60th Anniversary Weekend A Success for Dartmouth

October 9, Hanover, NH – Dartmouth was able to test the limits of the new 1959 Touring Squad Scoreboard this weekend in their first Ivy home match of the year against Brown. Meanwhile, on the sidelines 60th anniversary celebration was in full swing.  More than 150 former players, their family members, and guests attended the event to celebrate multiple generations of Dartmouth rugby excellence on and off the field.

Dartmouth started off the match by kicking off to Brown.  It was clear from the first few plays that Dartmouth would be controlling much of the action, as the Green maintained much of the ball possession and kept it largely in Brown’s end of Brophy Field.  After several phases of play, the Dartmouth backs were able to spin it wide to Co-Captain Chris Downer ’11, who ran it in for the first try of the match.  Soon afterwards, senior flanker Preet Gurusamy ’11 was able to break through the Brown defensive wall in order to touch down another well-centered try.  Both Gurusamy and Downer’s tries were converted successfully by scrum half Derek Fish ’12, putting Dartmouth ahead 14-0 with plenty of time left on the clock.   Dartmouth’s two early scorers, however, were just getting started, and the two scored back-to-back tries again, and in the same order no less, immediately after.  Fish was only able to convert one of these tries, and Dartmouth led by 26 unanswered points with roughly twenty minutes to play.

Brown attempted to respond by putting the ball deep in Dartmouth territory off of the kick-off; however, senior fullback Carl Zehner was ready for them, and after handling the kick return nicely he got the ball back and broke through the Brown defensive line for a try of his own, although this try went unconverted by Fish.  Soon after, Dartmouth found Downer again on the wing, and this time Fish was able to find the posts again, converting the try and putting Dartmouth up 38-0.  It didn’t take long until the Green were back in Brown territory, but this time Brown’s forwards were able top up some stronger resistance to the Dartmouth attack.  With the play slowed down inside the Brown 22, this time it was senior hooker Lane Bracken ’11 who carried the ball in, slamming down another well-centered try for the Green that was an easy conversion for Fish.  In the final restart of the match, Chris Downer ’11 rounded out his contributions in the first half with a fourth try, which went unconverted by Fish.  Dartmouth finished out the first half 50-0.

The second half looked much the same as the first, with Dartmouth putting structure to most of the game.  Chris Downer was able to score two more tries of his own, bringing his total to six on the day; meanwhile, some players with less A-side experience were able to make names for themselves by putting some points on the board off of the reserve bench.  Junior Mike Gordan ’12 ran in two tries of his own, as did freshman lock Dylan Jones ’14.  Late in the second half, Brown did managed to find the try zone, ending the Green shut-out.  The final score of the match was 107-5. 

Meanwhile, on the sidelines 60th anniversary celebration was in full swing.  More than 150 former players, their family members, and guests attended the event to celebrate multiple generations of Dartmouth rugby excellence on and off the field.  The weekend was capped by a gala dinner on Saturday night for 225 guests and dignitaries.  The club also announced the creation of a new MVP award, to be known as the Wayne Young '72 Award, to be given annually to the team's most valuable player.  The award is named after Wayne Young, the first long-time coach of Dartmouth Rugby and a major influence behind the creation of the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse.  Lastly, before Saturday's matches, the new 1959 California Touring Side Scoreboard was unveiled and officially dedicated with several members of that historic team in attendance.  The scoreboard is the generous gift of Bob Phillips '60 in honor of his teammates and their historic season.

The Green looks forward to a big weekend at home next week, when Dartmouth will host 2nd place Columbia on Saturday and Cornell on Sunday.

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Charlie Grant at (978) 857-2851 or e‐mail Charlie at charlie [dot] grantdartmouth [dot] edu