SACHEM FIELD, Sept. 18 -- On a cold and rainy Saturday, the Dartmouth rugby team took the pitch against a strong side from Boston College in its season opener. The young Dartmouth team has been training for the better part of three weeks, playing exhibition matches against sides from Carleton University and McGill University. In a hotly contested match, BC played solid 10-man rugby and capitalized on Dartmouth turnovers to record a victory against the Dartmouth side, 37-17.
Adapting to the conditions, BC kept the ball among their forwards, recycling it rather than making the more risky longer passes in the back line. In doing so, they were aided by numerous Dartmouth penalties that resulted in scoring opportunities.
"We threw the ball away," said captain Erik Richardson '05, "and we failed to win rucks. Overall, it was a disappointing performance from a team that is capable of much more."
Five minutes into the game, a Dartmouth penalty gave BC an opportunity to kick for points and make the score 3-0. They were able to score two tries in the next 30 minutes, both occurring on counter attacks. The first was the result of two poor Dartmouth kicks that failed to reach the touch line. The second came when a charging BC wing broke a tackle on a counter attack and sprinted through the fractured defense to put BC ahead, 15-0.
Before the half was out, Dartmouth got on the board when the BC inside center bobbled the ball off of a BC scrum on their 10m line. Dan Correa '05, playing inside center, managed to scoop up the ball and touch it down in the try zone to make the score 15-5.
In the second half, despite an early BC try that came after a Dartmouth penalty for diving into the ruck, the Dartmouth game picked up considerably. Though still impaired by numerous turnovers, for much of the second half, "our game definitely improved and we were able to move the ball," according to co-captain Brad Hogate '05.
In the 50th minute, the men in green took advantage of a penalty tap inside the BC 5m line. After a quick maul, lock Tom "Daniel Patrick" Monahan '06 squeaked around the corner to put 5 points on the board for Dartmouth.
Soon after, flyhalf Jesse Blom '06 brought the score to 20-17 with an impressive individual effort. After slicing through the BC defense, he chip kicked over the BC fullback and managed to chase the ball down in the try zone.
Unfortunately for Dartmouth, its improved play, punctuated with tries, did not last. BC came back with three more tries before time had expired. All three of these resulted from Dartmouth turnovers deep inside DRFC territory, two of which were lost scrums. In the end, the score was 37-17 in favor of BC.
The DRFC hopes to learn from the disappointing loss and improve in the weeks ahead. Having been outplayed in wet conditions by a BC team that put together an effective game of 10-man rugby, Dartmouth will be hard at work this week preparing for Saturday's game, when the team faces a much-improved Brown squad in Providence.
Dan Correa is a member of the Dartmouth rugby football club.
