Dear Alumni,
Hope this email finds you all well. The BU rugby team’s preparations for the Nationals at the end of the month continued on Saturday as both A and B sides competed in a tournament hosted by URI.
Roger Williams were the first opponents for the A side. A couple of fine individual efforts from Colin Yipp put us in control early on. Some wasted chances ensued for BU with the try line at our mercy, however it wasn’t long before the constant pressure paid off and by half time we held a 27-0 lead. Excellent ball retention and handling in the second half from BU lead to several fine team tries as we ran out 58-0 winners.
Revenge was high on the agenda as we faced rivals Providence College, responsible for knocking us out at the semi-final stage in two of the last three years at the Beast of the East tournament and having beaten us last time we faced them in a conference game. BU started brightly and managed to boss the early exchanges. The Terriers pack drove their counterparts backwards at the scrum and turned the ball over in contact almost at will. The team was again dominant in all areas of the field and chalked up a 39-0 win to earn a slot in the final against Salve Regina.
The B side meanwhile also secured a victory in their second pool match to advance to the final.
From a results perspective things were going fantastically, however the two victories were proving very costly. Top try scorer from the fall, Phil Brougham, pulled his hamstring, talismanic second row / flanker Amaar was rushed to hospital with broken ribs and the early morning news was that captain Aaron Stanley had a confirmed fractured cheekbone. All three are at best doubtful for the Nationals in two weeks.
Our final opponents had looked hugely impressive in dispatching NERFU finalists and regular season winners URI in the earlier round, and were bounded to prove formidable opponents. Size (their scrum half was 6’2 and bigger than any of our pack!) coupled with terrific speed out wide had proved a potent combination for them thus far.
BU were slow out of the blocks and were soon down 7-0. A penalty from fly half Antoine cut the deficit however indecision in the BU defence allowed our opponents in for a soft try and to go 14-3 up at half time. We were clearly getting little change out of a solid Salve defence and decided to change tactic. Fielding an inexperienced backline, including three freshmen with less than a season of rugby between them, we decided to opt for pick and go’s from the forwards. In a quite staggering move launched from well inside our own half, the forwards showed great technique and guts to inch their way down field and score possibly the most incredible try I’ve seen in my years at BU. The joy was short lived as Salve Regina worked the ball to their right wing who had little difficulty in rounding our defence and extend the lead to 19-8.
Undeterred, BU kept to the game plan and following more than ten phases, prop Ed crashed over to cap a fine performance. At 19-13 down we suddenly found ourselves very much in with a shout. Our opponents had other ideas and with five minutes on the clock, they again took advantage of our inexperience out wide and sent their lightening quick wing over for his third try to nudge further ahead. With the game seemingly over, BU again stuck to the tactic that had served them so well already in the game and Mike Martino got his just rewards for a magnificent effort to dive over and bring us to 26-18. Unfortunately no time was left and we had to settle for second best on the day.
While we now have a considerably thinner squad due to some cruel luck, the quality of rugby shown by the BU players was hugely encouraging and an improvement on our performances so far this spring.
Next week we have a friendly away to Babson where we will have to be sensible with squad rotation, with the Nationals just a week later.
Kind regards,
Justin Evans
Coach, BURFC