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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Men's rugby cannot shake Brown University in 23-23 tie

The men's rugby team will face Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday.
The men's rugby team will face Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday.

After a weekend full of disciplinary hiccups, ball-handling mistakes and a spot of bad weather, Dartmouth was only able to secure a tie against a spirited Brown squad. Over the past few seasons, Dartmouth has enjoyed great success against Ivy League opposition, but the team was hurt by the graduation of stalwarts such as Will Lehmann '12, Derek Fish '12 and Nate Brakeley '12.

Dartmouth jumped out to an early 14-0 lead due to tries from Madison Hughes '15 and Kevin Clark '14. Hughes converted both tries. Brown responded quickly, however, converting a short penalty and scoring two tries, the second coming after the Bears stole a lineout in the Big Green half. Brown failed to convert either try, providing Dartmouth with a slender 14-13 lead at halftime.

The teams traded penalties for much of the second half, with Dartmouth eventually grabbing a 23-16 lead. But with 10 minutes to go, the Bears broke through, touching down a try right under the goalposts to set up an easy game-tying conversion attempt. Brown did not falter on the conversion and held on for a 23-23 tie.

The Big Green played an uncharacteristically clumsy game, which contributed to the team's inability to hold onto the lead, according to Hughes.

"We really just hurt ourselves during the game," he said.

The team's discipline, when it came to both committing fouls and staying in formation, was also an area of struggle.

"At times, [we] lacked structure, and as such we didn't get as much go-forward ball as we would've liked, which led to a lot of discontinuity in our play," co-captain Quinn Connell '13 said.

Many Big Green players were disappointed with the result, but with another game against Harvard University on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass., on the horizon, they cannot afford to waste time looking back.

"Our group isn't used to losing, but this experience will help us going forward," Hughes said.

In the second XV match, Dartmouth had no problem with Brown, as Moses Adubi '15 scored five tries to lead the Big Green to an easy 75-7 victory. Adubi had several long runs that resulted in successful tries and was one of six Big Green players to score tries on the day. Adubi had three of Dartmouth's first four tries as the Big Green jumped out to a 24-0 lead.

Brown intercepted a Dartmouth pass and brought the ball in for a score to cut the deficit to 24-5, but the Bears would not score again as Dartmouth closed on a 52-0 run. In addition to Adubi, Wilson Chockley '15, Max Hannam '16, Christian Bennett '15, Will Scheiman '14 and Will Vranos '16 all added tries for Dartmouth. Tom Stephenson '16 also added a couple of late tries, using his size to blast through the Brown goal line.