Rugby: Team thrashes Cornell, remains undefeated in fall play

The men’s club rugby team steamrolled over a weak Cornell squad Saturday afternoon as it continued its undefeated season with an impressive 60-12 victory over the Big Red. Princeton’s season-opening six-game winning streak is the strongest start the Tigers have had in many years.

After a disappointing 2010 fall season, the Tigers’ A-side has rebounded, having won 12 of its last 13 games since last spring. The B-side has enjoyed the same victories as the more experienced squad, beginning the 2011 campaign with victories over Yale and Harvard and handily defeating the Big Red on Saturday in a 27-5 win.

On the pitch this Saturday at West Windsor Fields, the Tigers won ruck after ruck, maintaining possession and disrupting Big Red advances down the field. Over the past week in practice, as captain and senior fullback Peter Davison explained, the Tigers had specifically focused on securing the ball on the pitch. Davison said that the Tigers’ ability to win the battle on the ground was instrumental in their victory on Saturday.

Princeton began the match slowly but scored on a kick tap off of a Big Red penalty. The Tigers’ first-half tries came on a combination of several long runs by quick backs and powerful forward tries from 5 and 10 meters out, captain and senior 8-man Spencer Ryan said.

Yet an easy Big Red try to end the first half sent the Tigers off the field determined to buckle down on defense and significantly increase their pressure on the Cornell squad.

“Our skills and tackling were definitely better than theirs, but our physicality on offense and on defense just wasn’t what it needed to be,” Davison said of the first half. After a talk with coach Richard Lopacki, though, the Tigers changed course.

“We just [decided] to up the intensity, up the pressure and bring the hammer down, and that’s what we did in the second half,” Davison explained.

Though Davison admitted there were “lapses” in the second half, including an effortless Big Red try resulting from a Princeton penalty — the Tigers’ second of the game — Davison said that the team’s play in the second half was of greater intensity.

On offense, much of the movement and action was created by junior fly half Philip Halsey, who continually beat his man with finesse and power, drawing defenders before eventually flipping the ball out to teammates trailing him on his sides. Davison explained that Halsey’s creativity and strength led directly to many of the Tigers’ 10 tries, calling Halsey’s play “instrumental in starting our attack.”

Davison attributed the men’s success this fall to a summer of intense conditioning. The players said they realized toward the end of last year that, to compete at a high level, they had to significantly improve their physical fitness. Over the summer, the squad implemented new running and lifting regimens that Davison said have paid off on the pitch.

While Ryan agreed that the emphasis on fitness was critical to the squad’s turnaround, Ryan explained that the real strength of the team was the balanced, superstarless rugby that the Tigers played each week.

“The special thing about this team is that we don’t have any superstars but instead thrive in each contributing everything we can to team victories,” Ryan said in an email.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Over the next two weeks, the Tigers will embark on a tough three-game road trip that will test the mettle of the promising A-side. On Oct. 15, the squad will face perennial powerhouse Dartmouth, which has not lost in Ivy League fall season play in more than two years. The Tigers are currently tied with Dartmouth for the Ivy League lead.

Davison said he was eager to surprise the Big Green in Hanover.

“We’re definitely excited to play them, because they’re definitely not going to be expecting us to be as good as we are,” he said.

The top four teams will advance to a playoff in the spring, with the eventual victor competing for the national championship. Though Princeton has not made the tournament since 2004, Davison is confident that this year offers an opportunity to return and compete for the national title.

“All 15 guys on the field can make something happen and that’s something we haven’t had in a while. Everybody is dangerous,” he said.