All images by Dropkick Photos

Metropolis improved to 1-1 in Midwest West play with a 39-32 defeat of Milwaukee in Minneapolis Saturday. An improved Harlequins side ran in lockstep with Metropolis early, evidenced by a two-point deficit at halftime, but Minnesotans separated in the opening half of the second stanza.

“We started pretty slowly again like we did against Palmer last week, and we sort of put it together in the middle of the game and then sort of dropped off again in the last 10,” said first-year Metropolis head coach Nathan Osborne.

“I thought we played pretty well. We played our systems. We have a bunch of new young guys and obviously I’m an new coach, so learning the new systems and getting the young guys to go where we want them to go has been hard, but I think they’re slowly starting to pick it up and we’re looking pretty good.”

Metropolis has benefited from the creation of Rob Holder’s Spearhead Academy, which immerses mostly college-aged players in a full-time rugby environment. Nick Johnson, a standout for the Youngbloodz at 7s Nationals, is one of those young palyers. He’s playing flanker for Metropolis and having a good season.

Another is flyhalf Siemens.

“I think the sky’s the limit for him. Me, being an ex-fly half, we do a lot of work together on how to control the game and stuff like that, and he’s come a long way,” said Osborne, who won the MVP honors of the 2011 DIII national championship final as Metro’s flyhalf.

“Teaching get a kid fresh out of high school is hard to do, but he’s doing a really good job of controlling the game and leading the guys around.”