Princeton Men 60 - Cornell 12

Princeton began the match slowly but scored on a kick tap off of a Big Red penalty. The Tigers’ first-half tries came on a combination of several long runs by quick backs and powerful forward tries from 5 and 10 meters out, captain and senior 8-man Spencer Ryan said.

Yet an easy Big Red try to end the first half sent the Tigers off the field determined to buckle down on defense and significantly increase their pressure on the Cornell squad.

“Our skills and tackling were definitely better than theirs, but our physicality on offense and on defense just wasn’t what it needed to be,” Davison said of the first half. After a talk with coach Richard Lopacki, though, the Tigers changed course.

“We just [decided] to up the intensity, up the pressure and bring the hammer down, and that’s what we did in the second half,” Davison explained.

Though Davison admitted there were “lapses” in the second half, including an effortless Big Red try resulting from a Princeton penalty — the Tigers’ second of the game — Davison said that the team’s play in the second half was of greater intensity.

On offense, much of the movement and action was created by junior fly half Philip Halsey, who continually beat his man with finesse and power, drawing defenders before eventually flipping the ball out to teammates trailing him on his sides. Davison explained that Halsey’s creativity and strength led directly to many of the Tigers’ 10 tries, calling Halsey’s play “instrumental in starting our attack.”

Davison attributed the men’s success this fall to a summer of intense conditioning. The players said they realized toward the end of last year that, to compete at a high level, they had to significantly improve their physical fitness. Over the summer, the squad implemented new running and lifting regimens that Davison said have paid off on the pitch.

While Ryan agreed that the emphasis on fitness was critical to the squad’s turnaround, Ryan explained that the real strength of the team was the balanced, superstarless rugby that the Tigers played each week.

“The special thing about this team is that we don’t have any superstars but instead thrive in each contributing everything we can to team victories,” Ryan said in an email.

Danny Sullivan '12 scored a pair of tries for Cornell. 60-12 to Princeton.