Fall 2011
Tough Rugby Loss to Amherst, 13-7
“A” Side Game Summary
The WRFC kept the best for last. The White Dogs played their best game of the year against archrival and undefeated Amherst. The playing conditions were excellent. The weather was sunny and the temperature was in the fifties.
Williams knew they would have to play very well to be competitive. That they did. The first fifteen minutes were played to a stalemate although Amherst may have had the better field position. Several times they drove into the Williams end and tried to drive through the White Dog defense and each time they were stopped. Williams was penalized in the fifteenth minute and Amherst chose to eschew running at the Dogs and kicked a 3-point penalty kick instead. Amherst 3; Williams 0.
Play was frantic and tackling was fierce. The tackling moved into illegal when an Amherst player lifted Chris Sheahan (’13) in the tackle, turned him horizontally, and drove him to the ground. The IRB (International Rugby Board) had, as recently as last week, sent out a warning to all teams about such tackles, reiterating that the offense was an automatic red card. The Amherst player was sent off and Amherst had to play the rest of the game with only fourteen men. It seemed like manna from heaven.
Williams began to improve their play. They were hurt by fifteen penalties the first half (28 in the entire game). This stifled numerous attacking thrusts. However, the White Dogs were finally able to mount consistent pressure near the Amherst goal line. An Amherst penalty saw Williams kick the ball to within five yards of the Amherst try line. Williams won the lineout and attempted to walk the ensuing maul over the try line. Amherst stopped them. Williams maintained possession though and using the forwards drove repeatedly and effectively toward the Amherst try-line. Kush Fanikiso (’13) eventually took the ball and dove over by the right upright to score the try in the 32nd minute. Javier Mariscal (’13) converted to make the score 7-3. Halftime came eight minutes later. Williams 7; Amherst 3.
The second half was played with tremendous intensity and courage. The game more or less stalemated around the center of the field. Amherst made several forays into Williams territory but were repulsed by timely and well placed kicks. Williams made several forays near the Amherst try-line.
The most dangerous came after the White Dogs earned a five meter lineout when Jay Gurney (’13) made an outstanding penalty kick for touch from the halfway line. Williams had the chance to score what would have been the winning try. Unfortunately the throw-in was not straight resulting in Amherst being awarded a lineout on the same spot. They failed to throw it in straight so Williams then was awarded a scrum five meters from the try-line and fifteen meters in field. Williams attempted a multi-player move to the weak side of the field but were stopped several yards short. After several rucks Williams lost possession and Amherst was able to clear their end with a kick.
Time moved on. Amherst was able to make a 3-point penalty kick in the 57th minute to close the score to 7-6, Williams. The score remained the same for the next fifteen minutes. It began to appear that Williams would earn the victory. It was not to be. Williams was caught over committing to a ruck near mid-field and Amherst broke to their right. The Williams defense was breeched and an Amherst back was able to run in a fifty yard score in the 72nd minute. The conversion was good and the score stood at 13-7 in favor of Amherst.
Williams knew that a converted try could still win the day. They kicked deep on the ensuing kick-off and pinned Amherst in their end. Amherst committed a penalty but the Williams kick didn’t get close enough to really threaten Amherst. Play stalemated in the center of the field. The referee blew no time and the game was over. It was hard. Williams showed lots of class and composure as they handed their jerseys to the victors. There were tears shed. It hurt a lot.
The WRFC gets their next chance against Amherst in the spring, at home, on April 28th. Be there.
“A” Side Players
Forwards: Josh Geller, Ali McTar, Justin Hunte, Julio Luquin, David Michael, Ivan Evsyukov, Kush Fanikiso, Adam Century, Javier Mariscal, Henry Bergman, Rene Rodriquez, Hamza Zaidan.
Backs: Seamus McKinsey, Eric Mintzer, Conor Ryan, Chris Sheahan, Jay Gurney, Robbie McDonald, Pete Mertz, Cary White, Stan Monfront, Danny Tessler.
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.
Williams Beats Castleton State, 42-0
Williams’ Again Wins Two, 42-0 and 27-0
“A” Side Game Summary
It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it wasn’t dark and it wasn’t night but it sure was stormy. Saturday’s weather was just miserable in Williamstown. There was an intermittent rain falling. The temperature was in the high 40’s or low 50’s. The soggy end of our pitch started wet and progressed from wet to mud pit to bog to swamp over the course of the game. The jerseys took double washings, with lots of soap and bleach, to clean them.
