MIT Return to Winning Ways

MIT rebounded from last week's disappointment with a clinical display against Monadanock. The opening exchanges were evenly matched but after a missed penalty attempt by Monadanock, MIT began to recapture the cohesion they had finished the spring season with.
JC opened the scoring after 10 minutes punching several holes through a Monadanock defense that were reeling from a succession of incisions. Martin playing in the second row was next to score, crashing over the line a couple of minutes later. The next try for MIT came halfway through the first half when Natal timed a break from a defensive scrum perfectly, forcing a turnover after hitting the scrumhalf who had no idea what he was about to encounter coming around the corner of the scrum. The ball was recycled and passed quickly though hands to open space for Niall on the wing who finished with pace. Martin, looking very comfortable in the switch to lock from his usual position as prop was not happy with just the one, and finished off the scoring for the first half touching down in the corner for what was an excellently engineered try - spanning the width of the field, there were searing breaks from Torro and co in the forwards, and LeBlanc touched the ball several times opening up space on one occasion and exhibiting a sublime piece of skill in another with a dummy pass and inside switch to change the angle of attack back to the right side of the field where Martin would eventually finish off the move. Bringing the halftime score 22 to nil for MIT.

If Monadanock thought MIT were intending on taking their foot off the gas in the second half, they were sorely mistaken, with a try for Torro in the opening minute. The home team kept the pressure on with a mix of hard ground running being led by captain and number 8 Mick, and aerial balls from out half John G to maintain attacking position. The tries kept coming with scrum half Rory deftly stealing the ball out of the hands of his opposing number during another costly scrum for Monadanock. The visiting number 9's earlier experience probably left him too busy watching for the steam train coming from the other side to even notice the ball had been nicked from his grasp. The move was finished nicely by fullback James, who unfortunately had to leave the field shortly afterwards following a knock to the jaw. Substitute scrum half Jason didn't take long to score after getting on the field, and Niall on the wing was not happy leaving Martin lead the count in scoring, running in the next two tries for a hatrick. Fittingly, John G engineering the plays from out half, finished off the scoring for the day, running in the try was only the first part, his efforts at establishing good position for the conversion, was just as noticeable. A seven, he made sure it was, bringing his total to 17 for the day and the total for his team to 62. Monadanock were shut out, but their competitiveness was much greater than the score suggests. MIT are away for the next two weeks and will be hoping they can keep improving the intensity and accuracy of their play on the road.