The Penn State men’s rugby team enjoyed a successful trip to the Las Vegas Invitational, playing 4 much needed matches in 3 days.
The trip, which is becoming an annual event, serves as the first outdoor matches of the semester for the team, and is used to prepare them for the spring season, team bonding, and to measure ourselves against some of the best competition we can find.
The trip opened with a match against the “top of the food chain” as the Nittany Lion ruggers took on BYU. “We go into this match every year knowing that it will be an incredible challenge, but it is one that we gladly face knowing that to be the best, you must compete against the best”, stated assistant coach Chris Amoratis. “Being our very first match of the season, and facing an opponent the caliber of BYU who has already played several matches, obviously there are going to be difficulties, nerves, and a bit of rust to work through” stated head coach Don Ferrell, “but we go out there with very specific goals in place, and our kids met or exceeded pretty much all of them”.
Although coming out on the short end of the scoreboard, there were many positives to take away from this opening match. PSU enjoyed the lion’s share of territory and possession, we matched them physically, held our own and even dominated at times in the battle of the set pieces, put a very good rugby team under a lot of pressure, and limited our turnovers and penalties. In fact, were it not for one or two incredible individual performances on the part of BYU, and some early season mistakes by PSU, the scoreline would have been much closer. A fact not lost on the players, and something that will surely be on their minds if the two teams meet again in the post season.
The second match of the tour found our B/C side facing the A side of Division 1A opponent Arizona instead of the B side who they were supposed to play. The young mixed PSU side, which included many players brand new to the program this year fought admirably, but in the end were no match for a Division 1A A side. They showed a lot of heart, and class in the unplanned encounter, and will surely be better for it as they continue to develop.
Our final day of competition (the fourth day of the trip) saw both the A and B/C sides from PSU facing yet another D1A program in Arizona State University. It was exciting to face yet another top program who we do not usually get a chance to play during our Spring Competitive season, and the boys were certainly looking to end the “tour” on a high note.
The day began with a clash of B sides at 8:00am. Arizona State was definitely fired up for the challenge, and jumped out to a 20 point lead in the first half. However the young PSU side regrouped during the break, and came back onto the pitch firing on all cylinders. They scored 29 unanswered points in the second stanza to finish the match with a well earned 9 point victory!
The final match of the trip saw the A side donning their brand new “throwback jerseys” which honor Marshall K. Sturm for the very first time. The kids absolutely loved wearing an original PSU Rugby jersey replica, and were even prouder to have Marshall’s initials on their sleeve as they took the pitch.
The match that ensued provided all in attendance with a true glimpse of what this 2011/2012 top squad is capable of, as from the opening kickoff they controlled the match in pretty much all phases. Of particular note was the performance of the forward pack who had given their counterparts from BYU so much trouble in the opening match. Against Arizona State the PSU pack dominated the set pieces, providing stable ball consistently from our own sets, and stealing or disrupting many of those for our opposition. Although we stressed that the play was far more important than the scoreline in all of these matches, ending with a strong team victory was well received by players, staff, and fans alike.
“Clearly we still have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be, but this was a good trip for us in that we were able to meet the goals we set before we left, and got in some match time against some quality opponents” concluded Ferrell, “we have a few weeks left to prepare before our first league match, and because of this experience we have a strong handle on specific things we need to improve upon. That’s exactly why we make a trip like this.”
The team still has a few matches scheduled in the month before the National D1A competition begins. With matches against Old Blue, and a strong PSU Rugby Alumni side on the schedule in the coming weeks, the staff feels confident that the team will be ready for their season opener against the University of Delaware on March 17th in Wilmington!
Thanks to our opponents and the LVI for the matches, and to all the parents, alumni, and friends who made the journey to support us. The competitive season will begin before we know it, and we sincerely hope to see you on the touchline at a match this spring!!
