Dartmouth Ruggers Best Amherst

By Jason Leonard | Wednesday, May 1, 1996

A warm, sunny Saturday greeted Team '97 at Sachem Field for their first test against Amherst this past weekend. It has long been a tradition that the Seniors step down at the beginning of the spring, allowing younger players to have some field time together before the trials of the fall. This year was no different, as the senior-less ruggers faced their first game with some degree of trepidation. To add to the uncertainty, the team was playing without new captain Torbjorn 'Foofy Hair' Dimblad '97. He sustained an injury during a fierce bedroom scuffle in Syracuse a few days before.

Despite the various distractions, Dartmouth started the game fired-up. With quick rucking and scintillating back play from the positively cheeky brothers Craig Smith '97 and Gregg Smith '97, Dartmouth quickly found itself knocking at Amherst's door. Micke 'Saucy Finn' Morn '97 was first to score when he capitalized on an overlap created by good trundling from Pete 'Raw Meat' Martin '97 and his merry pack of forwards. Soon afterwards, the second of the two Smith brothers also crashed over the line, completely bemusing the Amherst backs with his wicked sidesteps and deceptive slowness.

Instead of spurring the Ruggers on to greater things, the 12-0 lead produced a spell of severe idleness that was particularly noticeable amongst DRFC forwards, who stopped rucking and mauling all together. Jeff Probeyn, England's famous prop, once said, 'When a team stops mauling and rucking they'll get stuffed.' This seemed to be the case as Amherst seized on Dartmouth's poor forward play and a couple of unnecessary errors by the backs to score two quick tries. Both were converted, and the Ruggers found themselves behind by a score of 14-12.

Amherst's surge provided a wake-up call for the team, and they quickly resumed the offensive. Using quick rucks as their staple and counterattacking whenever given the chance, Dartmouth once again found the Amherst line at their mercy. Just before the half, Morn grabbed his second try to give Dartmouth a 19-17 lead at the whistle.

After a stirring talk from their side-lined captain, the Ruggers started the second half with fierce determination. With some impressive forward play from Martin and Drew Payne '97, as well as fierce tackling from Adam 'Hammer' Himoff '98, Amherst was slowly worn down.

It was only a matter of time before those crazy Smith brothers made Amherst cry once again, and they did exactly that when Gregg scored his second try after a nifty play orchestrated by the halfback pairing of Doug 'Backfat' Burnaford '98 and John 'Llllansillywy' Lloyd '98. However, the Men of Sachem once again failed to take the initiative as their forwards faltered. The cohesiveness of the pack was further rattled by the departure of Rob 'Big Girl's Blouse' Leathern '97 with a split fingernail and Ty 'Hawaiian Superman' Tengan '97 with a bad case of the clap.

Amherst managed to nip in for another try, which made the score 26-22 in Dartmouth's favor. The ruggers were able to hang on for the remainder of the match, leaving the field victorious but unsatisfied. The second two matches of the afternoon gave Dartmouth's A-Side something to cheer about as the Freshman and B-Side teams won, 50-0 and 46-0 respectively.

The Ruggers headed to the New England Championship in Providence, Rhode Island this weekend but will return to their beloved Sachem Field on May 4th for a match against UNH.

Dartmouth Ruggers Best Amherst

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