- Head Coach Tony Brown 

SCHENECTADY, NY (September 19, 2015) – This weekend the rugby world was stunned by the upset victory when Japan defeated South Africa at the World Cup. In stark contrast to the energy, solid tackling, and pace that the Cherry Blossoms brought to their encounter the Vassar men seemed to be running in rice pudding and were left clutching thin air as Union College ball carriers breezed through their defense. In fact, the home team should have scored two more tries in the first half and would have had a big lead but it was still a deep hole that Vassar had dug as they trailed 21-10.
 
Vassar College Men 30 v 21 Union College Men
Tries: Joe Simon (1), Zach Rippe (1), Charlie Hooghkirk (1), John Loree (1), & George Sheppard (1).
Cons: Gary Garcia (1).
Pens: Gary Garcia (1).
 
Sluggish, lethargic, and looking for excuses would be a fair summary of the Vassar performance in the first 40 minutes. That is not to say that there were not some good moments but between errors such as dropped passes, missed tackles, knock-ons, and the numerous penalties committed by Union it all amounted to a stop start affair.

A horrible start for Vassar saw the first set piece possession moved to the Union backs and they sliced through to lead 7-0. A hot knife through soft melting butter and that's being generous such was the lack of tackling! Vassar responded with some good field position and when Union poorly cleared their line Vassar fullback Joe Simon counter-attacked scoring to narrow the gap at 7-5. Vassar Number 8 Zach Rippe had a good day although the strong running forward does make life difficult for himself. Ball taken against the head needs to be run left and if the scrum wheels the pick-up should go with the wheel. He picked at close range and it was 10-7 Vassar in the lead. The penalty count was building for the home team and in that first half they conceded 12 penalties to Vassar's 3.

The next two scores put Union up 21-10. First they used turnover ball and broke away running almost 75 meters before Joe Simon dragged down the ball carrier. The Union player ill-advisedly threw the ball forward when all he had to do was place it and his support players could have picked up the ball and walked in for a try. But from the ensuing 5-meter scrum Union stole the ball and dived in. Then with Vassar counter-attacking deep in the Union half the ball was ripped from Joe Simon's grasp and returned a full 80 meters for a try. The Vassar players appealed to the referee and stopped playing as it looked to them as if the assist tackler had not released before earning the turnover.

Now some of this team may well go to law school but as of right now there is no such thing as an appeal in the game of rugby. They need to keep playing until they hear the whistle blow for an infringement. The discussion at half time probably would have made my father blush and he's ex-US Navy! The entire team needs to understand and accept the fact that the referee is the sole judge of law and they are players. Players play and put in the hard work to rectify any different interpretations of the law.

Second Half
Vassar was more direct in the second half and in the first 5-10 minutes of it there were 15 rucks and the Brewers scored 2 tries to regain the lead at 22-21. Vassar prop John Loree barged his way over and then freshman Charlie Hooghkirk dived in from close range. Also in that same period Union conceded 6 penalties as their forwards were constantly infringing. Offside, leaving their feet, lying on the ball, or coming in to a ruck from the side were all offenses to be seen.

Vassar's Justin Nam caught the next kick-off and the forwards marched toward the goal line. A darting run from Simon got Vassar within a few yards of the goal line and then lock George Sheppard used some nimble footwork to dive over. Vassar now led 27-21. It was not a comfortable lead given that one converted try would put Vassar into the debit column!

Vassar then had to weather a 10-15 minute spell of Union pressure and they did thwart them from scoring. Eventually Vassar kicked their way out of trouble and went back to their low risk strategy. A further 11 penalties in the second half was testimony to the complete lack of discipline or naivety of the Union forwards. Gary Garcia kicked one and Vassar had some breathing room at 30-21. The final penalty count was 23 to 8 and really there should have been a yellow card for at least repeated infringements.

So Vassar used their "Get out of jail free" card and must get back to doing the basics well. Improved fringe defense, better tackling (16 missed tackles!), and some go forward from the back division are a must.
 
Team: 15 Joe Simon 14 Charlie Hooghkirk 13 Seamus Taylor 12 Eli Vargas 11 Russel Spiro 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Gary Garcia 1 John Loree 2 Adam D'Agostino 3 John Winton 4 Louis Khourey 5 George Sheppard 6 Justin Nam 7 Josh Espada 8 Zach Rippe.  Subs: David Wallach for John Winton (blood).

Overall record: 3-0-0

Next week: Saturday September 27th, 2015 at University at Albany - Kickoff 4:00 p.m.