Vassar College Men 48 v 26 Bard College Men
Tries:  Rob Eder (2), Joe Simon (3), Seamus Taylor (1), Trevor Kennish (1) & Nick Olkovsky (1).
Cons: Stephen Kpundeh (2) & Trevor Kennish (2).

In this, the second divisional game of the fall, Vassar traveled to Bard College to take on the Raptors. However, in this scenario the bird of prey turned out to be the prey! Rookie Number 8 Rob Eder ran confidently all afternoon and most effectively early on to open the Vassar account with try number 1. He was followed in quick succession by Joe Simon and Seamus Taylor that allowed Vassar to build a 19-0 lead.

But although the points were on the board there was plenty that Vassar could have done better. The ruck ball won was too slow and it allowed Bard time to build their defensive wall. The rucks were poor because ball placement was sometimes askew or players did not clear out effectively. The breakdown is a key area of the game and all players must understand the laws and implement good technique.

Behind the forwards the strong running of Seamus Taylor and Joe Simon was very effective in getting the Brewers over the gain line. This was and is critical as it gets the team on the front foot.

Trevor Kennish had a better day this weekend being a lot sharper and more consistent than in week one. The lineouts suffered mainly from too many being thrown-in not straight. Louie Brown needs to work on this aspect of the game.

Bard did manage a score in the first half but the teams turned around at 24 - 7 with the visiting Vassar Brewers in the lead.

The Vassar scrum was steady and it provided a good platform for the back division to get into the game. Stephen Kpundeh got himself involved in the game and is a live wire on attack and Nate Cuson handled the ball kicked to him at 15 with no problem.

This was also a day when rookies got an opportunity to play and there were a lot of good signs. Joe Griffen ran with pace and some guile. Tony Varghese made a nuisance of himself in the pack and Anthony Brown is a terrifying sight in full flight with elbows and knees going in all directions and a look on his face like a Pamplona bull. Ankit Khosla put in a shift in the front row, carried the ball well and stole a number of lineouts. Evan Roberts at hooker showed some real pace but even more impressive is his hard work at close quarters.

This game afforded an opportunity for players to get their feet wet in what for most was their first ever game of rugby.

Now players have a baseline and some reference points established so that what happens in practice should have more meaning. The important parts are that all had to face ball carriers, make tackles, and figure out where they were needed in both attack and defense. And so it begins... the rugby journey!

Twenty-six (26) men got to play today which brought the total of Vassar students (men and women) who played rugby this weekend to sixty-five (65).

A good week of practices and the men's squad can look to improve in leaps and bounds.
 
Team: 15 Nate Cuson 14 Stephen Kpundeh 13 Joe Simon 12 Seamus Taylor 11 Joe Griffen 10 Nick Olkovsky 9 Trevor Kennish 1 Louie Brown 2 Evan Roberts 3 Dale Lord 4 Nick Crooks 5 Anthony Varghese 6 Anthony Brown 7 Jonathan Mozoon 8 Rob Eder. 
Subs: Dawkin Erceg, Jim Wang, Ankit Khosla, Jonayed Ahmed, Reece Guo, Mit Patel, Bailey Piotrowski, Gino Ruiz,  Ghali Khalil, Min Jhang, & Brian Lee. 
Did not play: Ian Quinn, Kaden Wood, Robert Elizardo, Marcin Williams, Dean Spyropoulos, Kushin Mukherjee, Russel Spiro & Charlie Hooghkirk.

Overall record: 2-0-0
 
Next week: Sunday September 25, 2016 at Drew University - Kickoff 1:00 p.m.