ELSAH, ILL. - This was a very exciting start to a new season and a new program. The men of the Principia College Rugby Team played with passion and intensity for all eighty minutes. From the start we attacked well and controlled the territorial advantage for most of the first twenty minutes. During this time we had a solid attacking position about six yards from their goal line. Naveed called for a sneaking line out play, and the team responded with a great driving maul towards the goal line. Wash. U. stopped us short, but the ball came back to Jake who passed it wide to Tyler who was able to out run their last defender for a try. Unfortunately we missed the kick, so we opened with a lead of 5 – 0.
As the game settled down Wash. U. used their large forwards to wear down our scrummers and defenders. They used effective channel and crash attacks to gain good yards. The Thunder Chickens work hard at every scrum, line out, ruck and tackle to keep their advantage; but the game just went up and down the field with little opportunity to get more points. We made a few silly mistakes and found ourselves being driven well back into our half. Wash. U. was able to get a series of good possessions and finally break through our defense for their first try. They too missed the kick, which left the score tied at 5 -5 after thirty-five minutes. The game continued with high intensity until the half.
The second half started well and the game went up and down the field with neither team dominating. Wash U. worked their way to our five yard line where they got a scrum. With their size and power in the scrum they were able to turn it around enough to spring their #8 free into the channel and attack from there. In short order they had scored their second try. They converted the kick making the score 5 -12.
As the second half wore on we realized that some of the Wash. U. players had worn themselves out, giving us the opportunity to attack if we ran fast and never let up. The game started to turn in our favor as the clock wound down. We had a defensive scrum on our five yard line, and were able to steal the possession and break away. We ran all the way over the half way line, and into their half. A speedy defender caught up with Matt and tackled him, stopping a hopeful score. Time was very limited but we attacked every chance we had. We were awarded a penalty, and Jake ran from a quick kick to get the momentum going. He passed to Tyler who found Yaw open and passed him the ball. He ran the last few yards and scored our second try of the game. The conversion kick went wide; leaving the score 10-12; and the final whistle blew to end the game.
This was a very impressive start for a team with such limited experience. We look forward to continuing our development and seeing the results throughout the rest of the season.
