Rugby Battles Harvard for Ivy Title

By Brendan Neff | Tuesday, April 24, 2007

This past weekend the ruggers of the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club traveled to Portsmouth, Rhode Island to defend their consecutive Ivy League Titles. Though the club had taken seven of the last nine championships, it faced stiff competition from Harvard and Yale, who stood in the way of another repeat. Fresh off an inspiring tour of South Africa and two weeks of training in the Still North to which they returned, the men in green arrived at the tournament prepared to play any style of rugby necessary to take the Ivy League Title. When the boys took the pitch in the championship match, having dispatched Columbia and Yale without conceding a point, this meant weathering the storm of not only an able Harvard side, but the cruelties of an April Nor’easter. Game time featured a cold, heavy rain and a lateral wind, making conditions decidedly sloppy and kicking and lineouts difficult. These circumstances demanded disciplined and physical play and a territorial game plan. Senior Co-Captain Aziz Sayigh summed up the team’s mindset: “We knew given the quality of the opposition and nature of the conditions that we would have to peak as a unit. This meant physical, smart, Dartmouth rugby.” The men in green would prove up to the task.

The opening moments of the match would see Harvard quickly score first, taking advantage of Dartmouth errors. The Crimson deftly turned over possession off of the opening kick and quickly recycled the ball. The Dartmouth defensive wall held strong, but was penalized for launching from an offside position. In a portent of things to come, Harvard’s French-born eight-man punished Dartmouth’s aggressiveness, splitting the posts to give his side a 3-0 lead.

Finding themselves down early, the men in green gathered themselves and pressured the opponents with hard running and physical play in the loose. Setting the tone for the rest of the match, Dartmouth maintained secure ball, stringing together multiple phases on the strength of superior forward play. As Sayigh said, “Our rucking was tremendous.” The side’s commitment to physical play would pay off with the first try of the game. Stringing together a nine-phase possession deep in Harvard’s end, the Green sent waves of crashing players forward, testing the opposing defensive line. Senior center Michael Markelz, playing in contact like an extra loose forward, finally touched down for the try and the lead. Junior fullback Drew Jennings added the important conversion to make it 7-3 in the early going.

Having taken the lead, there was no let-up on the Dartmouth side. They continued the recycle ball, punishing Harvard in the rucks and kicking to pin Harvard back in their defensive zone. The Green’s discipline and commitment to support now forced Harvard into committing penalties at the breakdown. Sophomore flyhalf Conlan O’Leary connected on a kick after one such diving over penalty to stretch the lead to 10-3. Soon thereafter, Dartmouth again found themselves deep in Harvard territory. Recognizing Harvard back on the back foot after yet another penalty for offside in the ruck, Senior Captain Thomas Manzo elected this time to go quickly. The scrumhalf tapped to himself and charged into the try-zone, surprising the Crimson defense and extending the Dartmouth lead. Jennings would again add the conversion, making the score 17-3 with ten minutes left until the half.

Dartmouth’s 17-point run had put Harvard back on its heels, and the momentum was decidedly in the favor of the men in green. The Crimson looked shocked and unhappy to be there, but to their credit they had not yet quit. To this point Dartmouth had controlled the game. Foot planted firmly on Harvard’s throat, Dartmouth was destined to let them back up.

Given the opportunity, Harvard quickly put themselves back together. Taking advantage of a Dartmouth knock-on off of the restart, Harvard made a linebreak off the scrum. Finding holes in the Dartmouth defensive wall that weren’t there earlier in the half, the Crimson flyhalf scampered into the try zone, catapaulting his side right back into the match. The number eight coolly added the conversion, and the Green lead was halved almost immediately.

Dartmouth would this time handle the ensuing restart, and for the next few minutes the sides would trade possession and territorial kicks. As the half was nearing its end, Harvard took its lineout near mid-field and strung together a multi-phase attack of its own. Setting up a maul deep in Dartmouth’s end, Harvard’s French eight-Man rolled off the back and crashed into the corner of the try zone. He would then convert the difficult kick for points, tying the score right before the halftime whistle.

