POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 13, 2013) - Last week against a wily Alumni XV the Vassar men were slow and hesitant and finished the chasing the game but falling short. In stark contrast the Brewers got off to a flying start and dominated territory and possession. Nich Graham slotted an early penalty goal and it was 3-0 to the home team. They finished winning by a nose conceding a number of soft tries but it was promising to see them establish periods of control.

Vassar College Men 32 v Molloy College Men 29
Tries: Jesse Myhill (1), Geoff Matthes (2), Jerry Dieudonne (2).
Cons: Nich Graham (2).
Pens: Nich Graham (1).

Vassar had a strong start and from the first lineout they initiated a 25 yards drive that put Molloy on the back foot. The only possession that the visitors gained was pretty scrappy and they kicked it away. Seamus Taylor is fast learning the priorities of playing fullback and overall he did quite well. However, he needs to take the ball before it bounces and keep it in hand.

Vassar's first try of the 5 scored was an excellent individual effort from left wing Jesse Myhill. He received the ball and squared up to his opposite number before darting around him and then raced for the corner. It was the points Vassar needed given the amount of possession and territory they had accumulated. It was somewhat worrying that only a try and a penalty came in those first 25 minutes as Molloy had almost sneaked a length of the field try when they kicked ahead.

Molloy responded well and when they finally got in the Vassar half they scored. But it was really something of a gift try. From a scrum on the Vassar right the ball came to the Molloy backs and their flyhalf, a hefty fellow with good footwork, slipped through. He was brought down but the ball went loose and despite a number of Vassar players being close it ended up being moved back to the Vassar right and the Molloy runner scored to make it 8-5.

Vassar's Geoff Matthes had a good day at the office collecting a brace of tries the first of which was not long after the Molloy score. The 6'4" loosehead prop ran well to dive in under the posts and with Nich Graham's conversion it was 15-5 Vassar.

Eric Quinson had a good day in the lineouts collecting most of his own throws and stealing a couple of Molloy's. But right on the stroke of half-time Vassar allowed Molloy a way back into the game. From a lineout just 10 meters out from the Vassar goal line the ball was tapped back to scrumhalf Karl Foley who threw a horrible pass over the head of his standoff. Fullback Seamus Taylor completely surprised knocked it on and the ball went forward some 8 meters and two rucks later Molloy had rumbled over and it was 15-12.

Vassar knew they had the winning of this game but it was far too close for comfort as silly errors were allowing Molloy to stay in with a chance. In the first minutes of the second half a Vassar turnover led to a try for Molloy despite a great covering tackle from Jesse Myhill and the Brewers were down 19-15.

The perfect and much needed response was a try, not so much under the posts as right into the goal post! Center Jerry Dieudonne was put through the middle and he bravely dived but was tackled in to the post and his knee took a knock. He gamely carried on and it was to prove critical. Not long after the re-start Nich Graham made a line break and managed to offload to Dieudonne who went about 70 yards to score and put Vassar ahead 27-19. The run was all the more impressive because he stumbled and still recovered to hand-off the fullback. One hates to think what might have happened had his knee been 100%!

Now Molloy threw the kitchen sink at Vassar in an effort to earn the win. They did score next to make it 27-24 but Erik Quinson intelligently made sure the scorer did not get close to the posts in-goal and the conversion was missed.

Vassar's forwards took control of the match and kept things close to the jersey. It resulted eventually in Geoff Matthes scoring and with just a few minutes left at 32-24 it did not look like Molloy would earn a losing bonus point for losing by 7 or less. But a moment of inexperience engulfed Vassar fullback Taylor and when Molloy kicked ahead and the ball rolled in-goal he decided to pick it up and kick downfield. This was Taylor's first ever kick in an "A" side rugby game and it might be his last! It sailed across the field into the waiting arms of the Molloy winger who duly linked with the fullback who ran the seemingly prescribed 20 meters to score! The score was now 32-29 with the conversion to come. But the conversion failed and it was the last kick of the game. Lesson learnt!

The team had put in a huge effort and will take heart from several aspects of the game. They will need to keep improving as they have put themselves back in the picture for a top 4 finish and in the playoff hunt.

Team: 15 Seamus Taylor 14 Jacob Adelgren 13 Ben Chipkin 12 Jerry Dieudonne 11 Jesse Myhill 10 Nich Graham 9 Karl Foley 1 Geoff Matthes 2 Adam D'Agostino 3 John Winton 4 Louis Khourey 5 Zach Rippe 6 Kenta Hasui 7 Erik Quinson 8 Andrew Jdaydani.         
Subs: Jake Sheehy for Jerry Dieudonne.

Overall record: 3-3-0.

Next week: Sunday October 20th, 2013 versus SUNY-New Paltz at Vassar College Farm, kick-off 12:00 p.m.