Brown Women’s Rugby Drops Exhibition Match to Beantown RFC 27-12

The Brown women ruggers hosted Beantown RFC, a Super league women’s club team and one of the top 3 teams in the nation. The match was a real test of our ability to play at speed under a great deal of physical pressure – and the pressure was relentless from the opening kick off until the final whistle. Brown responded beautifully, playing very physical rugby and winning a fair share of ball. Brown had a number of nice breaks and was able to chase down a number of Beantown breaks. Beantown did break one in the 17th minute to get on the scoreboard first. Brown responded well clearing the rucks and protecting the ball and the backs did a nice job maintaining possession. Thirty-eight minutes in, Brown captain and center Alicia Hartley ‘10 finished off a beautiful team effort to score in the corner and put Brown on the board. Brown had two other opportunities to score, bringing the ball close to the goal line but were denied by tough Beantown defense.

Brown showed discipline and composure, executing the game plan well and consistently communicating on defense. The challenge was that any missed tackle was costly as Beantown was able to organize attacks and offload the ball and get behind our defensive line. It was a classic Brown “dig deep” effort as every Brown player showed remarkable courage, catching high balls under pressure, taking big hits while placing the ball well, and chasing down every Beantown break. Brown was rewarded late in the match with a second score as center Blaine Martin ‘11 trailed a play and made a beautiful burst outside on to an offloaded ball, cutting through the Beantown defense to score under the posts. Flyhalf Chelsea Garber ‘12 converted. With minutes to go in the match Blaine repeated the move, cutting inside and dodging tackles only to be denied at the line.

After the match the players were exhausted but elated, the match was an opportunity to asses our progress and to get much needed experience – the players know that if they can physically compete with some of the top women players in the nation they can be a dominant force in the collegiate ranks.

Next week Brown leaves for a tough spring tour. Brown will compete Saturday in the 4 Leaf Tournament at Randall’s Island, New York City- we open against Monmouth a women’s club team at 9:40am and play Beantown (yes, a rematch) at 11:20am.
Tuesday, March 30 Brown takes on the University of Virginia in Charlottesville at 4:00pm. March 31, Brown travels to Fairfax to play NOVA at 6:00pm.

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