Indian Rugby Starts Season 4-1

By Michael R. DiBenedetto | Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Dartmouth Rugby Football Club has started their fall campaign 4-1 in league play. The Big Green has come out victorious in matches against Boston College, Harvard, Yale, and Norwich. The men in green have scored an impressive 103 points more than their opponents. The young squad starts a pair of freshmen and three sophomores. As usual Dartmouth has been able to spread it wide with ease, with all but three of the tries scored by backs. However, Dartmouth has also been dominant in the scrum, usually a weak point for the squad.

The Indians started their preseason trials in Canada, playing both McGill University and Queens College. After a long road-trip to Kingston, Ontario, the Dartmouth squad played tough against a much more experienced Queens side. Dartmouth failed to convert on a few opportunities to score, but a stingy defense kept them in the game. In the end the Queens side prevailed with a final score of 0-19, the closest score in the history of the match-up.

The contest against McGill, however, ended much better for the Dartmouth side. Dartmouth controlled most of the possession in the first half and as a result scored three tries on the Quebec champs. McGill rallied in the second half but didn’t have enough time to outdo the hard-fighting Dartmouth side, losing 15-13. After the match, skipper Conlan O’Leary said, “Dartmouth and McGill have a long, healthy tradition of play, but McGill’s owned it for a while, so it was great to get today’s win against a quality Canadian side.” The last time Dartmouth beat McGill was ten years ago.

The following weekend Dartmouth hosted the Granite State Cup, a battle for top dog in New Hampshire. In shortened games, Dartmouth crushed both University of New Hampshire and Keene State by a combined score of 89-3 to defend the Tier 1 championship.

After a successful preseason, the Indians took on Boston College in the opening of league play. The first forty was marked by sloppy play, dropped balls, and knock-ons. However, Dartmouth maintained a secure lead for most of the half. Coach Alex Magleby said, “Boston College was as physical as we expected they would be. We had a lot of possession and territory and didn’t really put it into points.” The Indians were better able to take advantage of their possession in the second half, with tries by sophomores Tommy Brothers and Chris Downer, leading to a final score of 19-13. After the match, Coach Magleby commented: “It’s always hard to win at Boston College. We won ugly. It wasn’t flash, but you don’t get style points do you?”

The following weekend the men in green traveled to Cambridge to take on perennial Ivy League rival Harvard. In front of a large crowd of Dartmouth alumni, the Indians dominated every aspect of the game, scoring 20 points in the first half and taking Harvard out of the game mentally. The second half was much of the same, with Dartmouth continuing to break through the slow moving Harvard defense. At the final whistle the score was 34-12. Captain O’Leary said, “We played composed and organized rugby on both sides of the ball and really controlled the match for the entire 80 minutes.”

Dartmouth hosted Yale in week three of the season. Energized and excited to finally play a game at home, the Indians came out with great passion and pummeled Yale 52-9, scoring nine tries on the day. The game was hard fought and physical with many words and actions exchanged after the whistle, leading to a yellow card for both captains. In the end, Dartmouth’s underclassmen stole the show, scoring 50 of the 52 points of the day. After the match Captain O’Leary jokingly remarked, “I don’t know what they teach at that dog and pony show down in New Haven, but I think we showed them a thing or two about rugby today.”

Dartmouth played its final away match-up at Norwich, and the Indians crushed the Cadets 39-7. Tempers flared through the first half of the match, but in the end cooler heads prevailed. A myriad of Dartmouth penalties and mistakes kept Norwich in a tight first half. But a fiery halftime speech and the insertion of co-captain Matt Alkaitis ‘09 helped the Big Green dominate the second half. The highlight of the match was a five-meter scrum pushed over the try-line by the dominant Dartmouth pack.

An undefeated start means that Dartmouth battled West Point in Hanover for supremacy in the Northeast last weekend. The Indians were shorthanded in the game, losing Nick and Chris Downer, stars of the Dartmouth backfield, to a family engagement. The Indians lost the game against Army. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

After Army, Dartmouth is home to UConn this homecoming weekend and closes out the regular season hosting Northeastern.

Indian Rugby Starts Season 4-1

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