Rugby: Squad opens season with 2 tough defeats

Energizing these sessions was the news that because of a realignment of the Division I conferences, Princeton could skip the Northeast regional and go straight to the national Sweet 16 by finishing atop the Ivy League.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, though, those high ambitions took a knockout hit with this weekend’s results. Princeton lost 39-19 to Brown and 52-3 to Dartmouth.

After Brown went up 3-0 on a penalty kick 2 minutes into Saturday’s match, the Princeton and Brown offenses both exploded, trading long open-field runs. In the 12th minute the Tigers put themselves in scoring range when senior wing Mitch Adwon broke free from a Brown defender with a powerful stiff-arm and extended his run deep into Brown territory. On the next phase, Brown fly-half Zahid Jethani intercepted junior fly-half Pete Davison’s pass and ran most of the field, before offloading to his outside center for the game’s first try.

Princeton quickly answered when sophomore fullback Matt Fanelli fielded a punt near midfield, chose to counter-kick, and recovered his own kick for a try. This series of plays brought the score to 10-5. Two minutes later, Brown answered with a similar score, capitalizing on a punt that took an unusual bounce over Fanelli’s head. Princeton responded when senior eight-man and captain Zak Deschaine took in a tap-and-go penalty. This brought the score to 17-12, where it remained until halftime.

This pattern of Brown scoring and Princeton answering continued into the second half. Five minutes in, Brown went up 22-12 before the Tigers brought themselves back within three points of the lead with a try by Adwon. Long runs by Deschaine and Davison brought Princeton within range; then Princeton’s backline completed a sequence of passes out to Adwon on the wing. Each link in the chain from fly-half to inside-center to outside-center gained ground and offloaded the ball just before the opposing man could disrupt the connection.

The next time Brown scored, though, Princeton did not answer, allowing the Bears to end the game on a 17-0 run.

Princeton’s try-scoring drought extended into Sunday, as Dartmouth cruised to a victory. After going up 7-0 in the first few minutes of the game, the Big Green added two more tries off stolen line-outs to go up 21-0.

With the 6-foot-6-inch Deschaine as the team’s primary jumper, Princeton normally excels at line-outs, but both Brown and Dartmouth stole more than half of Princeton’s line-outs. This was doubly costly, because a lost line-out transforms a good offensive opportunity into a defensive crisis.

Though Princeton was clearly outmatched by a Dartmouth team that consistently ranks among the top teams in college rugby, the Tigers played with passion and defensive intensity, making Dartmouth earn each of its eight tries.

After going up 52-3 just six minutes into the second half, Dartmouth began substituting starters, and Princeton saw this as its chance to re-attack the Big Green.

Princeton shut out the Dartmouth reserves over the next 35 minutes, pressuring the Big Green into committing a string of penalties and knock-ons. Junior wing Youngin Lim proved he was unintimidated by Dartmouth’s reputation, steadily denying the Dartmouth attack down his sideline.

Deschaine and Davison, the team’s on-field leaders, are demanding a higher level of aggressiveness from their teammates this year. In the past Princeton has hurt itself with missed tackles, but, perhaps because of this new attitude, the Tigers missed fewer tackles this weekend.

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Playing alongside Davison, sophomore outside center Phil Halsey excelled on both sides of the ball. Halsey earned the starting spot last year for his sure tackling and open-field running ability, and he continues to grow with game experience.

Junior Nick Ingram moved to scrum-half and, particularly against Brown, kept the offense humming with his crisp spin passes and timely box kicks.

Last year, Princeton started off 0-2 before getting its first win against Cornell. Next week, the Tigers travel to Cornell looking for their first victory once again.