Men's Rugby: Ruggers struggle to find rhythm

Five minutes into its first game in the inaugural Ivy League season, the men’s rugby team had reason to be confident.

Against Yale in front of the biggest crowd a regular-season rugby match has drawn at Princeton in recent memory, the Tigers went up 7-0 after capitalizing on a Yale penalty. The penalty gave Princeton a lineout, which it used to set up a driving maul that marched into Yale’s try zone before junior hooker Zac Flowerman touched the ball down for the score.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Yale responded with 22 unanswered points, and Princeton did not hold another lead for the rest of the weekend, losing 36-10 to Yale on Saturday before falling 96-12 to Harvard on Sunday.

Poor tackling from the Tigers allowed the Bulldogs to get the ball wide and score three nearly identical tries down the sideline before halftime. Yale fly-half Sam Cartmell repeatedly found fullback Ryan Vandersloot and inside center Pat Madden with room to run, forcing the Tigers to make one-on-one open-field tackles.

Down by three scores with 20 minutes left in the second half, Princeton picked up its intensity and focus, advancing the ball deep into Yale territory on patient possessions. Senior wing Matt Wong created a few scoring chances with creative up-and-under kicks that nearly resulted in tries. But with three minutes left in the second half, another defensive collapse by the Tigers allowed Madden to seal the victory for Yale with a long try run.

Yale’s 36-10 win was a reversal of Princeton’s 32-14 victory when the teams last met in May. With many players in new positions and several multiple-player lineup shuffles during the game, it appears that Princeton is still trying to regain the chemistry they had last spring.

A bright spot for the Tigers was the promising play of freshmen JP Jabre, Matt Fanelli and Matt Hepburn, who came in at hooker to replace Flowerman.

On Sunday morning, Princeton regrouped to take on a Harvard team that was coming off a 44-0 win over Penn on Saturday.

On the first phase after Princeton fielded the opening kickoff, Harvard turned over a ruck and scored a try on the counterattack. Harvard punished the Tigers for more early mistakes, scoring five tries in the next 15 minutes before Princeton found its footing.

Shortly after two Harvard tacklers stopped Jabre just short of the try line, a penalty against Harvard gave Princeton a lineout deep in Crimson territory. Princeton’s forwards set up the same driving maul play they used against Yale to gain some goal-line ground before Flowerman recorded the try to make it 36-7.

Despite another Flowerman try off a tap-and-go — his third of the weekend — Harvard continued to pour it on in the second half. Harvard also used the driving maul, drawing in up to five or six Princeton defenders to create gaps in the defensive line even bigger than the ones Yale found on Saturday. Harvard’s right wing, Khaki Burke, exploited this open space to score four tries on long, snaking runs.

Princeton picked up its level of play about midway through the second half after it was too late. “The boys showed some real ticker towards the end of the second half,” junior center Paddy McCabe said. “We proved that once we pick up our match fitness, we can hang with those guys.”

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“When we started putting together phases, we really rattled them,” Princeton head coach Rich Lopacki said. “That’s what we need to focus on, the positives. The mistakes we made are fixable.”

And while Princeton’s perimeter defenders failed to disrupt the ball movement among Yale’s and Harvard’s backs, veteran forwards Flowerman, junior lock and captain Zak Deschaine and senior flanker Travis Pena provided solid interior defense all weekend.

All three of Princeton’s tries on the weekend were scored directly following penalties. But with 13 Yale penalties and 11 Harvard penalties, the Tigers also wasted many opportunities to convert on offense.

The early losses continue a trend of slow fall season starts for Princeton, which begins its preseason weeks later than most of its Ancient Eight opponents.

“The fact that we start out later really hurts us,” Pena said. “In both games, we played better in the second half once the lineup got used to playing together.”

Lopacki said he is looking forward to next weekend’s home match against Cornell, which finished last in the two most recent Ivy League tournaments.

“I have great faith in our team,” Lopacki said. “I know it is in us to come back much stronger next week. I still believe we can finish in the Ivy top four and indeed still see this as our goal.”

By finishing in the top half of the Ivy League, Princeton would keep its hopes of advancing to the Northeast Regionals alive.

Princeton’s “B”-side reserve squad beat Yale’s “B”-side 8-3, and after going down early to Harvard’s “B”-side, dominated play for most of the game in a 24-15 loss. Junior Mitch Adwon, a former varsity football player, scored two impressive “B”-side tries to earn Man of the Match honors.

Adwon, junior Adam Nassr and seniors Anthony Pasqual and Felipe Cabrera all earned “A”-side playing time on Sunday with standout performances for the “B”-side. Look for them to insert some speed into Princeton’s lineup against Cornell.