MIT defeat Framingham for first win of the season

On September 19, 2015, MIT traveled to take on the Framingham Exiles, who have apparently been exiled to Marlborough, MA. Coach Sean, having just returned from vacation, stressed during the week that the team did not have enough “Christmas” at practice. Although Sean’s brain was clearly still on holiday, the team was able to decipher that what he actually wanted was more “crispness” from the team. While the team certainly could have been crisper, they did take a step forward from the prior weekend.

MIT scored the first of many tries on the day when the forwards turned the ball over in the breakdown. Flyhalf James fired a pass to put center John L. into space. John L. ran down the sideline and passed back in to fullback John G. who was running hard in support, conveniently right in front of the Go-Pro camera he set up before the match. John G. kicked the conversion as well while fighting the urge to run to the sideline to watch his own highlight reel. After the first try, a pattern developed. The dominant MIT pack would either win their own scrum, steal Framingham’s scrum, or win a lineout to give clean ball to the backs. MIT was a little too eager to score early on and threw some careless passes which led to turnovers. This pattern led to the backs again going wide to Jarrad, who drew in his defender and passed to winger Aaron, who scored the first of his 3 tries on the day. Another line-break from the backs saw James take the ball just over the try line, but he was feeling extra generous and passed out of the try zone to John L. for the try. Oggy turned the ball over in the breakdown, much to the delight of the mostly Serbian MIT crowd. The forwards worked the ball down the field and Jarrad carried several defenders into the try zone for the score. The artist formerly known as KatieNMarc, sporting a Tyrion Lannister-esque scar, also got in on the scoring, taking the ball in from 5 meters out.

Framingham were able to get on the board before the half. Their flyhalf took the ball into contact and offloaded to their inside center. The MIT defense had come up past the ball leaving running space for the center, who broke a tackle and scored the try.

At halftime Coach Sean had a Belichikian message for the team, urging them to “Do their jobs.” They did their jobs and the scoring continued in the second half. Aaron, tired of scoring tries himself, handed the ball off to center Jake, who put all the Spiderman-walk from practice to use as he crawled over for the try. Cody won a lineout in Framingham territory. Forward sub/rookie Sonny D picked the ball from the back of the breakdown and squeezed through for his second try in as many weeks. It is not clear what Sonny D enjoys more: scoring tries or sharing a nickname with a fake orange juice drink that he has probably never heard of.

Man of the match: John G.
Honorable mention: Diego, for being Unbreakable

MIT is at home next Saturday, September 26, 2015 vs. the Boston Irish Wolfhounds