Columbia by one over Brown - Big Win

Old Blue RFC - The Bull Snorts

Providence, RI - Uneventful play for the first ten minutes, with an absent Brown attack that only advances on the tide of CURFC unforced errors and penalties. Columbia, for their part, repeatedly makes forays through the forwards and on line breaks by FB Russomanno and wing Kudzanayi 'Special K' Dzvairo; but fail to sustain any continuity due to rushed or erratic play. Into the second ten, Brown displays competence on the set scrums, as their #8 proves an effective weapon for the base, along with an occasional break by their inside center. Off a Brown set at the CU 25, their FH loops and is crushed in the midfielders, but creates space for that #12 to race to a try 15 wide of posts, KG 0-7 BRFC @ 14 mins. THere will be many more very impressive tackles by a CURFC XV clearly physically and athletically superior; but what good is it if you're losing?

Columbia makes big noises ball in hand but is victim of repeated poor choices; and early on backline kicking is atrocious, and, most seriously, support is chronically late or absent on individual breaks by CURFC runners - all which keep the host side barely above water and CU off the board. It almost seems as if the team is waiting for a big breakaway try from someone, otherwise impatience and disinclination to do the hard, unglamorous work in support is all that keeps a frantic BRFC defense from being overwhelmed.

If that is not sufficient frustration, the referee is hurting us with his need to impose his presence on the game, killing any flow, intent on letting all know he is there. He calls a knock on that wasn't there, then a very dubious offside in the ruck @ 26 mins that Brown misses from 30 out. He whistled CU for over the top a dozen times if he called it once, as CU captain Derek Lipscomb pleads for guys to stay on their feet. But to this observer it often appeared  that large, aggressive Columbia ruckers are knocking Bruin ruckers *ss over teakettle. Cleanly clearing out the ruck is not going over the top. Rucking through the other guy, who can't ruck for sh*t, is not killing ball. Brown's forwards were to be commended for working in defense for long periods of time, but CU had to play over too many errant calls in the breakdown.

Deep into the period, CU's forwards assert themselves, as they take a few tightheads with some nice scrummaging and turn Brown over in the rucks repeatedly. The official calls diving again and shows the yellow for repeated infractions @ 31 mins. We take a crucial Brown put in a man short, kick deep to a missing FB, cover and spin wide, with nice work from IC Evan Platt to end the half. CU survives the sin bin call with no further damage, a positive on which to rally.

2nd Half

Columbia comes out like a house on fire, power into the attacking half and #8 Bobby McMahon slams over for a try, KNG 5-7 BRFC @ 6 mins. Off the restart, CU #5 gathers and goes to ground, to set ball. Lipscomb comes out with it inside his 40 and angls to the near sideline to outpace the weak coverage, and turns upfield behind pursuit to out leg an overcommitted defense for a 65 meter try, KNG 10-7 CU just one minute later. On successive plays, Dzvairo does the hard work on wing, covering deep kicks to force rushed clearing kicks that earn CU critical field position.

Off a CU LO, we boot the very deep kick in the box over their wing. He is chasing it down as it pitches toward the corner flag and, back to the pursuit, waits for it to cross the goal for a drop out. But Special K has chased hard up the touch line and, nearly a full 70 meters later, surprises his opposite to dive on the ball jsut as it bounces over the line for a stunning try at 14 mins, KNG 15-7 CU. Wing covers are mostly thankless jobs necessary to force the other guys to make a decision, but sometime they pay off, as it did on this spectacular individual effort that completed a three-try explosion in just 8 minutes. All Columbia failed to do for the first 40, they did to perfection for an intense 15 minutes, entirely predicated on breakaway individual displays - thrilling to see, but dangerous as a tactic upon which to rely for consistent victory. CU experienced in that intense burst precisely how coherent play is what leverages superior talent to dominant play.

CU's defensive focus gave Brown little chance during the scoring spasm, as they solved that #8 pickup from scrums, led by flanker Peyton Bell, who stuffed it repeatedly; and spectacular successive individual coverage of CU kicks, with staggering hits in the open field one on one. Columbia looks like a cinch for a fourth try and that vital bonus point; but CU relapses and puts Brown right back in it, but they miss a penalty attempt one minute later. The ball ricochets onto the field off the upright and after a heart-stopping moment of hesitation, CU covers it and Lipscomb makes a huge run through people into contact well upfield.  Russomanno lifts a long kick to their 40 and, after he absolutely destroyed the man fielding the punt, leapt to his feet with the poor guy still laid out, put hands on ball and secured possession. Picture perfect, beautiful individual rugby at the tackle. again, the massive hits stir the crowd, but self-inflicted errors and the ref's whistle bring an anemic Bruin attack to our 5. They maul ball in close, spin ball wide and CU coverage is up going one hundred miles an hour, but miss tackles badly in their resolve to kill ball carriers. Result? A burst over the line to center posts, KG 15-14 CU @ 22 mins.

