MIT RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB

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.

MIT were able to show the depth of the club as they put out an entirely different roster for the second match of the day (much to the delight of Toro and other front rowers). Despite little playing time together, and having to deal with slug-ref John G., the MIT B’s came together to put on an entertaining performance. Reluctant front-rower Martin led the forwards as they were able to give clean ball for Chandler to feed the backs. Chandler did an excellent job managing the forwards and backs up and down the field. The scoring for MIT started when flyhalf Aaron broke through the line.

On September 12, 2015, MIT kicked off the 2015 fall season at home vs. Old Gold. A last minute kickoff change left both teams with an extra hour of anticipation on the beautiful sunny day. Once the game began both teams showed signs of offseason rust. MIT’s defense was put under pressure early, but was able to stop a threatening attack inside their 22. MIT got on the board first after an Old Gold penalty led to 3 points from flyhalf/slug/fullback John G. About 5 minutes later, another Old Gold penalty led to another 3 points for John G.

On May 16, 2015, MIT traveled to Shenantaha Park in Malta, NY to take on the Danbury Mad Hatters in the 3rd round of the playoffs. Having never advanced this far in the playoffs (and having never dealt with such a confusing waiver process before) MIT were eager to show that they were not just happy to be there and that they could actually compete with the best DIII teams in the country.

On May 2, 2015, MIT traveled to Fort Adams in Newport, RI to defend their title in the NERFU cup. The team continued their annual tradition of growing moustaches for the weekend tournament. Not all moustaches were created equal but all were appreciated. What was not appreciated was having to play their first tournament game at 8:45 AM on a Saturday. MIT first faced off against North Shore, a team they were familiar with having played them just weeks earlier. MIT defeated North Shore 12-5.