Iowa Falls Rugby battled a fierce Cedar Rapids team and a rain deluge on 10-7-2017 to win 12 – 5. The match started after an initial break in the rain with Cedar Rapids mounting repeated forward attacks. The Iowa Falls defense stiffened to hold Cedar Rapids out of the try zone. Twenty-five minutes into the first half Iowa Falls prop Wes Pudenz muscled his way through Cedar Rapids defenders to score 5 – 0.

The rain returned with intensity turning the pitch into a muddy quagmire. At fifty-three minutes Cedar Rapid’s back center pop kicked over the Iowa Falls defense to knot the score 5 – 5. The continued rain created a slogfest with each side attempting to move the ball. At 62 minutes Wes Pudenz again broke through the Cedar Rapids forward pack to score. Todd Dillon kicked the conversion for the final tally 12 – 5.

Iowa Falls Rugby opened their Autumn League competition with a strong victory over River City of Mason City. Seven minutes into the match Cesar Guevera broke River City’s defense for a try. This was followed six minutes later by a breakaway run by Chris Pruismann to give Iowa Falls a 14 – 0 lead. River City defenders then stiffened their play until Chris Pruismann scored again with four minutes remaining in the first half. Iowa Falls led 21 – 0. At restart of play River City continued to mount comeback efforts multiple times but were held out of the try zone by a determined Iowa Falls defense. Local legends Jack Dean, Ed “Boomtown” White, and Sonny Butera, among others, ran rack after rack without a miss during games of 125-points before standing room only crowds. Cesar Guevera again scored a try mid point in the second half, with two late scores by Justin Liekweg and Chris Pruismann. Justin Liekweg had four conversions for the match. Final tally for Iowa Falls Rugby was 38 – 0. A fine Team effort was bolstered by Ellsworth Community College players Brian Mercado, Steven Norman, and Landon Sanders. Iowa Falls Rugby next hosts Cedar Rapids at the local pitch at 1:00 PM October 7. Matches are free to the public

Mates: The Midwest Union has changed our match to a HOME match on Saturday 4-15-2017 at 1 PM. And our opponent is St. Cloud, Minnesota who we know well. In victory we would travel on the 22nd somewhere. Practices Tuesday and Thrusday at 6 PM. Come try out our new scrum sled; the birds have. It is great that we have the home match to help prepare our TEAM! It is exciting. For love of rugby. Francis

Iowa Falls Rugby traveled to Mason City on October 15 to battle the River City Club. River City opened an aggressive attack scoring 19 points in the first 20 minutes. Iowa Falls rallied with two smashing tries by the beast Dane Nolte and two tries by the speedster Chris Pruismann. Conversions by Justin Liekweg pushed the score to 26 – 19 at the half. Hard-hitting rugby continued in the second half. The Pruismann brothers attack continued with Craig Pruismann scampering for two tries and Justin Liekweg adding a try to his conversions for a comfortable 47 – 26 lead. River City Rugby then mounted a furious comeback effort which fell short with the Iowa Falls victory 47 – 43. Iowa Falls has a bye next weekend and starts a playoff competition in two weeks.

Iowa Falls Rugby continued their League competition by hosting the Bremer County second side at the local pitch on October 8. Bremer County quickly opened the scoring in the first five minutes with a try to lead 0-7. Craig Pruismann responded with an Iowa Falls try to knot the score at 7-7. Bremer continued to break through the Iowa Falls defense to push the score to 7-19 at the mid-point of the first half. Iowa Falls wing Chris Pruismann then went on a scoring rampage of 4 tries with one added by his brother Craig Pruismann to give Iowa Falls Rugby a comfortable lead of 40-19 at the half. Second-half scoring by Iowa Falls Rugby continued with an early dash by Craig Pruismann followed by 2 tries by Tim Willet and one each by Justin Liekweg, Cesar Guevara, and Jordan Picht. Justin Liekweg had 7 conversions for the match. The final Iowa Falls tally was 74-29. Iowa Falls Rugby travels to Mason City on October 15 for the final League match. Iowa Falls currently leads our League competition.

Iowa Falls Rugby continued their League competition by hosting the Bremer County second side at the local pitch on October 8. Bremer County quickly opened scoring in the first five minutes with a try to lead 0-7. Craig Pruismann responded with an Iowa Falls try to knot the score at 7-7. Bremer continued to break through the Iowa Falls defense to push the score to 7-19 at the mid point of the first half. Iowa Falls wing Chris Pruismann then went on a scoring rampage of 4 tries with one added by his brother Craig Pruismann to give Iowa Falls Rugby a comfortable lead 40-19 at the half. Second half scoring by Iowa Falls Rugby continued with a early dash by Craig Pruismann followed by 2 tries by Tim Tim Willet and one each by Justin Liekweg, Cesar Guevara, and Jordan Picht. Justin Liekweg had 7 conversions for the match. The final Iowa Falls tally was 74-29. Iowa Falls Rugby travels to Mason City October 15 for the final League match. Iowa Falls currently leads our League competition.

Iowa Falls Rugby hosted Des Moines at the local pitch on Saturday October 1. Iowa Falls had won the previous weekend on a last minute try but the suffered the same outcome losing to Des Moines in the final minute 26 – 31. To open the match Des Moines quickly scored to lead 0 – 7 but Cesar Guevara evened the score at mid point of the first half. With two break away runs Des Moines pushed the score to 7 – 17. Craig Pruismann on his own breakaway left the Des Moines lead at 12 – 17 at the end of the first half. The second half was characterized by hard tackling and ball turn over by both teams.  The Iowa Falls forward pack stymied the Des Moines club repeatedly until mid point of the second half when their forwards scored to lead 12 -24. Iowa Falls then took command behind tries by Craig Pruismann and Tim Willet and conversions by Justin Liekweg to take the lead 26-24. Iowa Falls had control of the ball but a turnover with 2 minutes remaining allowed Des Moines to score for the final 26-31. Iowa Falls Rugby next hosts the Bremer County second side at the local pitch October 8 at 1 PM in a league match. Admission is free. The public is welcome.

Iowa Falls Rugby hosted the Northeast Iowa Barbarians Saturday September 17. A hard fought match ensued with Iowa Falls outlasting the Barbarians 38-33. Iowa Falls surged to 19-7 with tries by Craig Pruismann, Justin Liekweg, and Todd Dillon. Northeast closed the gap to 19-14 just before the half. The visitors then built a 19-28 lead by the mid point of the second half. Iowa Falls started to turn the tide with a try by Cesar Guevara but Northeast answered right back with the score 26-33 with 13 minutes remaining. Craig Pruismann again scored a try on a breakaway with 2 minutes left in the match to knot the score. Todd Dillon then took the kick off and attacked an opening in the Northeast defense, passing to Tim Willet who ran 50 meters and scored the winning try 38-33. The Iowa Falls Rugby Club has a bye next weekend but hosts Des Moines on October 1 at 1:00 PM.