Last Saturday, Washington College's Mens Club Rugby took the field for the first time as a full team since 2003. The team traveled to Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia to play both their A-Side and B-Side after Navy had cancelled on them, opening up their fall schedule and allowing the fresh WC Ruggers a taste of the game.
Needless to say that playing a nationally ranked team with three full time coaches and over forty experienced ruggers presented a staggering challenge for the fifteen guys, whose experience boasted four practices. As Senior James Vorhies, one of five on the team that had actually played a rugby game before, said, "we fought hard, and gave it our all, in the end, that's all that really matters."
Obviously, the game started off as expected, but the Shoremen refused to give up. After a brutal thirty-minute session with Mary Washington's A-Side, led by team captain Ben Hyson at flyhalf, the team already showed much how much they learned. Mary Washington's scores became more infrequent as did the Shoremen's penalties.
The next two twenty minute sessions, while draining on the Shoremen with only three subs on the sideline, demonstrated drastic improvement overall as there were fewer missed tackles, more successful scrum downs, and increased ball movement down the wing. In the last section of play, freshman James Winn VI received the ball and pounded through Mary Washington's last defense, scoring the team's first try of the season. This set Ben Hyson up to send the following kick through the uprights.
Sophomore Trent Cosentino, now with one game under his belt, had to say, "It was a good first outing and the team gave an excellent effort. I look forward to improvement throughout the season."
Senior rugby veteran Jon Beall was not surprised by the team's effort, recognizing their natural potential from the start saying, "I have never seen a more cohesive group of guys on a field; I'm amazed we've that this was our first game."
Vorhies shared similar feelings commenting that, "We played hard, we learned a lot, and had more fun than we had thought we would upon seeing the size and skill of the other team."
Men's Club Rugby practices every week and is currently lining up more scrimmages as they wait for the main season in the spring. Contact Ben Hyson for information on the team.
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