In its game on Sunday, September 24, against the New London County RFC, the A-side from HBS scored an emphatic 15-7 win. For those who are accustomed to reading about more crushing defeats scored by the HBS A-side against MBA teams from Wharton or Stanford, let me provide a gentle reminder that this is the NERFU (New England Rugby Football Union) we are talking about, populated by a lot of clubs whose sole purpose of existence is to play rugby and drink beer afterwards (for a closer look at the beer drinking capabilities of our team, see the spread on page 19 on the HBS RFC Social last Friday).
Some basic lessons in the game were handed down by the ruggers from HBS at the Oswegatchie Elementary School in Waterford, Connecticut. The team played really hard and took the game to the opposition. There were some notable performances from the forwards, such as Scott “check-out-my-abs” Pasquini (OF), who made a remarkable recovery from Friday night’s revelries. Jeff Todd (HLS), the redoubtable president, Owen Stockdale (OI), Allan Rowe (ND), Florent Catu (NI), Sam Gray (OI), Rafa Soto (NF), and Matthias Boyer-Chammard (KSG) demonstrated to opposition the meaning of an aggressive forward line. Under the expert ministrations of Stephane Heuze (OB), who has relinquished his position as the full back to Tony Frangie (OB), the forwards played a selfless game and set a scorching pace for the backs to capitalize on.
Such consistent pressure had to open up wide spaces for the backs, who used it to the full effect. Two of the three tries scored were by Brendan Whitworth (NJ), definitely one of the finds for the coming year. The third try by Mark DeAmbrosis (NF) took the heart away from the opposition, who could only come up with a try and a conversion in response.
Great captaincy by Flint McGregor (OE) and wonderful ball handling by Liam Patrick (NC), Bas van Zelst (HLS), Linus Power (KSG), and Mark Wayshak set high expectations for the season to come. Keep your eyes peeled for reports on more wins in the upcoming Hogfest at Wharton, where HBS will return as two-time defending champion to make sure the trophy stays home.
