MIT defeat Harvard Business School under the lights

On March 29, 2019, MIT crossed the mighty Charles River to take on their Cambridge rival, Harvard Business School, at Mignone Field in Allston, MA. Despite the standard last minute rescheduling, MIT were excited to play a rare Friday Night Lights game, and the team showed up with over 25 players available for selection. Both teams agreed to rolling subs to ensure that everyone got some playing time in their first spring contest.

MIT clearly had some winter rust to shake off, and multiple penalties allowed HBS to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Former HBS ruggers Paul and Teddy considered turning back their cloaks after being down early, but it was all MIT the rest of the first half. Teddy was throwing out vicious stiff arms and Paul was leading dangerous counter attacks against their former allies. MIT got on the scoreboard with a quick-tap from scrum-half James which led to Brian breaking the gain line. James recycled quickly to Kenniel, who broke a few tackles on his way to MIT’s first try of the spring season. The pack was dominant and turned over scrum after scrum. After one such turnover inside HBS’s 22, 8-man Alex A. picked up the turnover ball and carried 3 defenders with him into the try zone. HBS then tried an interesting strategy with their line-out when their hooker threw the ball over the jumpers, directly to prop Aaron at the back of the line-out. Aaron’s eyes lit up as he caught the ball and he flew across the try line as if he were soaring on the wings of the Welsh Dragon. Brian added another try and James converted all his kicks to put the score at 28-3 at the end of the half.

Not everything went MIT’s way in the first half. Everyone’s favorite teenager, Ion, went down with a knee injury chasing down a grubber kick in the try zone. Ion failed to touch down for the score and his ACL and meniscus were left in teenage wasteland. Adam was also injured after a hospital pass from Alex S., who was apparently just making sure Ion had some company in the ambulance.

Despite the lopsided score, MIT felt that they left points on the board in the first half. They went into the second half with the hopes of keeping HBS out of the try zone. These hopes were quickly dashed, as both Brian and the Dragon were yellow-carded for high tackles. With 2 players in the sin-bin, HBS took advantage and scored out wide. The referee made the decision to move to uncontested scrums, which took away some of MIT's momentum. MIT also had difficulty holding onto the ball in the second half. HBS added on another try to make it 28-13. MIT’s lone second half score came when Brian got the ball just inside of the 50 meter line. With everyone on the sideline yelling “run straight” Brian took his own meandering route all the way to the try zone. A wave of silence fell over the know-it-alls on the sideline.

The second half saw many new and old faces get some playing time. Daniel and Inigo made plays in the centers, Caleb put in hard work in the forwards, and Nate got to experience his first hard tackle on the wing. Elsewhere, veterans Martin and Frank did the things they have been doing for years, albeit with more fingers than last season.

MIT will host Boston Maccabi RFC on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 1:00 PM on Briggs Field