To all,

The Towson men’s rugby team traveled (what else is new) to play the Quantico Hooligans this past weekend. After all the horrible weather, it was a nice to play on a grass field, on a beautiful sunny day. Due to spring break, we traveled with about half of our squad to play a strong division two men’s team. While we were missing quite a few of the regulars on both the A and B side, we still traveled with about 2 full sides and were able to give a number of players an opportunity to move up and play at a higher level. In the long term, this will increase our depth and make us a stronger squad.

The A side game started with the lads from TU controlling the tempo and pace of the game. We spent much of the first 20 minutes in our opponents side of the field. We did a nice job of moving the ball to the wings and had several long runs. As has been the case for several games, we have struggled to make that last pass and the boys need to learn to finish. The Marines gathered themselves and started to use their size and strength to push our forwards around in the rucks and set pieces. Most teams we play like to play small ball with their forwards and are content to attack our pack and make five yards at a time. While we have a small pack, we have done a good job of defending our gain line and most teams give up trying to beat our forwards at some point. Quantico tried on numerous occasions to have their backs crash through our back line with very little success. As such the first half ended with neither squad putting any points on the board. Halftime score 0-0.

We talked about making a few adjustments at halftime and encouraged the boys to play their game. We knew the marines were not going to get tired and we would need to use our superior speed to break the stalemate. We kicked off the second half and the men from TU finally caught fire and started to play our game. We pushed them back deep into their side of the field and never let up on our intensity. We finally got a nice movement around their wing and our winger made a nice run down to their 22 meter line. As he got tackled to the ground our outside center followed in support, called for the ball, and received a perfect off load from our winger as he was getting tackled to the ground. He took the ball – ON THE BURST – and went untouched into the try zone for a 5 – 0 lead. A nice long conversion put TU up 7 – 0. The team captains encouraged the boys to stay focused and we knew this game was far from over. We continued to attack and defend both sides of the field well. A long kick by our flyhalf was mishandled by their wing and our boys screamed down the field, took possession of the ball and hooked up for another try. A missed conversion left the score at 12 – 0. All the momentum was on our side and we looked like we would finish the game in style. Unfortunately the game is played for 80 minutes. With 20 minutes to play our scrum half got a yellow card for repeated infringement on their rucks and was sent off the field for 15 minutes. Now were a man down and our starting scrum half is pacing back in forth in the sin – bin. Quantico immediately stepped up their efforts and were rewarded with a penalty kick to close the gap to 12 – 3. Momentum was on their side and they continued to attack us and we were on our heels for most of the last fifteen minutes. A missed drop kick by their fly half took several goofy bounces and try as we might we couldn’t get our hands on it. One of their players touched the ball down and all of a sudden the score was 12 – 8. We continued to defend our goal for the last five minutes of the game and with a sigh of relief the whistle blew and we collected our second win of the season. Given the missing A side starters and the fact that we lost several other starters in the game due to injuries, we will happily take the victory. We lost our starting fly half to a twisted ankle. Our hooker, who is a captain, left the field in an ambulance with what was feared to be, a broken ankle – x-rays were negative. All things considered, this was a very good victory for the club.

The B side consisted almost entirely of new guys, most of whom haven’t played in five games yet. We put a patch work pack together with players playing positions for the first time in their lives. Since Quantico has a small team we essentially played their A side again. We decided to play two twenty minute halves. The B side guys showed a lot of heart and determination against a bigger and more skilled opponent. We fell 20 – 5 but played the other team straight up in the second half. Once they got their sea legs under them the new guys on our team were very competitive.

For the first time since I have been coach we were hosted by another team and we went to a local Irish restaurant to enjoy food and beverages. Quantico did an outstanding job and we are grateful that the boys got an opportunity to bond and sing a few songs together. It was a real team building experience and we hope to have more of them.

We close out the first part of our season with a 2 – 1 record. We beat the teams we should have and the loss to the Naval Academy was a learning experience. We now play the first of two straight home games against Catholic and Old Dominion. While we have yet to have a practice outdoors, Newell field will finally be available for practice starting this week. Given the weather, spring break and injuries we are not quite where I want us to be, but we will make the best of it and pick up our intensity this week. Assuming the weather doesn’t do us in, we will play on the University Union field this Saturday. If you can make it out we would love to get your support.

We continue to move forward on the Alumni reunion and I will send out another email in a day or two.

Best regards,
Don Stone