybulls.com or visit www.kirkcaldybulls.com PIC C/O Kirkcaldy
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