Men's Rugby Loses 28-10
“A” Side Game Summary
It wasn’t a gloriously sunny day. The weather was good and it wasn’t raining.
Plymouth State came into Williamstown with a single loss to Amherst. Williams was trying to rebound from a humbling loss to Keene State.
The White Dogs started hard but made a coverage error in the fifth minute that allowed Plymouth to score a try under the posts. The conversion was good and Plymouth led 7-0. The Williams forwards then decided to take over the game. They drove relentlessly down field following the kick-off. They made repeated forward drives and won ruck after ruck after ruck. They maintained great continuity and after a series of furious rucks near the Plymouth goal line, Justin Hunte (’13) dove over for the try near the posts in the 9th minute. The conversion missed.
Plymouth responded almost immediately. They took advantage of another coverage error to again score under the posts and take a 14-5 lead. The remaining 25 minutes of the half were played to a stalemate. The Williams forwards dominated the scrums, lineouts, and rucks but the backs were unable to breach the Plymouth defense. The halftime score was Plymouth 14, Williams 5.
The second half started much as the first had with Plymouth scoring an early try in the 45th minute to extend their lead to 21-5. Williams attacked repeated but numerous technical errors halted their progress. The referee reversed a penalty call because a Williams player “mouthed off.” Williams also missed finding touch from penalty kicks five times during the match. That denies both distance and possession to the kicking team. If there is one phase of the game that spelled doom for the White Dogs effort, it was this.
Plymouth scored their fourth try in the 65th minute on yet another breakdown from defensive loose play. That extended the score to 28-5.
Williams showed spirit and desire by driving into the Plymouth end, showing good continuity with multi-phase ball and eventually sending Winger Stan Monfront (’13) over for a try in the corner in the 75th minute. The conversion missed making the final score 28-10 Plymouth State College.
The fall season will come to an end next Saturday when the White Dogs play Amherst in Amherst. Kick-off is planned for 1:00 PM although referee availability may alter that time. The Williamsrugby.com website will list any change to the kick-off time, so check there.
“A” Side Players
Forwards: Josh Geller, Justin Hunte, Julio Luquin, David Michael, Evan Oleson, Ivan Evsyukov, Kush Fanikiso, Adam Century, Javier Mariscal, Henry Bergman, Rene Rodriquez.
Backs: Seamus McKinsey, Eric Mintzer, Conor Ryan, Jay, Gurney, Robbie McDonald, Pete Mertz, Cary White, Stan Monfront, Danny Tessler, James Gruseke, Yoonsang Bae, Aidan Lawrence.
NEXT MATCH: Saturday, October 22th against Amherst College at Amherst at 1:00 PM.