No Shelter From The Storm

Spartacus Scoring 2 of His 19 Points...

Despite the fabulous fall weather -mid 70's and cloudless sky at game time -the Bryant University Bulldogs rugby team ran into a storm on Sunday. The storm continued unabated for four periods of A and B match rugby as Middlebury College redefined the term 'blowout' for the hapless Bulldogs.


McCormick '06.5 Scores Try

Many of the Bryant players showed determination, played with enthusiasm, and were skilled enough to affect a different outcome. However, the team's lack of depth and inability at containing Middlebury's running game led to some frustration once the Midd scoring machine engaged. Coach Ward acting as the referee for the B match was very pleased with the dramatically better effort Bryant did hosting this year's matches. "Their language, attitude and commitment to a full B game was really appreciated."


Alex White '09 Slogs for Yardage

Concerning the A match, sentiments among the team and coaching staff were unanimous. Coach Ward noted that Bryant's biggest strength is they "play with passion. They tackled and rucked hard, and played with heart." Junior Matt Volz '07 ran well exploiting the Bulldog's main weakness. "They had a lot of athletic guys and they could hit hard, but they didn't play well as a team."

Noted Jimmy Manyuru '07, the games also offered both newcomers and B side players more time to gain "a better rhythm to their game and gain confidence in reading game situations" Looking for ways to improve “team cohesion and synchronicity” Coach Ward noted “we have struggled with getting practice and game time with the same guys side by side. Key areas are the props and centers which change daily. I think we are well into stabilizing these areas.”

Though early the Bulldogs showed the Panthers determined rucking, and effective tackling, they fell victim to Middlebury's experience at capitalizing on opponents mistakes. What went wrong for Bryant? Coach Ward summed it up saying, “Unfortunately they would over commit to attack and when they lost the ball they had no way to stop the counterattack.”


Big Baby Consenstine Breaks Free

Can you say counterattack again? Seeming at times to run at will center Pascal Losambe '07 (East London, South Africa, by way of Burlington, Vermont) continues to impress with his explosive speed and powerful ‘cross grain’ lateral moves through the field. Sometime watch some of the guys who try to tackle Pascal…


Mr. Smith Spins Away

A few hitches in Middlebury's game continue to be ironed out. Volz identified a key area of concern though: "We need to control the game early. The past two games we have been a bit sloppy in the beginning." He added, "We also need to continue to improve our fitness and cut down on penalties." Hewitt adds, “We need to continue improving on our crash ball, first of all.” (More on this idea in a later post.) Manyuru feels, “We need to improve on are getting to breakdowns (rucks and mauls) faster, providing more support to runners to give them more offload options on open phases and maintaining our concentration throughout the game.”


Harasimowicz to McCormick

With the absence of Senior Luke Hammock (injury rehab continues) Jeff McCormick, '06.5 stepped in confidently at scrum half, and if I've got it right, also scored the first MCRC try for the day. Calling the scrum efforts "a significant step up in the quality of the scrum sets" hooker Colby Hewitt ‘05.5 was again impressed with new A side props, Jason Jude, '09 who has played in both A and B matches since first entering the BU game in relief of Sean Meany '08, (concussion rehab) and the ‘frightening intensity” of Californian Alex White '09 -who brings considerable high school experience to his first year with the club.


Winning A Line-out

The B match saw some just fun-to-watch open field, break-out running from first years Tommy Heitkamp '06 and Alex King '05.5 and the usual solid scoring efforts from the veteran Darryl Etter, ’06, and newcomer Max Levine, ’09. Again Jimmy Manyuru: “It was an excellent game for Jeff King and Tommy (Heitkamp). It’s great to see the newer members get the ball and make decisive (plays).”


Slow Going

Coach Ward said “most opponents try hard in any game, but when the points stack up against you, it is very difficult to keep up the fight.” Bryant did compete until the end. Eventually, even the Bulldogs witless sidelines taunting that came early in the A match quieted down as some realized that Middlebury had more to offer their team than just how to ‘get served.’ Middlebury is once again getting very good at playing team ball and winning matches. It is plain to see.

Scores: A match: 71-3 MCRC. B match: 45-15 MCRC.

This weekend? MCRC at home vs. St. Mikes. Don't worry, it won't rain. And if it does... that's why one of you remembered the umbrella, right?
Game time is 1:00pm.