Author: Leon Siegel|Austin Barnum
The fourth match of the season for the Occidental Blackshirts rugby club was on Saturday, Feb. 20 on Patterson Field against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Our preparation for this particular game started the past Tuesday. Since many of the players were banged up from the previous Saturday’s match against Whittier, practice consisted mostly of skill-drills and conditioning.
Thursday’s practice was supposed to be a bit more contact-oriented but there was a women’s lacrosse game on Patterson field during the scheduled practice time. Therefore, the Lackshirts, as we sometimes refer to ourselves, put together a piece-meal practice that turned out to be quite helpful in fine-tuning our play for the match. I did not participate in any of the contact drills because I slightly separated my shoulder during the previous weekend’s match and was saving the hits for the UNLV game.
Thanks to the Occidental training staff, my shoulder was ready to go for the match. It was a sunny day with a slightly cool breeze, a beautiful day for rugby. Warm-ups started for the backs with some kicking and line drills. Match time was set for 1:30, and as kickoff occurred, the sidelines began to fill with our rowdy fan-base.
Not long into the first half, I scored my first try of my rugby career. A ruck was formed deep into UNLV territory, and after a quick pass to Keeya Bighorse (senior), I followed on a line to Bighorse’s inside. After receiving a pass back from him I split two defenders and grounded the ball for my very first try!
Later in the half, after receiving a pass from Sam Buckley (sophomore), I fake-passed, stiff-armed, and juked my way into the try-zone for my second try of the game.Fine rucking, tackling and offense allowed the team to roll to a 45-17 victory, 2-2 (2-1 in-conference). Tries were also converted by Ben Pigg (sophomore), Jave Avalos (junior), Josh “Da Champ” Martinez (senior), Bighorse and Tucker Eason (sophomore).
Post-game lemonade was provided for all players and coaches to wrap up a good day of rugby.
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