Men's Rugby: Ruggers fall in road games against bitter rivals Bulldogs, Crimson

The men’s rugby team lost 17-10 to Yale and 17-10 to Harvard on its road trip this weekend, but while the scores in the two matches were identical, the quality of Princeton’s play differed drastically.

On Saturday, Princeton (3-7 overall, 1-5 Ivy League) traveled to New Haven, Conn., to take on perennial rival Yale (6-3, 4-2). Senior fullback Adam Nassr, who returned to action this weekend after missing the first four Ivy League games because of a broken hand, stressed the significance of this matchup against the Bulldogs.

“[Yale and Princeton] are usually evenly matched teams with similar styles, so year to year we see the game as a benchmark,” Nassr said. “Yale is the team we compare ourselves against the most, the team we want to beat the most.”

The Bulldogs took advantage of a strong wind at their back by adopting a kick-and-chase strategy on offense in the first half. This paid off for the game’s first score when Yale recovered its own kick in the corner of Princeton’s try zone. Soon after, Nassr made good on a penalty kick to make the score 5-3.

Though Princeton struggled to get its offense going, the Tigers turned a good defensive play into points when sophomore hooker Matt Hepburn blocked a Yale kick. He was awarded a penalty try after a Yale player illegally impeded him from recovering the kick in Yale’s try zone.

Yale answered, driving deep into Princeton territory and staying there until Princeton finally yielded for a try to even the match at 10-10. During the extended phase of goal-line defense preceding this try, Hepburn was injured and left the game.

Before halftime, Princeton lost another key forward to injury, senior eight-man and captain Zak Deschaine. Off a scrum, Deschaine took the ball to the weak side and broke free for a run of nearly 60 meters. The 6-foot-6-inch veteran was brought down just shy of the try line and suffered a high ankle sprain on the controversial tackle.

Without Deschaine and Hepburn in the second half, Princeton’s forward pack struggled to stay organized. With the wind now at their backs in the second half, the Tigers were unable to take advantage because they could not get the ball to the back line cleanly.

The teams were deadlocked until Yale’s Grey Grissom broke free with two minutes left on the clock and fended off three Princeton defenders with stiff-arms on his way to scoring the game-winning try.

The loss left a bitter taste for the Tigers, who did not produce an offensive try all day.

As Yale players warned the Tigers after their game, Harvard’s back line was not as dangerous as in years past, but its forward pack was fearsome in size. On top of this, the Tigers played Harvard without two starters from its front row — Hepburn and senior prop Scott Gates — as well as Deschaine and junior lock Colin Quinn, their two biggest forwards. It was clear that the Tigers would not have an easy time when they lined up against the Crimson (5-2, 5-1) on Sunday.

The size differential was most evident in the set pieces, with Harvard thoroughly manhandling Princeton in the scrums and lineouts. It soon became clear to Princeton’s backs that their team would lose nearly all of these contests, and they started playing defense on their own set pieces.

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Despite this disadvantage, Princeton was only down 12-5 at halftime on the strength of a try by junior flanker Spencer Ryan, who took the ball himself from a ruck and ran in unaided. Ryan spent the last two weekends filling in at scrum-half for the Tigers, but with sophomore Matt Fanelli back from injury, Ryan was able to return to his regular position.

At halftime, head coach Rich Lopacki and assistant coach Shane Flynn reminded their team to look for junior wing Youngin Lim on offense. Lim has bounced back and forth between the A side and the B side this season, but after a standout performance against Yale’s B side, the coaches promoted him for the Harvard game.

Sure enough, in the first few minutes of the second half, Princeton’s backs got the ball out to Lim, who scampered 30 meters down the sideline for a try. As he fended off a defender with one hand, Lim used the other hand to touch the ball down, making the score 12-10.

Princeton’s defensive effort in the remainder of the second half was substantial. Princeton’s forwards defended their Harvard counterparts remarkably given the Crimson’s dominance in size and strength. Sophomore flanker Dillon McEwan led this effort, consistently tackling players who far outsized him. Still, Harvard’s biggest player did force his way through for another try late in the game.

“After the game, Rich and Shane told us they’ve never been prouder of a loss, that they’ve never seen a team play with so much heart,” Nassr said.

Although the loss drops Princeton to a three-way tie for last place in the Ivy League, the Tigers see this weekend as proof that they are not far off from the Ivy elite. Harvard is now in second place in the league, and Yale is tied for third place. The Tigers were never down to either team by more than a single score. Next weekend the Tigers hope to end their season on a high note against Penn, which is also 1-5 in the Ivy League.

“We really want to show people that we’re better than those other 1-5 teams,” Nassr said. “That’s why when we play Penn, we want to demolish them, to prove that we are a good team.”