BC Drowns UConn at Home Opener

On a day of rain, snow, mud, and cold, the Boston College Men’s Rugby Club defeated University of Connecticut for the second time this season. The game was played on the Eagle’s home pitch, St. John’s Seminary Field, in front of a crowd of weather-braving supporters. After preparing for the game throughout their bye week, the Eagles came out ready to end the Huskies’ season. Following the opening whistle, BC and UConn both resorted to an early kicking game. The weather conditions provided slick balls which proved to be especially hard for the UConn back three to handle. However, the conditions did not stop the Eagles from opening the scoring in the first 10 minutes, and for the second game in a row, sophomore Jack Casey scored the first try from the wing position. Dave Walsh’s conversion slipped off his boot and sailed right of the posts. After another three minutes of play and a Husky penalty, BC opted to kick for points. The attempt failed but BC got the ball back and was once again in position to score when they had a lineout deep in Husky territory. BC won the jumping contest, passed the ball into the backline and senior co-captain Kevin Wilkinson broke through the UConn defense to score the try. As play continued, BC dominated possession, and struck again from a lineout play. This time, it was junior co-captain Alex Hunt who broke from a forward-pushing BC maul and touched down for a try. Once again, the conversion sailed wide, but BC now had a growing 15-0 lead. However, BC soon lost discipline and gave a try up to UConn following several penalties. At the end of the first half of play, the score was BC 15, UConn 5. Coach Eugene Mountjoy, recently returned from coaching the US Select XV, was proud of the effort his team put forth in the first half, but not content with the freedom UConn was afforded in the breakdown.
After a quick break, play resumed and BC continued to keep control of the game. After another won line-out and maul, Hunt scored his second try of the day. Walsh was able to convert his first kick of the day and the Eagles took a now commanding lead of 22-5. The Huskies refused to back down without a fight however, and responded with a try of their own to bring the score to 22-10. For the first time all day, BC’s command of the game looked to be in danger. As play continued, the field became more and more of a puddle and play became sloppier and sloppier. UConn soon committed a penalty deep in their own half and BC took advantage by attacking the goal line off a quick-tap. Hunt crossed the line for a hat-trick on the day. Walsh, now adjusted to kicking in the wet conditions, put through the conversion and extended BC’s lead to 29-10. Play continued, and as the substitutes came on for cold players, new BC faces brought fresh legs and energy to the side. Among others, junior John Remmy was close to increasing the Eagles margin of victory but his try was called back by the referee. Captain Conor Hynes commented that “Near the end of the game everyone was flying around. The colder it got the harder we played, it was great!” In the sixty-eighth minute, the Eagles scored one last time. Sophomore transfer, fullback Alex Brown, scored his first try in BC colors and put the eagles up by the final tally 34-10. The game ended with BC in a great position to advance into post-season play with a victory over Northeastern next week. After the game Assistant Coach Jeff Monfette seemed pleased with the work the team had put in with the absence of their head coach. He was especially happy that the Eagles had turned around the set-piece play. “Its excellent to see improvement in the things we work on in practice, scoring three trys off lineouts was a testament to the hard work our guys put in the last two weeks.” Due to the inclement weather and worsening field conditions, there was no B-Side contest. After several injuries however, some of BC’s second fifteen were able to help their team to an A-Side victory. The team now looks forward to preparing for next week’s game at home against Northeastern.