But to paraphrase Broadway, the game must go on. It went on well for the White Dogs. The final A side match was 42-0 and the B’s won 27-0. Everyone played and no one drowned. Castleton State was cleared overmatched but offered a clean and brave performance.
The A side match featured a very sloppy (double entendre intended) first half from the White Dogs. They made numerous handling errors. Most of these were not because of the weather nut from poor passing. The result was uneven play and a lack of continuity. Williams also was guilty of some poor tackling and frequently collapsing rucks. These actions proved painful.
The pain came when Captain Steve Smith (’12) received a yellow card about 12 minutes into the game. This was the result of a high tackle around the neck. No malice was intended but the law prohibits high tackles. Steve was in the ‘sin bin’ for ten minutes and Williams was playing with fourteen against fifteen. Not long after Steve returned, Adam Century (’12) received a yellow card and spent ten minutes in the “bin.” Adam’s offense came as a result of the referee giving a team warning about repeatedly leaving their feet in the rucks. Adam just happened to be the final Williams player leaving his feet. The upshot was that Williams played 14 against 15 for 20 minutes of the first half. Not good.
Williams still managed tries by David Michael (’13) in the 5th minute, Chris Sheahan (’13) in the 17th minute, and Eric Mintzer (’14) in the 38th minute. Jay Gurney converted one of the tries. The halftime score was 17-0 Williams.
The halftime discussion dealt with tightening up passing, driving lower and through the rucks, and showing a desire to play up to the team’s potential. The goal, as always, was to better our first half point total. This we did.
There were five tries scored in the second half. Captain Conor Ryan (’12) ran in two tries and Steve Smith (’12), Julio Luquin (’13), and Jay Gurney (’13) ran in one try each. The second half team performance was excellent. The forwards drove forward relentlessly thus setting a good platform for the backs to attack from. The team did everything Bruce asked of them. It was a good day despite the weather.
The A-side record is now 3-0. They have outscored opponents 99-0 in those three games. They are atop their conference. Things will get harder though. The dogs face Keene State and Plymouth State before their showdown with Amherst. Amherst has beaten both Keene and Plymouth. They will face Castleton and Franklin Pierce in their final two games and will most likely be unbeaten when the White Dogs face them. Keene and Plymouth are tough opponents and will offer more competition than our previous opponents. We have work to do.
“A” Side Players
Forwards: Josh Geller, Javier Mariscal, Julio Luquin, David Michael, Evan Oleson, Adam Century, Ivan Evsyukov, Hamza Zaidan, Adam Strawbridge.
Backs: Seamus McKinsey, Eric Mintzer, Conor Ryan, Chris Sheahan, Pete Mertz, Cary White, Stan Monfront, Danny Tessler, Billy Revon.
“B Side Results
The Killer B’s took the field immediately after the A game. Bruce had to referee and showed much more trepidation than his players. He was cold. They were ready to play rugby. And play they did. They dominated play from the kick-off and took a 12-0 lead into halftime.
The second half had the B’s were attacking into the “swamp.” Despite this they scored three more tries with one being converted. The final score was 27-0
Tries were scored by Jay Gurney (’12), Yoon Bae (’15), Henry Bergman (’15), Danny Tessler (’12), and Phillip Sull (’14). The B-side record moved to 2-1 on the year.
“B” Side Players
Forwards: Josh Geller, Adam Strawbridge, Henry Bergman, Alejandro Morales, Patrick Daly, Hamza Zaidan, Jay Gurney, Rene Rodriquez
Backs: Danny Tessler, Yoonsang Bae, Bill Revon, James Gruseke, Juno Cho, Phillip Sull, Stan Monfront
NEXT MATCH: Saturday, October 8th against Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire at 1:00 PM.
Williams Rugby Wins Two Against Franklin Pierce University, 35-0 and 27-0
By Bruce Stephenson, Coach
The rainfall from Tropical Storm Irene was not kind to the Cole Fields. Several feet of water swept over all of them. The baseball and softball fields were virtually destroyed with their fencing being torn down. Inches of silt and sand covered the women’s soccer and rugby fields. The football practice fields were inundated and are still unplayable. There remains the smell of decaying crayfish. These were deposited in abundance all over the fields.
It was a mess that didn’t allow the White Dogs to practice on their field until last Tuesday. Before that the college had lined space on Poker Flats that was used for practicing. The rains kept coming and the Alumni game of two Saturdays ago had to be played on the turf field in Williamstown, Poker Flats being unplayable.