Bad karma: Time winding down, a ref in love with himself, and a 1-pt game; you never want to yourself in a position where a ref can determine the outcome of the match. CU responds immediately, with FH Minsoo Lyo, Lipscomb, McMahon and SH Lynch pounding the ball out of rucks inside the 5. CU mauling pressure buckles the Brown defense, but cannot get that last yard. CU ruck is just too slow, when quick recycling is key.

Then it begins: Their #9 steps offside at the base of our scrum. No call. Conor gets his head knocked off on a high collar tackle 30 out directly in front of posts and the ref. No call. Ref calls CU for diving over, then again on a one on one collision - where there was not even a ruck over which to dive. In all, the ref calls four consecutive penalties to move them the length of the field for a penalty right in front @ 34 mins. But he cannot kick it for them, and they inexplicably miss it. Columbia, spared by the angels, turns them over off the drop out, and sue a series of forward attacks from the loose to run out the clock. An exhausting game to suffer through from the stands, but a great and determined victory for a resolute Columbia who somehow persevered to overcame enough errors in one match to fill as season. Well done.

Scoring

CURFC: McMahon (T), Lipscomb (T), Dzvairo (T).
Brown: James McGinn’12, Dow Travers’12, Zahid Jethani’13 2C.
CURFC B 10 Brown B 15

The CURFC B team was outscored three tries to two for their second loss of the weekend, as Brown salvaged the day to conclude their 50th.

Postscript

CURFC Coach Hayden James is joined by Ray Cornbill and Leo Purtill on the sidelines; and Lew Fischbein, who chauffeured the CURFC hooker up from the campus to New London, where I joined them and drove to RI up I-95 along the CT-RI shoreline lined on both sides by Southern New England's foliage exploding into a palette of raucous colors. The night before, on Saturday the 16th, Ray was in Boston for the 25th anniversary of the introduction of rugby into the Maccabiah Games in 1985. He was the US Maccabiah coach for the first three Games (1985, 89 & the 93 team that won the silver); and was joined by former OB captain and Eagle hooker Craig Levine, who captained the US side to the 1993 Final vs South Africa and silver, and former OB SL flanker/wing Greg Schor. Both men played for the US in 93 and were on the 1997 Gold Medal winning team. Former OB Eagle SH John McGeachy was present on the Broen sideline, now coaching their backs haivng relocated to Providence and a banking position. It was the weekend of the Brown University RFC 50th Anniversary, and former Bruin football and rugby star back and 70s OB center Tom 'Woody' Lemire attended the day before.  Columbia also made a bit of a splash in the ARN (American Rugby News) D-I College Rankings,  which excludes the Premier Division collegiate sides, at 13th last week.

Brown's Take

The Brown Rugby 50th anniversary crowd was still present on Sunday to see if Brown could defeat the Ivy League’s second ranked team. On a dry and clear day, Brown played 68 minutes of winning rugby but came up short, losing to Columbia 15-14.

Brown won the first half of the match 7-0 on a nice backline move at 12 minutes that put right wing James McGinn’12 over the line. Fly half Zahid Jethani’13 converted and the score stood up for the half, 7-0.

In the 4th minutes of the second half Columbia drove a try over from a 5 meter lineout for 5 points and then at the subsequent kick off, the ball popped out of a ruck and was alertly taken by a Columbia flanker 60 meters for a second try. At 12 minutes, a kick to the Brown goal line was misplayed and touched down over the line for yet another Columbia score and a 15-7 lead.

To Brown’s credit, they played aggressively to the end. There were 2 or 3 squandered first half scoring opportunities, but Brown’s second half pressure resulted in a try with 7 minutes remaining in the match as Jethani passed to left wing Dow Travers’12 who beat the wing for the score. Jethani converted and Brown trailed by 1 point.

A minute later, Brown was awarded a penalty approximately 30 meters from the posts at a wide angle. A moderate wind pushed the kick left and Brown ran out of time

The match referee was Jim Rogers