Ruggers Prep for Homecoming Tilt

By Brendan M. Neff | Friday, October 13, 2006

Fresh off of two road victories in a row, the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club returns to Brophy Field this weekend, battling Harvard in a homecoming clash against a bitter rival. The last two weeks have seen the men in green outscore their opposition 78 – 0, and regain some of the Dartmouth swagger that went missing earlier in the year. Enduring extremely sloppy conditions to prevail over UNH, and making the long bus journey down to Providence to trounce Brown, has allowed the side to address many of its injury problems and establish continuity going into what is essentially a must win game. A tough loss three weeks ago necessitated this sense of urgency.

On September 23 the men in green trekked to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to take on a
large, well-drilled Boston College squad. Rain threatened as the 1 PM kickoff approached but held off for most of the match. The Golden Eagles struck first when the experienced BC Flyhalf found a seam in the Dartmouth defense touching down under the post, putting BC up 7-0. Dartmouth was not held down for long however as Co-Captain Aziz Sayigh ‘07 made a decent play on the ensuing kickoff giving Dartmouth positive possession for a team looking to respond. Two rucks later Captain Tom Manzo found Sayigh who engaged the defense with up-field running (as he is known to do), then finding a streaking Mike Markelz ‘07 who took it the rest of the way for a try in the corner. The conversion failed making the mark 7-5 after about 15 minutes of play.

Unfortunately, the men in green were unable to gain much momentum from this surgical strike. A bevy of penalties prevented the side from finding a rhythm for much of the half, which saw some of the poorest and most one-sided officiating college rugby has seen in some time. Dartmouth found itself constantly on the defensive and was unable to possess the ball in the opposition’s half for any length of time. The penalty count took its toll eventually as the big BC flanker powered off a ruck on the Dartmouth 1m for a try under the posts. Only minutes later, Dartmouth’s efforts were again hampered by silly mistakes as a pass was picked off by the Eagle flyhalf and taken to the house, giving BC a 21-5 lead as the half expired.

Unhappy with the sloppiness of the first half of play, the Dartmouth ruggers came out with a chip on their shoulder in the opening pass of the second half, battling back and forth to keep the pressure in BC territory. Each side had their fair share of handling errors that kept the forward packs busy in the scrum for first thirty minutes of the second period. As in the first half, the inexperienced Dartmouth side squandered many scoring opportunities. The score remained notched at 21-5 until the final five minutes of regulation when the Dartmouth attack put together a nice sequence, moving the ball across the field with relative ease. The Green struck for points as center Dru Heinz ‘08 side-stepped finding winger Jeff Kolovson ‘09 who hit Drew Jennings ‘08 for his 1st XV scoring debut. Kolovson nailed a difficult corner conversion attempt making the score 21-12. Continued pressure from a desperately attacking Dartmouth side resulted in two penalties against a tiring Boston College, setting up Kolovson for a PK attempt from about 35 meters out. Coming through in the clutch, he nailed it to pull Dartmouth to within a score, as injury time began to tick away. The Big Green fought to a frantic finish against a BC squad desperate to see the final seconds tick away. The attack continually recycled the ball, swinging the ball out wide, looking for the overlap or line break that might bring victory. Finally, with no time left on the official clock, Dartmouth attempted a reckless boot forward. The kick was recovered by the BC fullback, who coolly found touch, bringing the final whistle with the score 21-15 in BC’s favor.

The loss was certainly a disappointing one, putting the club in the tough position of having to win out to secure playoff position. Having unceremoniously dispatched with UNH and Brown in consecutive weeks, the men in green have only to deal with Harvard to complete this task. Even if this is accomplished, however, the team knows that its stated mission to qualify for a 3rd straight national tournament will be far from complete.

Homecoming kickoff will be at 10:30, so that spectators can watch the match, then head down the road to Memorial Field to cheer on the freshmen loudly as they rush the field.

Ruggers Prep for Homecoming Tilt

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