The Yale University Rugby Football Club

Army Too Much for Yale

A Side

Despite hard defense, strong tackling and excellent scrummaging, Yale ended up on the short side of the game against Army. Yale played with fire and passion, forcing Army to earn every meter gained, every ruck won, and every point scored. The Men of Eli stood tall against an exceptional, national top 10 team. Unfortunately, in the end, Yale just did not have enough ball possession and played too much defense to achieve a positive outcome on the scoreboard.

The match was truly much closer than the score indicated, with many positive signs for the Bulldogs. Yale dominated the scrums, winning all but one of the match's contests, and the Army forwards were clearly caught off guard by the intensity of the Yale pack, and could find no answer for their teamwork and cohesion throughout the game. The defense around the rucks was strong and aggressive, as well as the tackling in the backline, which was solid as well. Lineouts are still a concern, although they were much improved from last week's match against UCONN. If Yale continues to bring the effort and intensity that they did this match to every Saturday and every training session, the tide will quickly turn for the Bulldogs.

In a tough match, two freshmen (scrumhalf Sam Power '12 and prop Nick Finger '12) came in and played well under extreme duress. As a coach, Coach Jan Pikul said that he was "very proud of our effort; we gave Army nothing, and made them work for their victory". Next week's competition, Dartmouth, is strong, but with a repeat effort of this magnitude, Yale has a great chance to come out on top. Coach Pikul stated that it was "hard to pick out a man of the match, as everyone played extremely well". However, he said that center Pat Madden '10, prop Mike Horrell '10, and lock Andrew Moir '10 "stood out just a little more", and deserved special recognition.

B Side

The B-side was a little overpowered this weekend. With nearly all true freshmen on the field and Yale carrying more than its fair share of early-season injuries, it was a tough day for the squad. The Army side was well drilled and extremely experienced, composed almost entirely of upperclassmen. Nevertheless, as with the A-side, Yale stood tall and never backed down. The scrums were excellent, considering that for most of the game the tight five had about 5 games of experience between them. The forwards as a group played well, causing havoc in the sets and around the rucks. The backs had a tough day and never really saw any good ball to get going. The back line defense needs work, as the Yale backline was cut up on a few occasions. Again, experience was an issue with at least 4 true freshmen in the backline and several green forwards. Despite the loss, Yale's B-side competed until the final whistle and should learn much from the game experience.