The score was tied up 17-17 at the half, but the men in green must have felt as if they played the better half and squandered the advantage. In addition to the two late tries, the Dartmouth fullback had two penalty misses in the difficult conditions, while Harvard had yet to miss a kick. The Dartmouth side came out in the 2nd half resolved to maintain its tough play and continue to press the advantage.

The 2nd half of the championship match was far more defensive than the first. As the rain and wind continued to pick up, the field deteriorated, and the players tired after three matches in two days, points became harder and harder to come by. About 10 minutes in, Harvard would add another three points off of a penalty, regaining the lead for the first time since the opening moments.

Finding themselves behind, the men in green continued to dedicate themselves to possession rugby. Strong forward play began to show it effects, as the Dartmouth pack increasingly came to dominate the Harvard scrum and control the play in the loose. The resolve of the forwards would finally be rewarded, as punishing runs from Kemper Pierce and Anthony Arch drove Dartmouth down to and finally over the try-line for the put down. The try would go unconverted, but the defending champions had regained the lead.

This advantage, however, would also prove to be short lived. After the restart, Harvard was able flip the field and pin the Green back deep in their own half. After a period of sustained pressure, Harvard exploited the blind side, getting a linebreak, and touching it down in the corner. Though Harvard’s Frenchman would miss his first kick of the match on the conversion, the lead had again changed hands, 25-22.

Down three with time running down, Dartmouth was still within striking distance of the lead. As the men in green desperately probed the Crimson defense with kicks and crashing runs, the action become increasingly tense. Finally, the Green gained possession of the ball in Harvard’s half and drove towards the try-zone. Persistent rucking and secure placement earned a penalty to the left of posts. Recent substitution Junior Gordon Silvera stepped up to the mark, the Green’s Ivy League hopes at his feet. Steely and focused, Gordo drilled it solidly right down the center, sending the game to extra-time.

Overtime consisted of two five-minute halves, and though it wasn’t sudden-death, given the conditions and fatigue of the two teams, it seemed as though the first to score would be victorious. In the first overtime period, Dartmouth was able to sustain a long possession along the right sideline. Despite earning penalties against the Harvard side trying to hold up the Dartmouth forward pack by any means necessary, none were in a good position for an attempt at points. Electing to penalty tap and crash into the tiring Harvard defense, Dartmouth pushed the Crimson right back against their own tryline. Picking up from the back of the ruck, Junior flanker Ian Wilson bulled his way again into the Harvard line, setting a maul. The Green pack bound together and pushed the ball over the line. Before Wilson could ground it, however, the whistle sounded and the referee awarded a twenty-two-meter drop-out to the Crimson. The back foot of the Harvard side of the maul had gone out the back of the try zone, a turn of events made possible only by its absurdly small size. The first extra period would end scoreless.

If the second half of overtime had ended like the first, the two opposing sides would have split the title as co-champions. Instead, the second five minutes would see Harvard take advantage of its good fortune, and take the Ivy title from the men in Green. Two minutes in, Dartmouth was penalized outside its own twenty-two meter line for diving over the ruck. The mark was centered and well within the range of Harvard’s eight-man. The Frenchman knocked it through to give the Crimson an advantage they would not relinquish.

Dartmouth, its time running short, would repossess the ball and launch one final series of attacks, but was unable to get any traction going forward. Harvard would eventually turn the possession over and kick it away. The ball landed and carried out the back of the try zone. The referee’s final whistle sounded, the ball lying just on the other side of the very same endline that had victimized the Dartmouth maul just minutes earlier.

Despite the dramatic loss, no one on the Dartmouth side had his head down. Said co-Captain Sayigh: “I’m so proud of the way we played this weekend. It’s disappointing, but the kind of loss where you do feel you left it all on the field.”

Rugby Battles Harvard for Ivy Title

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