Rugby wins New England

En route to their 13th consecutive undefeated regular season, the seemingly invincible men’s rugby club had a bit of a scare this past weekend when they had their most hotly contested match of the season against UVM. Even in a game decided by only three points, it was clear that Middlebury would still prevail due to their vastly superior ability, but the team was pressured with significantly less breathing room than they’ve grown accustomed to.
“UVM really came out gunning for us,” said flanker Sebastian Damberg-Ott ’12.5. “The fact of the  matter is we were playing a really tough team in really tough conditions, and it was basically a playoff game for them. It was the last game for their seniors, and we’re their big rivals, and they really gave us everything they had.”
Middlebury entered the match confident in their ability to easily dispatch of UVM and perhaps unfocused with their eyes set on the upcoming playoffs. In contrast, the UVM squad was finishing up a disappointing season in which they would not be advancing to playoffs. They attacked the game with overwhelming ferocity and desire to make a statement for the season by exposing a chink in the immutable armor of the MCRC.
The game was played in miserably cold and wet conditions, hindering Middlebury’s ability to capitalize on their game plan of getting the ball out to the back line cleanly.  The only try of the game for Middlebury was scored by Zach Bills ’11, with Brian Sirkia ’12.5 acting as the difference maker in the game by converted the try and hitting his only penalty kick attempt. All of the points scored in the game, from both UVM and the MCRC, were scored in the first half, making the second half especially tense as both sides attempted to pull away from each other.
Despite the lack of scoring in the second half, there were still some highlight-reel worthy moments. Notable among them was the complete and utter trucking of a UVM defender by substitute wing Dane Steel ’11, a converted former Middlebury football player.
Sighs of relief mixed with cheers of jubilation from the MCRC sideline met the final whistle when the referee concluded what had been the Panther’s hardest fought game of the season.
“We were really able to hammer them with our forwards at the end, and it was very important that we were able to keep the ball in hand, because they were desperately playing for one more score,” said Damberg-Ott. “We executed some really nice phases at the end of the game to shut it down.”
Although the game play was not exactly up to MCRC’s typically standards, the experience of playing in undesirable weather may end up being a blessing in disguise. The playoffs are likely to be hosted in increasingly poor weather as winter approaches.
The MCRC will host a home playoff opener this weekend against RPI. If they win this quarterfinal match, they will advance to the Northeast playoff semifinals, which will be hosted at Bowdoin from Nov. 13-14. If the MCRC can win the Northeast tournament, they will be guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament that takes place this spring.