Annandale-on-Hudson, NY - On this final weekend prior to the Beast of the East Tournament the Vassar College Men's Rugby team had a relatively easy run out against some local programs. Bard College was the host institution and players from Union College and SUNY-Delhi also took part. The 4-team round-robin saw the Brewers go undefeated and while much sterner tests are ahead, there were some genuine benefits to playing these games.
Vassar College 36 v 0 SUNY-Delhi
Tries: McCarthy Barber (1), Miles Yum (2), Sawyer Bivins (1), Eli Schair-Rigoletti (1) & Kiran Mullen (1).
Cons: Kiran Mullen (3).
Kiran Mullen ran the show for the Brewers and a barnstorming start saw first year wing McCarthy Barber scoot around his opposite number for the first of 4 tries in the half showing good footwork. Another first year student Miles Yum was straight into the action and he scored two tries in the match one either side of halftime. His first was a strong run down the left wing after Mullen had switched the point of attack. A third first year, Sawyer Bivins went over after a solid break and more good footwork.
But the old timers were not to be upstaged and both Kiran Mullen and Eli Schair-Rigoletti, seniors, collected tries. The emphasis was on minimal errors and it seemed to focus the players attention on better passing.
Team: 1 Miles Yum 2 Luca Pereira-Frears 3 Sawyer Bivins 9 TJ Usher 10 Kiran Mullen 12 Eli Schair-Rigoletti 14 McCarthy Barber.
Subs: Finn Smith, Phil Knowlton, Rhese Fine, Tony Mwangi, Ken Kabeyo, Gabe Slavin.
Vassar College 53 v 0 Bard College
Tries: Eli Schair-Rigoletti (3), TJ Usher (2), McCarthy Barber (1), Sawyer Bivins (1), Tony Mwangi (1), Kiran Mullen (1).
Cons: Kiran Mullen (4).
The dry conditions and balmy temperatures made for perfect handling and Vassar went on a try scoring spree against the hosts. Vassar caught the kickoff and moved the ball wide to the left wing then swung it back to the right touchline where Eli Schair-Rigoletti and Finn Smith executed a good switch and Smith managed to pass out of contact back to Schair-Rigoletti who sprinted away and a 7-0 lead was on the ledger.
Try number 2 came when a Bard ball carrier didn't release the ball in a tackle and from that penalty Vassar second possession saw Luca Pereira-Frears punch up the middle before the ball was passed to TJ Usher who needed no encouragement to blast through and it was 14-0 in the blink of an eye.
Vassar restarted and pressured Bard but were penalized twice in quick succession for being offside at the ruck. But another Bard fumble allowed Mullen to link with Schair-Rigoletti who attacked with
TJ Usher on his outside. The center attacked the gap between the 2 defenders and glided through for the score. The defensive pressure that Vassar was exerting was paying dividends and that led to the simplest of tries for McCarthy Barber as the ball was spilled loose in the in-goal and the winger only had to put downward pressure on the ball for another 5 points.
The half finished with what can best be described as a belly flop as
Sawyer Bivins crashed over. His "dive" won't have earned him accolades with any judge but the running to earn the score was first rate. Vassar led 31-0 at the half.
Bard's only real retort in the natch was the running of their number 1 who bumped off would-be tacklers and looked a powerful unit. Unfortunately he was either eventually brought to ground or spilled the ball losing possession.
Another 4 tries in the second half sealed the deal for the Brewers. Schair-Rigoletti scooped a kick-off that bounced off the ground one handed and bolted through. Usher simply looped Mullen to go over from 35 meters out. Meanwhile Mullen collected his own restart and weaved his way to the whitewash and
Tony Mwangi was put away down the left wing and zipped over for a good try. It was a comprehensive win to state the obvious.
Team: 1 Finn Smith 2 Luca Pereira-Frears 3 Sawyer Bivins 9 TJ Usher 10 Kiran Mullen 12 Eli Schair-Rigoletti 14 McCarthy Barber.
Subs: Phil Knowlton, Rhese Fine, Tony Mwangi, Ken Kabeyo, Gabe Slavin.
Injured: Miles Yum.
Vassar College 29 v 0 Tournament Select 7
Tries: TJ Usher (1), Rhese Fine (2), Kiran Mullen (1), Eli Schair-Rigoletti (1).
Cons: Kiran Mullen (2).
The final match of the day was Vassar versus a select team from the other 3 teams present. Vassar made adjustments and rested some players but the core of Usher, Mullen and Schair-Rigoletti stayed in at 9, 10 and 12.
Finn Smith,
Ken Kabeya and
Gabe Slavin made up the front row and Rhese Fine was out wide.
The encouraging thing was that the team kept communicating and tried to work the ball to better attacking areas. Usher sliced through to score the first try and that certainly settled any nerves that might have been present. There were other notable signs of improvement as
Ken Kabeya jumped well to win a lineout,
Phil Knowlton tackled very well, and
Finn Smith was good in contact.
The team managed to get the ball to Rhese Fine on the outside who showed good pace and in the first instance good hands to collect a highpass, and he scored tries 2 and 3. So it was 17-0 at the half and really Vassar had not been troubled by the opposition attack.
There was just a single try in the second half as
Kiran Mullen capped a good day with a try and a total of 33 points over the 3 games. Vassar had kept a clean sheet over 42 minutes of 7s play which may say more about the opposition attack but even so, there were few very few clean line breaks conceded.
Team: 1 Finn Smith 2 Gabe Slavin 3 Ken Kabeya 9 TJ Usher 10 Kiran Mullen 12 Eli Rigoletti 14 Rhese Fine.
Subs: Sawyer Bivins, Phil Knowlton, Luca Pereira-Frears, Tony Mwangi, McCarthy Barber.
Injured: Miles Yum.
The squad will be bolstered by the return of injured or sick players next week as Kaiden Tocher, Max Czekaj, Muhammad Al-Shaebani, Marius Kruse, Samia Jaman,
Ashton Saenz and Anthony Kolesar should be back in action.
Next: Sunday April 19, 2026 in Portsmouth, RI for The Beast of the East Tournament hosted by Providence Rugby Club and sponsored by Rugby Imports.
