This club has come a long way since we got started.
From our humbled beginnings on the soggy patch of ground once called the Tundra, we have built on the strong base our Founders left for us, marking another milestone in the club's history this past weekend by making out first appearance at the famed Beast of the East Rugby Tournament in the Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The Beast is the largest collegiate rugby tournament in the world and to compete alongside the likes of world renowned institutions such as Boston College, Boston University, UConn, Syracuse, and others is a measurement of how far we have come in just three short years.
Our debut was made under slate grey New England skies, the threat of rain prominent. The opponent was St Anselm College of Manchester, New Hampshire, a respected Division II club.
The starting lineup was as follows:
1 - Ryan "Shedlock" Shultz
2 - Kevin Murray
3 - Jon "Frenchie" "Where's My Eyebrow?" Ouellette
4 - Timmy Smith
5 - Cheers Tom Get Me a Jersey LeClair
6 - Joe Monaco
7 - Johnny Esposito
8 - Dan Fonseca
9 - Zack Phelan
10 - Jon Fields
11 - Barney Davis
12 - Craig Spyropoulos
13 - "Weird" Will Reilly
14 - Dan "Flow Biscuit" Palmer
15 - Tyler Modlish
A pack shuffle saw usual hooker Frenchie Ouellette move to tighthead and Kevin Murray come on at hook for his first appearance of the season next to omnipresent loosehead Ryan Shultz. Timmy Smith returns after wasting the previous weeks playing some other sport which shall not be named alongside former Captain and ultimate utility forward Tom LeClair in the second row. Monaco and Espo remain at the flanks while usual center Fonseca mixes it with the forwards on this occasion. Despite the reshuffle, the pack was a traditional WNEC one: big hitters and direct carriers across the board.
In the backs, Phelan and Fields formed a skillful halfback pairing with Spyropoulos at 12 and Will Reilly marking his return from injury with a start alongside the powerful runner in the centers. The grouchy veteran Barney Davis started at left wing across from the affable Dan Palmer, with Tyler Modlish at fullback. Fields and Spyropoulos brought their incisive runs and were supported by strong defensive play from their outside backs.
The match began with St Anselm bringing a high-paced attack into a heavy-footed WNEC side who initially struggled to keep pace, leaking a pair of tries in the process. Although WNEC's defensive play was gritty and fully committed, with every member contributing manfully, particularly fullback Tyler Modlish, St Anselm were simply too smooth and fluid for a defense that seemed just one step behind the pace.
However, midway through the first half something clicked in the club's collective psyche and the team fought back with renewed determination and purpose. We laid siege to their tryline for much of the second quarter of the game. As St Anselm tried to run it out from their own line, a big hit from a WNEC loose forward sent the ball spilling loose. Davis dove on it and scrambled past two tacklers to get within five meters of the line before an accidental knee to the head brought halt to the game and ruled out the winger for the rest of the day's action, with Seth Metcalf coming on to replace his dazed comrade. WNEC did not let this pause in play slow their effort and the battle continued as it had left off. Eventually, the line was broken when Jon Ouellette found his way to the wing and barged over in the corner for his first try. The difficult conversion was taken by the wind at the last second but we were on the board, down 12-5 at halftime.
In the second half, WNEC again showed power and defensive grit before the match began to take its toll. Luke Zito came from the sideline to take over at right wing for Dan Palmer, but when scrumhalf Zack Phelan left the field the shuffling became even more extreme, sending Palmer back to the pitch at the left wing, pushing Metcalf into the centers and Spyropoulos to scrumhalf. St Anselm widened their advantage with a pair of cheap tries in the far corner skirting around the defense after every attempt to go through it had been rebuffed, but WNEC hit back late through Spyropoulos and cut the final scoreline to 22-12.
Although the match was lost, WNEC had held their own against a much more slick and fluid side and must be commended for such. It was the little margins where we lost this one: in the opening salvos where, again, it took the sting of blood drawn to awaken us, and late when the defense lost its shape and allowed the attack to overload a wing without covering the channel. These mistakes happen because we are struggling to get numbers to practice and cannot properly simulate game situations. Despite this, individual efforts were stellar across the board and this match could very easily have gone another way.
Man of the Match - Johnny Esposito. Our talismanic openside flanker was at his destructive best today, playing in an absolutely tireless fashion, and making himself a forceful presence at the ruck and tackle. He was the heart and soul of the team's effort that day, and also earns himself the Hitman award for his relentless defensive showing.
St Anselm 22 (4 Tries, 1/4 Conversions) to WNEC 12 (Tries J. Ouellette, C. Spyropoulos, 1/2 Conversions R. Shultz)
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