Round 5 vs Barak Varr Dreadnaughts

Round 5's game was against a Dwarf team coached by Big Pete, yet another great sport and a very welcoming opponent.  The Dwarfs won the toss and select to receive, the weather was fine, and the Dwarves won +1 fame.  The kick-off sparked a Riot! Loosing a turn from the first half.  Please excuse the lack of pics, I forgot my camera...

The Dwarf offence started by stunning 2 lineman and mowing down the Norse front line. They pushed down the right sideline, scooped up ball with a runner, and spiralled a short pass to another runner.  The Norse Yeti wild animaled out as the Norse moved to contain with generally ineffective blocks though 1 long beard was KOed (the only guard piece too) and 1 runner broke through into the dwarf half.  The Dwarves responded and reinforced their push, chain blocking, surfing and badly hurting a Norse lineman. The dwarves kept pushing down and the yeti smashed into the cage to threaten the ball carrier.  The Dwarves caged up around him and brought him down with a crash, stunning him and strode forward to score in turn 4.  Pretty quick for stunties!

The Norse reset to receive and pushed down the left flank, then the Dwarves moved to contain, KOing a lineman.  The Northmen tried to force their way through but double skulls on a block stopped the momentum.  Dwarves KOed another lineman, and badly hurt the Yeti, but the apoth put him back into the reserves box. Anothjer Norse a runner dodged and sprinted into the endzone to catch an accurate long bomb from lineman - tied up 1 all with 2 turns to go in the half.  A tough ask for Dwarves, but  the ball bounced out of bounds and was touched back to one of the dwarf runners.  They went on to KO a journeyman, stun 2 lineman and break through.  The Norse tripped over their own shoelaces and all the dwarf runner had to do was Go For It twice to score....first roll ok, second one...fail, no rerolls, and he tripped over the line!  A lucky break for the Norse and the halftime whistle blew with the score tied at 1 all.

The second half began with the Norse receiving and getting a high kick result, but the receiver failed the catch.  The Yeti pushed up the left sideline and made a hole for a runner to sprint through, but the receiving lineman muffed the pickup and spilled it onto the ground. The dwarves again ganged up on the yeti, pushing him to the sideline and getting him near the crowd.  The yeti in turn blocked the troll slayer back and pushed him to the ground.  The runners broke away from the dwarves marking them up, a lineman picked up the bal, ran through the line and made a quick pass to the free runner ready to run downfield and score.  Fumble!  Reroll: Fumble!  The ball dropped between two Norse lineman on the halfway line.  The dwarves quickly acted, swarming onto the Norse with their player advantage,  grabbing the ball and forming a loose cage.  The yeti went down in a block once again...  Another Norseman dodged away from the dwarf marking him and blitzed the ball carrier to the ground.  The dwarves hit back but mostly pushed the Norse around before a troll slayer niggled a guard lineman and a Dwarf runner dashed through to pickup the ball and run halfway down the Norse backfield.  The Norse thrower sprinted back to pull him down with his Wrestle- double 1s, he went down...  The dwarves pounded a few more linemen and ran in the TD on turn 4 - a very sporting play by Pete, who could have stalled out for a few turns, but he deliberately wanted to give Reilly a few turns to try and strike back.  Says a lot about the guy.

The Norse (still down 2 players) setup to push down the left side and the kickoff gave both sides a free reroll.  The Norse broke through a runner and got the ball in hand.  Dwarf options were limited but a troll slayer KOed a journeyman (his third time in the box!).  The Norse rushed the runner through, and got the thrower clear but the pass was inaccurate, the ball went out of bounds to be thrown in near a stunty runner.  the thrower rushed back, grabbed it up but tripped sprinting away, just 3 square short.  The Dwarf runner picked it up and tried a long bomb, but also tripped up!  There was still a final chance for the Norse but he failed the pickup and the final siren sounded.

Final score was a Dwarf win 2:1.  MVP went to a Norse runner, and Norse winnings were 40k.
This loss puts Odinn's Champions at the bottom of the table, facing off next round against the Belconnen Bluetongues - a Lizardman team in second place in the Division.  Just two more rounds left in this season.

Many thanks to Pete for a great game - incidentally he just won his Division in the Minors League: Good Luck in the playoffs!