MIT RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB

On Saturday, October 17, 2015, the MIT B’s took on Old Gold at Moakley Park in Boston, MA. With varying opposition numbers each week, the MIT B’s never know whether they will be playing 15’s, 10’s, 7’s or some other variation of the game. This week it was 10’s and MIT put out a solid lineup of young recruits and savvy veterans. There was a lot of free running with all of the extra space on the field. Forward Matt had perhaps the longest run of the day, after he picked up a loose ball and found plenty of wide open space in front of him.

On Saturday, October 17, 2015, MIT traveled to Moakley Park in Boston, MA to take on Old Gold RFC. With the kickoff scheduled for 10:00 AM on a Saturday, the team considered launching a Les Bleus style uprising against their match secretary Brendan, but instead just showed up and played the game. MIT were determined to avenge their only loss of the season which came in their opening game at home against Old Gold.

On Saturday, October 10, 2015, the MIT B’s defeated Springfield 15-5. With both teams hurting for numbers, the teams agreed to play shortened halves. MIT were looking to work on some of the mistakes that were made in the A-side match, particularly on defense. The scoring started when scrum-half Diego (not to be confused with winger Diego) kicked from behind a breakdown. The ball bounced around until flanker Clay pounced on it for his first career try with MIT. Chris L. had another strong day at center as he had a long run fending off Springfield players for the second try of the game.

On Saturday, October 10, 2015, MIT hosted the Springfield Rifles Rugby Club on a beautiful fall day at Briggs field. With injuries and illnesses starting to take a toll on the team, Coach Sean put out a lineup with 9 changes from the New London match the week before. MIT was confident with their depth that the squad still had enough talent to get the job done.

On Saturday, October 3, 2015, the MIT B’s took on New London in a 10’s match due to low numbers from the host side. MIT was aggressive from the start, with center Chris L. stealing the ball in a tackle. New London were flooding people into the breakdowns and were able to turn the ball back over. Not long after, scrum-half Chandler had a long breakaway run, but found no support and the ball was again turned over. The New London winger kicked the ball into the try zone and chased down his own kick for the first score of the game.

On Saturday, October 3, 2015, MIT traveled to New London, CT to take on the New London County Rugby club. New London had proven to be one of the toughest road matches in the league, as MIT were 0-3 in the last 5 years when traveling there. Prior to kickoff, New London put together a last minute DIY goal-post project that was only half successful. With only 1 goal-post erected, the referee adjusted the rules so that any penalty kick would automatically be a dead ball and teams would have to switch around in order to kick at the only post.

On Saturday, September 26, 2015, MIT hosted the Boston Irish Wolfhounds on a beautiful but slightly breezy fall day. With their last 2 matches with the Wolfhounds having going down to the wire, MIT knew they were in for an 80 minute battle. MIT struggled in the first half as they squandered precious possession and were unable to put multiple phases together. The Wolfhounds came out the aggressor, with strong runs from their #7 and #8. MIT matched their hard runs with excellent defense from Marc, Alex, James and Jake S. (who was running around making tackles like he was still in his 20’s).

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.