Last week the Dogs traveled to the University of Hartford on Saturday where the WRFC notched a 22-0 win for the A side and a 5-10 loss for the B’s. A side tries were scored by Steve Smith (’12), Stan Monfront (’13), and Cary White (’13).
This week, it was good to be home on our own pitch. Franklin Pierce was the opponent in the first conference game of the season. They are new the conference having moved up to Div. 3 from Div. 4. Williams has never played them so we did not know what to expect.
What transpired was a rout. Franklin Pierce is looking for a coach and it shows. They did not really know how to play the game. William’s size, speed, and technical abilities just overwhelmed them. Williams won 90% of all the scrums and 80% of the lineouts, both ours and theirs. The White Dog backs consistently breached the first line of defenders thereby given a platform for second and third phase attacks. Seven tries were scored. None were converted though, so a major area of work to do was clearly identified.
It took only five minutes for the first try to be scored. Kush Fanikiso (’13), playing No. 8 this day, took the ball over from several yards out to finish a multiphase attack that used both backs and forward to drive twenty-five yards before the try. The conversion missed.
Williams led 5-0. Five minutes later Pete Mertz (’12) scored from his wing position after the forwards had driven the ball deep into the Franklin Pierce end. 10-0.
There then ensued a ten-minute ‘drought’ in Williams scoring. This was the result of some penalties and some handling lapses. But Kush again got us on track by scoring his second try of the half to take it to 15-0 at the twenty-minute mark. It took only four minutes for Pete Mertz to notch his second try of the half, making it 20-0.
Props are the work-horses of any rugby team. They are the men in the front row when a scrum is called. They are the lifters of the jumper in lineouts. They literally do the heavy lifting. Williams has two excellent props in Ali McTar (’13) and Julio Luquin (’13). They are large, fast, quick, and agile. Both Julio and Ali showed this athletic ability by making numerous open field runs. However it was Ali who scored. He went over for a try in the thirty-sixth minute. Williams led 25-0. The half ended.
The goal of every rugby game is to win the game. Williams also sets a number of sub-goals. Some of these are to double the first half score, hold the opponent to fewer second half points, make fewer handling errors the second half, and reduce our penalty count.
We achieved some of these against Franklin Pierce.
We did not double our first half score. We did, however, score in the first two minutes of the second half when Stan Monfront (’13 – Nickname: Crumpet) scored a try after a multi-phase movement that had good continuity. It was 30-0. The White Dogs relaxed after this and took another twenty minutes to score their second try of the half. Again it was Ali McTar driving over for the try. That made the score 35-0 and the game ended that way.
The game was played with a great sense of sportsmanship and competition. Franklin Pierce played cleanly the entire game and showed no frustration with the way they were manhandled. They’re a good bunch of guys and the Williams complemented them on that. Three Williams players, Kush, Ali, and Pete had two try days. That’s a career day against any opponent. Congratulations to them. All in all it was a good day.
"A" Side Players
Forwards: Ali McTar, Justin Hunte, Julio Luquin, Evan Oleson, Adam Century, Ivan Evsyukov, Javier Mariscal, Kush Fanikiso, Josh Geller, Hamza Zaidan, Adam Strawbridge.
Backs: Seamus McKinsey, Eric Mintzer, Conor Ryan, Chris Sheahan, Pete Mertz, Cary White, Stan Monfront, Danny Tessler, Billy Revon.
“B" Side Results
The B-side is the nursing ground for future A-side players. Franklin Pierce only had ten men for their B-side game and, coincidentally, Williams only had ten. They could have fleshed out their teams by adding A-sides players playing a second game but decided not to do that. Instead, they played ten men aside rugby of twenty minutes halves.
A rugby pitch is a lot of area for ten men to cover and it’s exhausting. William’s Killer Bees covered well, showed good conditioning and pace throughout the forty minutes. They scored five tries and one conversion on their way to a 27-0 win. It was 12-0 at the half. Tries were scored by Billy Revon (’14), Patrick Daly (’15), Henry Bergman (’15), James Gruseke (’15), and Juno Cho (’15 – left crew to start playing rugby last Wednesday). Danny Tessler (’12) converted one of the five tries for 2 pts.
“B” Side Players
Forwards: Josh Geller, Adam Strawbridge, Henry Bergman, Alejandro Morales, Patrick Daly
Backs: Danny Tessler, Yoonsang Bae, Billy Revon, James Gruseke, Juno Cho
NEXT MATCH: Saturday, October 1st against Castleton State College at Williams at 1:00 PM (hopefully).