To all,

Your Towson Men’s rugby team won the Rocky Gorge college invitational tournament this weekend!!

We traveled to Howard county with 2 teams entered into a ten team tournament made up of local college teams. We were the only team to enter a B side into the event. We feel so strongly about the quality of our B side that we entered them into a tournament made up exclusively of A side teams.

The day started with the first fifteen playing against a relatively new team from Washington College. The preliminary games were 20 minute halves and we jumped out to a substantial lead within the first ten minutes. We were getting the ball to the wings and scoring a lot off of second phase rugby. Halftime score was 30 – 0. Given the inexperience of the other team we decided to slow the game down and have our forwards play small ball with a lot of rucking and mauling. In spite of our effort to keep the scoring down we still added on 16 second half points for a final score of 46 – 0.

The B side was next and played divisional foe, Navy. Our B side is composed of players who have in most cases only played 10 games or less. Due to injuries, many of the players from last year’s 8 -0 squad have moved up to the A side and we have a lot of players with only a small amount of experience. None the less the Beavers played very well and lost by a final score of 12 – 7. We really started to come on in the second half and quite simply ran out of time.

After a short rest the B side took the field against a good A side from St. Mary’s college. We started slow and found ourselves in a quick 12 – 0 hole. The team regrouped and started to play better as we scored a quick try right before halftime. Score at the half 12 – 7. The coaches were really pleased with the leadership exhibited by some of our new players and the boys really believed that they had a chance to complete the comeback. Our pack took control and we started to move up and down the field at will. St. Mary’s scored off of a dropped ball and extended their lead to 17 – 7 with less than 10 minutes left. The B side continued to work hard and were rewarded with a try. We had closed the score to 17 – 14 with under two minutes left. With great urgency the B side pack went to work and moved the ball down the field. We bullied our way into the end zone and score a try as time expired. Final score 19 – 17 for Towson.

Next up was the A side against a solid team from Frostburg. We knew that the boys from the hills of western Maryland would bring it and we were ready. We continued to move the ball well and continued our trend of getting the ball wide. We scored several times on the wings. Our pack has really been on fire recently and their offense has gone through the roof. Our forwards are entering the rucks with two or three players at a time. They are really starting to support each other and the results have been outstanding. Final score 42 – 0.

Based upon the preliminary games Towson’s A side was seeded first and would play the fourth seed in the semi finals. The B side just missed being in the final four and ended up with a number 5 seeding. Not bad for a B side entered into a ten team tournament made up of all A sides. They ended up being the top seed in the consolation bracket.

The B side therefore took the field against division three powerhouse American University. The boys from DC were an experienced and well coached group and it showed as they handed our B side a 17 – 0 loss. They were clearly the better team, but the boys showed a lot of heart and determination and were definitely competitive.

As things worked out, our opponent for the semi’s was going to be Frostburg again. We were informed that they were going to forfeit the game because they didn’t see the sense in accepting another beat down from the boys of Towson. While disappointed, we took it in stride and used the extra rest to get ready for the finals against the winner of the Navy – Salisbury game.

The Finals were held late in the day and we ended up meeting our arch rival, Salisbury. This team has been the class of the league for more than a decade and has several national championships to their credit. Because they are still in the playoffs, they traveled with a mixture of both A and B side players. While they rested several of their A side players, lets be clear, they were here to win this tournament.

Towson was ready and took it to our opponent from the first whistle. We were in control of the game from the beginning and never let Salisbury get into any kind of rhythm. We held our own with against a very strong pack and clearly had the better back line. We constantly got the ball to the wings and were one pass away from scoring several times in the first half. Leave it to our pack to provide the first score. Late in the first half we had the Salisbury pack on its heels and our all league prop, Tony Ayigah took an off load and stiff armed his way through several opponents for a twenty yard run and score.

Halftime score: Towson 7 – Salisbury 0

We continued our strong play in the second half and dominated play in all phases. We scored another try and were sitting on a 12 – 0 lead when tempers started to flair. Salisbury continued to be thwarted at every turn and at some point their frustration started to show. They are not use to being down and several skirmishes took place on the field. One of our players retaliated in an effort to protect a teammate and was tossed from the game. A few minutes later one of our players was sent to the Sin-Bin for an infraction. Down two men, Salisbury responded with a try off of an offside’s penalty by one of our players. The score was now 12 – 7. With ten minutes left it could have been easy for us to lose our cool. Instead we weathered the storm. One of their players was given a red card and sent off. Our scrum half came back from his exile in the penalty box and the teams were all even for the remainder of the game. We picked up our intensity and scored another try late in the game. Final score 17 – 7.

Summary – We won our tournament and had the pleasure of beating one of our arch rivals in the process. The A side out scored its opponents 105 – 7. Our B side ended up with a number five seed and beat an A side in the process. We were clearly the best program on the pitch on this day.

As we enter the last month of the season our A side sports a nice 8 – 1 record, with their only loss coming to Navy’s A side. Our B side has a 4 – 4 record which is very impressive given that 6 of their 8 games have been against other teams A sides. The roster continues to hold steady at 45 – 50 players. We have more than a dozen players on the injured reserve list and yet continue to field very competitive teams. The camaraderie of the team is going off the charts and they are really starting to enjoy each others company.

We are off to play West Virginia University this weekend. Should be a good test for the team as this is a very large school with a fine tradition. We will keep you posted.

PS – congratulations to our good friend Mike Flannigan and the Navy A side. They beat their biggest rival, Army on Friday night by a final score of 13 – 11. This was a big win for Flanny and the boys as Army was ranked in the top five by almost every poll. Go navy.

Cheers

Don Stone