The Justice

The Judges hoist up Jordan Goodnough '09, right, during their loss to UMass-Dartmouth Saturday. Photo by David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice.

In a doubleheader Saturday, the men's rugby team ushered out its senior members, and got a simultaneous blast from the past. In their final intercollegiate game of the season, the Judges fell 36-14 to the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. In the all-Brandeis alumni exhibition that followed, the current squad fell 80-10 to the alumni team. After the loss to UMass-Dartmouth, the Judges finished the season 1-4.

As the UMass-Dartmouth game was the final contest for Judges' seniors, the team came into the game feeling a particular urgency.

"We came out heavy," senior captain Mark Paige '07 said. "A lot of us would not play rugby again."

But despite its aggressive playing, the team could not sink UMass-Dartmouth, a larger team in a sport dominated by size.

"We knew they were a good team, and bigger than us," Paige explained. "If we could keep possession of the ball and play the way we knew how to play, we would win."

The Corsairs, however, used their size advantage to hold onto the ball, consistently driving up the pitch.

"Their forward man would drive across the center, all the way across the field," Brandeis coach Justin Hopson said. "We needed to step up and make the tackles."

The discrepancy in size also hurt the Judges during scrums, in which possession is determined after a penalty by which team can push better. UMass-Dartmouth's larger players were able to take advantage of the size difference to gain possession frequently.

"We were winning and controlling all the scrums because our guys were a lot bigger, and we were pushing them back," UMass-Dartmouth senior captain Mark Ruddnauer said.

The Corsairs' size was not the only problem Brandeis encountered.

The Judges were not hitting their tackles, allowing UMass-Dartmouth to run the pitch.

"You've got to get low and get them right on the hips," Hopson explained. "That's how you tackle. We weren't doing that at first."

UMass' size only exacerbated this problem.

"We are not a big team, but one man has got to make one tackle," Hopson said.

Despite this slow start, the Judges came out stronger in the second half after a rousing halftime speech by Hopson.

Continued...

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